Female leaders from leading financial companies were at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) this week calling for the number of female-led businesses going public to triple by 2025 as part of a campaign by the WealthiHer Network.
The network, which promotes female-led business, wants to see the number of female-led IPOs increasing from the current 10 percent to 30 percent over the next six years. It aims to use the financial clout of some of its partner firms – Barclays Private Bank, Brewin Dolphin and JPMorgan – to achieve its aim.
WealthiHer co-founder Tamara Gillan said at the LSE event: ‘There are already so many societal barriers and institutional biases that prevent female entrepreneurs from growing their business from start-up to scale-up. Something needs to change.
‘With the backing of the country’s biggest financial institutions, we’re confident we can accelerate the number of women-led businesses going public and support female entrepreneurs to flourish, ultimately growing women’s wealth and prosperity.’
The network cited the Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, which was commissioned by the UK Treasury and published in March. It finds that only one in three UK entrepreneurs is female and less than 1 percent of UK venture funding currently goes to all-female businesses. It also finds that male-led small and medium-sized businesses are five times more likely to reach a £1 mn ($1.25 mn) turnover than female-led ones.
The review calculates female-led businesses to be only 44 percent of the size of male-led ones on average, even though women are as successful as men in sustaining businesses once established.
