Battle to raise cash holding back female entrepreneurs

A “FUNDING gap” is preventing women from launching their own businesses, a coalition of business leaders and entrepreneurs warn today as they urge the Government to put money aside to boost female entrepreneurship.

In an open letter, published in today’s Daily Telegraph, British businesswomen such as Samantha Cameron and Baroness Brady insist that better access to funding for female start-up founders would help to boost the economy.

The letter, published on International Women’s Day, refers to figures that show that while 33 per cent of new businesses are started by women, they attract just 9 per cent of current startup funding annually. The coalition is calling for the Government to take action and invest in resources to promote female entrepreneurship.

The letter says: “We are deeply concerned that some entrepreneurs, predominantly female, are being unfairly held back … We are calling on you to take measures to help close the funding gap that prevents many women from starting their own businesses.”

An exclusive Telegraph poll reveals that two thirds of female business owners find they are not taken seriously by investors and banks when trying to secure funding. In a poll of 750 female business founders conducted by Censuswide, 65 per cent said they had been unfairly treated by financial services when trying to raise funding, while 67 per cent who had met male investors said they would have been treated differently if the investor had been a woman.

Consequently, 72 per cent of female entrepreneurs are forced to fund their ventures out of their own pockets.

Meanwhile, almost half of the women surveyed said they had been told they needed a man to help them.

The letter, which marks the launch of The Telegraph’s “Women Mean Business” campaign and has been signed by 200 people, called on the Government to take measures to help close the funding gap. It emphasises that, far from being a women’s issue, the funding gap impacts the UK economy as a whole.

The Federation of Small Businesses says Britain is missing out on more than 1.2 million new enterprises due to the untapped business potential of women.