Supporting women in business

Key findings

We surveyed 1,000 women who work for themselves, to learn more about their motivations for starting a business, the challenges they can face and the opportunities available to boost their businesses.

We’re using this data to identify how we can best support women in starting out in business, but it also makes interesting reading.

• There are 1.6m self-employed women in the UK, mostly working in services (21%): 15% in health and 14% in professional services 
• 6 in 10 female entrepreneurs say confidence was their biggest challenge when they first started out
• Comparatively, only 38% say they needed financial support
• The top areas where more support is needed are:
  • advice and information about growing a business
  • mentorship
  • advice and information about marketing a product
  • a network of peers
  • affordable workspace
  • advice and information about loans and credit

These insights will help us ensure we’re providing the right kind of support and initiatives to empower women in business.

You can read more about our research in this blog, and in this article published by Forbes.

Supporting f:Entrepreneur

We’re the official sponsor of f:Entrepreneur, a campaign that highlights inspiring female business leaders across the UK.

The goal of the campaign is to celebrate the dynamic and inspirational businesses led by women in the UK.

It’s aimed at both men and women, because everyone has something to learn from these stories of challenge and success. Through events, content and story-telling, f:Entrepreneur showcases role models to help and inspire all small businesses.

Read their #ialso stories here.