Opinion: The untapped benefits of supporting female founders

England’s Lionesses’ march to the World Cup final has arguably been the sporting story of the summer with millions of fans captivated by the on-pitch heroics, while off it the economy has been boosted to the tune of around £185million as supporters ramped up their spending in bars and shops.

When you take a step back from the action, England’s performance at the World Cup in Australia is a story of how, with the right support and investment, minority groups can excel

and flourish.

The FA’s ban on women’s football in 1921 was only lifted in 1970 but in recent decades more investment has gone into the game culminating in the Lionesses winning the Euros two years ago and then almost claiming the biggest prize of all.

It’s a story which resonates throughout the business world. Although there have been some green shoots of improvement across Northern Ireland, female founders remain chronically under-represented when it comes to start-ups.

The latest figures reveal that in 2021 the number of local companies founded by women rose above 1,500 - double the number founded in 2018. It’s a sign that things are beginning to move in the right direction, but much more work is required, especially if parity with male founded businesses is to be a realistic goal.

Since the British Business Bank launched its Start Up Loans programme in 2012, only 618 loans have been issued to female founders in Northern Ireland, compared to 1,028 males.

By comparison this figure sits well below our Scottish counterparts, where 2,648 loans have been issued to women founders, and accounts for just 1% of all loans to female founders at a UK level.

Through Start Up Loans, individuals can borrow up to £25,000 to help kick start their business idea and at the same time benefit from 12 months of free business mentoring.

With a fixed interest rate of 6%, borrowers also have the advantage of a stable and predictable repayment profile over the term of the loan, irrespective of interest rate movements.

Raising awareness of this valuable and accessible finance option among female entrepreneurs in NI is a critical first step in helping to address the gender and geography disparities mentioned above.

The landscape is similar when it comes to equity investment. Across the UK in 2022 female founded companies received a record share of deals but continued to receive a relatively small proportion of investment.

A total of 27% of deals went to teams with a female founder, the highest proportion ever and up 10% since 2012. Their share of investment, however, has increased by only 2% from 13% to 15%. Similarly, all female teams accounted for 9% of deals in 2022 but only 2% of funding.

If we want to shift the dial on levels of investment going to female founders, we need to increase the number of female investors – both angels and VC fund managers.

One way the British Business Bank is helping to achieve this in NI is through the support offered to AwakenAngels, the first and only women-led angel investment syndicate on the island of Ireland.

Launched in June of this year, the syndicate has a clear mission to democratise the investment landscape for women investors making it more accessible and affordable for women from all sectors, backgrounds and communities to get involved.

As well as driving the number of female investors, we also need to empower and encourage the innovative female founders around us - creating environments that nurture entrepreneurial spirit, promoting greater levels of aspiration and resilience, providing equal access to networks, accelerator programmes and of course capital.

Much more than a box-ticking exercise or moral obligation, supporting female entrepreneurship is about delivering a strategic advantage by fostering greater diversity in business.

First and foremost, we are harnessing the power of the economic contribution of businesswomen – which has so far been largely untapped. This contribution comes in the form of job creation, bringing new perspectives to the table, boosting innovation and generating finance.

And as the Lionesses have been inspiring the next generation of female footballers, so too can our most successful businesswomen help encourage other female founders to take the first step.

Sharing the growth stories and celebrating the successes of female founders like Pragya Sharma at Gran Lab, Jackie Crooks and Joanne O’Doherty at Kinsetsu, Susan Kelly at Respiratory Analytics, Julie Gray at Gray’s Clip, Ann-Marie Slavin at Modern Democracy and Jennifer Neff and Leeann Monk-Ozgul at Elemental Software can light the way for others starting their entrepreneurial journey.

But when it comes to creating the right environment for female founders to flourish, it needs a collaborative approach from everyone within the financial ecosystem.

I’m privileged to be involved with Inclusive Entrepreneurship NI, a group formed following a British Business Bank report which examined the profound effects which ethnic and economic background, gender and place have on entrepreneurial opportunities and outcomes.

Inclusive Entrepreneurship NI includes representatives from Awaken Hub, British Business Bank, Bubble Bum, Diversity Mark NI, Raise Ventures, Startacus, Ulster Bank, Ulster University, Women in Business NI and Global Entrepreneurship Network UK.

In June, we delivered a four-part webinar series aimed at helping build financial readiness, confidence and knowledge of funding options among female founder. This group of stakeholders is a great example of the support networks that are taking root to help support under-represented founders across NI.

With the right backroom team and tactics in place female founders from across Northern Ireland can take on the world, and who would bet against them going one better than the Lionesses?

For more about Start Up Loans visit here and for further information about AwakenAngels visit here.