Member Article

Telegraph launches Women Mean Business campaign with open letter

£The Telegraph has published an open letter in which 200 campaigners have called for the Government to help improve funding for the UK’s female entrepreneurs.

This move is a key part of the news organisation’s Women Mean Business campaign, which draws attention to the disparity in funding between male and female entrepreneurs and shows how the UK economy could benefit over the coming years should this gap be closed.

A downbeat picture of UK businesswomen’s prospects

The letter, signed by academics, Members of Parliament and business owners including Karren Brady, Samantha Cameron, Mary Portas and Alexa Chung, was published in a timely fashion on International Women’s Day - a crucial date on which women’s rights are annually promoted.

The letter listed various sobering statistics shedding light on how female entrepreneurs are being unjustly held back by funding providers. The letter asked the Government to “take measures to help close the funding gap that prevents many women from starting their own businesses”.

It noted that, while an eighth of the UK’s working women are interested in forming their own business, only 9% of funding for the country’s start-ups annually goes to businesses headed by women. The letter also observed that men were 86% likelier to receive venture capital funding and 56% likelier to land angel investment, as reported by the Entrepreneurs Network and Beauhurst.

Also cited was a Federation of Small Businesses study revealing that, of the country’s female owners of small businesses, a quarter cited struggling to access conventional means of funding. Many businesswomen had to resort to such alternative sources as personal cash, crowdfunding and credit to get their companies growing.

Research has also widely revealed that women not only, on average, are approved for loans on fewer occasions than men but also can be charged more expensive interest rates. The letter conceded: “No doubt there will be complex reasons for the disparity, but the figures clearly show a funding gap; one that we believe needs to be addressed at government level.”

How the Government is set to address the funding gap

The Government has quickly acted on this letter; only a day following its publication, £the Treasury pledged to investigate the challenges posed to female entrepreneurs, The Telegraph reported. This “serious review”, the first of its kind in the UK, will culminate in a report intended to act as a “call to arms” for the financial industry to “sit up, take notice, and to act” on the issues.

Deloitte has estimated that, when in receipt of targeted assistance, early stage women entrepreneurs could boost the UK economy by £100bn over the next decade. Robert Jenrick, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, remarked: “The greatest economic opportunity out there today is harnessing the talents of women that are currently untapped”.

It won’t be until later in 2018 that the Government’s pledged report arrives. In the meantime, female entrepreneurs in the UK can help themselves minimise or counter financial shortcomings by sourcing cost-effective insurance. Brokers like £Be Wiser Business Insurance have helped to make this possible.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Contributor .