Lack of business networks holding British female entrepreneurs back
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Britain’s female entrepreneurs are failing because they don’t have the networks they need to thrive, a report commissioned by Facebook has found.
New research by the social networking site has found that female founders who are part of a business community are twice as likely to forecast growth compared to those who are not. Despite this, half of female founders say they are not part of such a network.
The research revealed that women are aware of the benefits of tapping into business communities, with 49 per cent believing the opportunity to connect with other like-minded people would greatly benefit their business. However a third are unsure where to go to find these groups. 31 per cent of the women surveyed said the current business environment is better set up for male business leaders.
It comes as the Telegraph's Women Mean Business campaign has been calling for Government intervention to help female entrepreneurs in Britain, with the Treasury ordering the first ever “serious review” into the funding gap preventing women from becoming business leaders, a day after the campaign's launch. Within weeks, Theresa May had set up a Downing Street committee to help boost the number of women starting businesses.
The UK currently ranks 13th in the world when it comes to the number of business leaders scaling up their business, and according to The Entrepreneurs Network, just nine per cent of funding into UK start-ups currently goes to women-run businesses annually.
Facebook (which last year committed to delivering training to over 10,000 women through their #SheMeansBusiness programme, and unlock ￡45 million for the UK economy), has partnered with women-only members club AllBright to launch a ten-week course to give thousands of British women the tools to pursue and grow their own business ventures.
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The Allbright Academy will provide a free online course to women across the country, featuring advice from leading businesswomen including Cath Kidston, Karen Blackett (the Chairwoman of MediaCom) and former Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers.
Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook’s European Vice President, said it was essential for female founders to build networks, as growing a business is “particularly tough for female business leaders”.
She added: “Being part of a business community can make all the difference.”
Debbie Wosskow OBE, Co-Founder of the AllBright Club, said having a group of peers to call upon to collaborate with was something women lacked and “could help enormously”.
The programme will tackle topics such as “confidence, resilience and how to have impact in addition to offering practical advice around everything from cash flow to culture”.
She added: “Importantly, it will also encourage participants to meet up and discuss the business topics they have learnt, support each other to achieve their ambitions and expand their networks.”
AllBright is offering Telegraph readers 1,000 places in the academy, with the chance for three women who complete the course to be selected for a one-to-one mentoring session with their experts.