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Females 'vital' to boost UK prosperity

Female-run start-ups are the master key for unlocking Britain’s entrepreneurial activity, Meg Munn, minister for Women and Equality has declared.

Speaking at the Everywoman Conference in London to celebrate women’s role in Enterprise Week, the minister said female entrepreneurship rates in East England, the North East, Scotland and the South West have doubled in the last two years.

Women-owned firms now contribute about £70 billion to Gross Value Added, with around 1 million females declaring themselves as self-employed.

But citing the example of America, Ms Munn conceded more needs to be done to encourage women to step forward into self-employment, in a bid to boost the UK’s overall productivity, jobs and economic well-being.

“The potential for the development of women entrepreneurs is huge and largely untapped,” the minister told delegates and aspiring female entrepreneurs.

“If we had the same rate of female owned start-ups as in the USA, we would have 750,000 more businesses; this would have a major impact on productivity, employment and prosperity.”

Figures from the Small Business Service show the percentage of all small business that are majority-led by women now stands at 19 per cent, but concern was voiced that just 26 per cent of Britain’s self-employed are female.

Despite this, female graduate entrepreneurship is showing positive signs that women are rapidly closing the gap on the dominant male entrepreneur.

Data shows women students are more likely to be engaged in business activity than their male counterparts – 2.6 per cent of female students, compared to 1.6 of male students.

Through the Women’s Enterprise Panel, set up in October 2004 to boost female start-ups, the DTI hailed two major improvements; namely a breaking down of the barriers to accessing finance – and a more visible show of female start-up support.

Largely, this has been achieved by the growth of Regional Development Agencies across the UK, ensuring female-friendly support from pre-start-up onwards.

The UK Resource Centre for Women has also been credited with aiding women entrepreneurship, chiefly through a stand alone website and helpline offering advice on science, engineering and technology careers – sectors notably suffering from an absence of female entrepreneurs.

During her address, Ms Munn highlighted the Government’s continuing effort to boost female representation in the sectors – but new research suggests there is a fear factor that needs to be overcome before further progress.

A study by Dominoes Pizza reveals more than seven out of ten women have never sought to turn their ideas into a commercial success because they believe they lack the ability.

The study, obtained by StartUps, adds that half of women fear they will fail, while over a third confessed to being frightened about making mistakes.

Nov 18, 2005
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