Insight
Recent research shows an increase in the presence of women in the boardroom over the last 12 months as women made up more than half of new FTSE 350 boardroom directors last year. The strive for equality in the boardroom appears to have significantly improved as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, whoever thought there could be a positive arising from Covid-19?!
Despite the increase in board presence, investment in female-founded companies around the world has fallen since the pandemic – this marks a reversal of a trend that had been going in the opposite direction for some years now. I have discussed this over the years, particularly in my International Women’s Day article in 2019 where I highlighted the need for “balance for better”.
In this article (https://www.scottishlegal.com/article/natalie-wallace-international-women-s-day-2019-is-not-just-a-balancing-act) I noted that the British Business Banks key findings outlined that for every £1 of VC investment in the UK, all-female founder teams get less than 1p, all-male founder teams get 89p, and mixed-gender teams 10p. It is worrying that since the pandemic, these figures may have actually got worse. Our team has a diverse range of clients but we certainly work with more male led businesses on investment as opposed to female or mixed-gender led businesses.
There is a strive for female led businesses and it appears Covid-19 has given women the opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial instinct. The article notes the degree to which entrepreneurial ambition is strong, with more than 1.5 million women across the UK having started their own business in the past 12 months and nearly three times this number harbouring ambitions to start a business very soon. If we don’t close the gap in relation to the funding however, then how are these female led businesses meant to thrive? This is the key point that we need to address.
We would love to work with more female led businesses to ensure they get the investment they deserve to support the growth of their brilliant businesses.