Female-led businesses in Leeds receive significantly less investment than male-led counterparts, study shows

Data from the new dashboard revealed that women-led businesses, where more than half of the directors associated with the business are female, receive significantly less investment than male-led ones.

Zandra Moore, CEO and Co-founder of Leeds-based Panintelligence, said: “It is not acceptable that businesses and individuals are denied opportunities to expand and develop simply because they are founded and fronted by female entrepreneurs. Research shows that female-led businesses are more likely to succeed and make for better investment opportunities. Still, when it comes to the real value of funding, less than 1 per cent of overall funding is allocated to female-led businesses.”

The women-led high-growth enterprise taskforce has been set up in conjunction with The Cabinet Office to focus on regions outside of London.

Ms Moore is part of the taskforce, alongside other female entrepreneurs and experienced business leaders, chaired by Anne Boden MBE, founder and former CEO of Starling Bank.

Its aim is to influence and engage with high-growth investors and the wider business community, inspiring and raising the aspirations of the next generation of female entrepreneurs. It will also work with organisations across the UK to support the government’s target of increasing the number of female entrepreneurs by half by 2030 (equivalent to nearly 600,000 more female entrepreneurs), focusing on driving change in growth capital.

The Inclusive Growth Dashboard, which sees Leeds-based global businesses The Data City and Panintelligence working together for the first time, will initially showcase inclusive growth data for Leeds city region with opportunities to roll out in other local authority regions at a later date.

Alex Craven, CEO of The Data City, said: “This is an exciting growth project which brings two of Leeds’ most prominent tech businesses together for the first time to help boost the profile and success of some of the UK’s major female entrepreneurs and inspire future growth as well as talent. The regional dashboard has been published to highlight data for Leeds, but has wider applications at a local and national level, and will enable local authorities to track inclusive growth and drive change in investment in diverse businesses.”