UK Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, who is the first-ever female to take on the role, has given her full backing to a new initiative that focuses on giving female-led founder teams more investment. The Invest in Women Taskforce was created after The Rose Review, which discovered the UK’s economy could be boosted by £250 billion if women started and scaled their business at the same rate as their male counterparts. 

Central to the taskforce, is an investment of over £250 million, to create a funding pool for female-founded businesses. Rachel Reeves will play a key role in supporting this, as well as attending taskforce meetings and events; beginning with a reception on International Equal Pay Day. “It is a huge responsibility to sit in the Treasury as the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer and be able to use my position to improve life for women across the UK. By backing the Invest in Women Taskforce we can establish one of the world’s largest dedicated investment funding pools for female-powered businesses, helping grow our economy,” said Reeves.

For many female-founders, the news is a welcome relief. Whilst more women are starting businesses than ever before, there’s still a funding gap, which sees only 14.8% of female-founded businesses receiving funding, when compared to over 60% of male-owned businesses. This can prevent these businesses from growing and scaling, with lack of funding causing almost a fifth of female business owners to postpone or cancel business plans due to lack of funding.

“I am so grateful to work in an online industry where women are constantly raising the bar and creating opportunities for others to follow them, but this is not the case in every sector, and it’s crucial that we keep pushing to create a society where female entrepreneurs are encouraged and celebrated. Having the first female Chancellor is a big step in the right direction, and I am hopeful that the Taskforce can be a catalyst in embracing and encouraging a new generation of female entrepreneurs,” says Lisa Johnson, business strategist, bestselling author and co-founder of The Business Success Company, a new business in a box franchise company.

“Having a female chancellor who is genuinely seeing the power of female entrepreneurship, as a way to start slamming shut gender divides in wealth, power and opportunity in the UK, is an amazing thing.  What we know about the female entrepreneur space is that a disruption gap and an ambition cap is also pervasive and so I hope to see a push towards big-thinking mentorship, that can really elevate what women think is possible when it comes to starting a business,” adds brand strategist Emma, founder of The Wild Ones which is on a mission to blow the female disruption gap wide open and start a stampede of female unicorns.

With the government also leading a Women-led high growth enterprise taskforce, to increase the number of high-growth businesses led by women, this is hopefully the first step of many to support the power of female founders within the UK.

For more information on The Invest in Women Taskforce visit: https://www.investinwomentaskforce.org/