Female founders in Scotland are still facing business challenges around investment, talent and support – according to a new survey.
Even though ‘scaleups’ founded by women in Scotland are growing at twice the rate of the UK average, progress risks stalling because of a lack of ‘perceived support’ for female-led businesses.
The findings, contained in the ScaleUp Institute’s inaugural Female Founder Scottish Index, identified 139 female-founded scaleups in Scotland.
The firms generate in excess of £10 million in revenue or £5 million in assets, collectively worth £1.5 billion, and employing over 16,000 people, with 47 per cent of the businesses based outside Scotland’s main cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The findings of the Female Founders Scottish Index were outlined at yesterday’s Pathways Forward ‘Pathways Pledge’ annual review in Edinburgh, attended by Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes. Over 40 organisations have now signed up to more than 100 pledges aimed at driving gender diversity and addressing the needs of female entrepreneurs.
Forbes said: “The Female Founder Scottish Index highlights significant achievements of our women-led businesses growing and developing in Scotland, the incredible talent that lies behind these success stories and the clear economic opportunity that will come from ensuring we help more businesses to scale up, attract further investment and stay and flourish in Scotland.”
She added: “This valuable analysis also shows there is more to do to support female founders. The Scottish Government stands squarely behind the excellent work being undertaken across the public and private sectors to get to the heart of tackling under-representation in our business community but this must serve as a call to arms to accelerate our efforts. It must be our collective mission to continue to break down barriers for women in business and provide the right support to ensure we unlock their full potential.”
Despite growing at around twice the UK national average and ranking 7th out of 12 UK regions for the overall number of female-founded scaleups, around 80 per cent of female founders scaling businesses identified a perceived lack of support, compared to only 4 in 10 of male-led businesses. According to the data, female founders see particular gaps in support around access to talent, non-executive directors, markets, and investors.
Findings of the Scottish Index also indicated that scaling firms led by women have raised £117 million in equity investment to date, an increase of approximately 80 per cent since last year. However, the report notes that the funding is invested in a relatively small number of the businesses in the Index.
Pathways Forward was launched following the publication of the Scottish Government-commissioned Pathways: a new approach for women in entrepreneurship report, co-authored by Ana Stewart and Mark Logan, published in 2023.
In attendance at yesterday’s event were Ana Stewart, founder of Pathways Forward, Irene Graham, CEO of the ScaleUp Institute and Jenny Tooth of the UK Business Angels Association.
