Senior women in finance call for female-led IPOs to triple
Senior women from top financial institutions have called for the number of female-led businesses going public to triple by 2025.
Leading women from major banks, law firms and insurance companies gathered at the opening of the London Stock Exchange this morning to call for change as part of a campaign by the WealthiHer Network.
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The Network, which was created to champion female-led business, wants to see the number of female-led initial public offerings (IPOs) rise from 10 per cent to 30 per cent over the next six years. It plans to use the collective power of its partner firms, including Barclays Private Bank, Brewin Dolphin, and JP Morgan, to help achieve this.
“There are already so many societal barriers and institutional biases which prevent female entrepreneurs from growing their business from start-up to scale-up,” said WealthiHer co-founder Tamara Gillan at the event. “Something needs to change.”
“With the backing of the country’s biggest financial institutions,” Gillan continued, “we’re confident that we can accelerate the number of women-led businesses going public and support female entrepreneurs to flourish, ultimately growing women’s wealth and prosperity.”
Less than one per cent of UK venture funding currently goes to all-female businesses, and only one in three UK entrepreneurs is female, according to a government-backed report published in March.
The Rose review of female entrepreneurship, which was commissioned by the Treasury, also found that male-led small and medium sized businesses were five times more likely to reach £1m turnover than female-led ones.
Female-led businesses were calculated to be only 44 per cent of the size of male-led ones on average, despite the fact women were as successful as men in sustaining businesses once established.
All images: Nicola Bushnell/Tribal London Event Photography