Hunter Centre academics contribute to The Gender Index 2023
A team of academics from the Hunter Centre of Entrepreneurship contributed analysis and insights to the recently released The Gender Index 2023 report which provides data overall in the UK as well as perspectives specifically related to the situation in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales. The academic analyses and insights in the report have been produced by Warwick Business School and the Enterprise Research Centre, Strathclyde University and the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Cardiff University Business School and Queen’s University Belfast.
The analysis covers 8m+ unique directors, 4.5m+ active companies and 1,276 Venture Capital and Private Equity investors and it highlights the ongoing challenges for female-led companies accessing all forms of external capital. This year the focus of the report has been expanded to include ethnic minority female-led companies and the most represented (and under-represented) generations in entrepreneurship.
Professor Eleanor Shaw OBE; Dr Aylin Ates; Dr Paul Lassalle; and Dr Samuel Mwaura from the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship contributed to the report which notes that newly incorporated female-led companies make up just one in five SMEs in Scotland. The report also stated that research had found the Covid-19 pandemic impacted female entrepreneurs more adversely than their male counterparts.
The report notes that Scotland has the second highest percentage of fast growth, female-led companies (10.7%) across the UK, after Wales (12.1%).
The report found that, "Analysis of The Gender Index data 2022/23 highlights significant multi-faceted and dimensional gender gaps across many aspects of company leadership and entrepreneurial growth in Scotland and in the UK. These indicate that, as founders of entrepreneurial companies, women experience unequal access to the resources required to set up, sustain, and grow their companies. This is particularly marked for ethnic minority female-led companies." Therefore, in terms of finance, the report found that, as founders of entrepreneurial companies, women experience unequal access to the resources required to set up, sustain, and grow their companies.
In Scotland, 19.2% of younger female-led companies (Millennials and Generation Z) secure external capital compared to 14.2% for Generation X and 12% for Baby Boomers, the report revealed. These figures possibly suggest that younger generations may benefit from participation in entrepreneurship-related programmes at different stages of education (from primary schools to universities) underlining that exposure of younger generations to entrepreneurship can foster not only entrepreneurial mindsets but a better understanding of how to finance a new venture.
The Gender Index is sponsored by NatWest Group, Amazon Web Services, Goldman Sachs, mnAi, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) UK, and Shoosmiths.
The full report can be found here: https://www.thegenderindex.co.uk/reports
Published: 16 May 2023
