Leaders from the world’s biggest financial institutions today (Monday 1st July) called for the number of women-led businesses going public to triple by 2025.
In a rare step, senior women from competitor banks, law firms and insurance companies came together at this morning’s opening of London Stock Exchange markets to make the call to action.
Their calls came as part of a drive to ensure that female business leaders and entrepreneurs realise their full potential with the support of the finance industry.
The group, who together are founding partners of The WealthiHer Network created to champion women and to help them to prosper, want to see growth in the number of female-led initial public offerings (IPO) from 10% to 30% over the next six years.
Pooling the collective clout of the UK’s leading city firms, the Network will work to accelerate the rise of female-led businesses from inception to growth and the achievement of end goals including listing on the stock exchange or exiting their businesses through other means.
According to the government backed Rose Review published earlier this year, men in the UK are five times more likely than women to build a business of £1 million+ turnover, despite the fact that women are as successful as men in sustaining a business once established, with 73% of entrepreneurs of both sexes running businesses older than 3 and a half years.
The report also found only 1% of all venture funding currently goes to businesses founded by all-female teams, inhibiting scale up.
Speaking at the market open event, hosted by London Stock Exchange Group’s Women Inspired Network (WIN) this morning (1 July), The WealthiHer Network Co-Founder and entrepreneur Tamara Gillan said: “There are already so many societal barriers and institutional biases which prevent female entrepreneurs from growing their business from start-up to scale-up. Something needs to change.
“That’s why we are so grateful to be here at London Stock Exchange Group with its Women’s Inspired Network to celebrate women’s wealth and promote diversity across the industry.
“Because with the backing of the country’s biggest financial institutions, 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.”
The announcement comes on the heels of The WealthiHer Report, Understanding the diversity of women’s wealth, published in May, which was the UK’s biggest ever study into the female experience of wealth and the finance industry.
Its founding partners include Barclays Private Bank; Brewin Dolphin; Brown Advisory; C5 Capital; Chubb; Close Brothers; Asset Management; HSBC Private Banking; Investec Private Bank; J.P. Morgan; Julius Baer; Irwin Mitchell; and Kleinwort Hambros.
The WealthiHer Network change makers will continue to collaborate over coming months, working together to address the latest figures which show just 5% of CEOs of companies listed in London are women.
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