New initiative announces first roundtable event to discuss gender imbalance in regional entrepreneurship

The Lifted Project was set up by Zandra Moore, Co-founder and CEO of Panintelligence, an award-winning business intelligence software business based in Leeds. It was established as a result of a recommendation from a new government taskforce established in a bid to boost private investment in women-led businesses across the UK.

“As a female founder outside of London, you are faced with a double disadvantage. You already have to work harder than a man to sell yourself and your business, working through the countless barriers that we outline in this report. But you also have to sell your city as a place to grow and scale a business” said Ms Moore.

“The ambition and talent are there in our regions. The support and access to capital is not.”

“Leeds is one of the fastest growing economies in the UK and central to our regional development programme, focusing on supporting businesses with productivity, international trade, access to finance and net zero transition.”

The project has created five Regional Growth Boards in Leeds, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle with the aim of increasing the number of female-founded high- growth enterprises by 50 per cent within the next three years.

The initiative is backed and supported by Lloyds Bank and is being led by Lifted Ventures.

Lifted Ventures, co-founded by Jordan Dargue and Helen Oldham, is an early-stage investment connector, increasing the flow of early-stage capital to female founders, and to promote the business benefits of backing women.

Research has confirmed that there is a higher proportion of high-growth enterprises, founded by women, in the South-East than elsewhere in England due to easier access to funding, connections, knowledge sharing, talent, and customer base.

Ms Moore is also set to be the board chair for the Leeds Regional Growth Board.

She said that as a tech entrepreneur, she is passionate about enabling more women in the industry, improving gender equality and increasing investment in businesses founded by female entrepreneurs.

This has led to her being involved in the creation of LeanIn Leeds, The No Code Lab and the Yorkshire Growth Tech Group, all championing female representation.

Ms Moore was also invited to become a member of the UK Government’s Taskforce for diversity in fast growth companies in 2022.

Supporting Ms Moore as vice-chair is Natalie Boswell of Lloyds Bank. Ms Boswell is the Regional Development director for North-East and Yorkshire.

Ms Boswell joined Lloyds Bank after graduating from Leeds University. She said: “We are delighted to be supporting The Lifted Project, this is central to our women entrepreneurs programme; committed to supporting women-led businesses to scale and creating envi