One in 4 feminine entrepreneurs are juggling a second job to remain afloat, new analysis reveals.
Two in 5 ladies founders say working a enterprise in 2025 has been more durable than final yr, in keeping with the examine by everywoman and Tide, with over half working longer hours.
The report reveals a difficult yr for women-led enterprises, with the commonest setbacks being falling client spending, inflation, and political uncertainty.
Entry to finance stays a significant hurdle, with 28% citing restricted entry to funding as a barrier to progress and 36% calling for extra grants and focused tax reduction to assist them scale.
Solely 2p in each £1 invested in enterprise capital funding within the UK goes to female-founded companies, and it’s estimated that supporting ladies to have the identical entry to funding that their male friends get pleasure from would ship an financial increase of over £250 billion.
However regardless of these setbacks, the examine mentioned feminine entrepreneurs are “displaying exceptional resilience within the face of financial headwinds”. Greater than three fifths anticipate their income to develop over the following yr, with 17% predicting a 50-100% enhance.
As well as, 44% plan to enter new markets and 30% will spend money on digitisation, each outpacing male enterprise house owners’ forecasts (33% and 23%, respectively).
In the meantime, over 1 / 4 of girls enterprise house owners plan to develop their groups within the subsequent yr (28%) and a fifth (21%) will spend money on upskilling and coaching.
Nicole Goodwin, joint managing director of AllBright everywoman, mentioned: “Powerful instances reveal true grit, and feminine founders have it in abundance. Their ambition and optimism within the face of hardship isn’t naive, it’s strategic. Ladies-led companies are proving themselves as an unstoppable pressure for progress and innovation throughout the UK.”
Tide and everywoman are collaborating on a programme to assist feminine entrepreneurs succeed, together with giving a £20,000 grant to 1 feminine founder at an awards ceremony in December.
The survey, launched throughout International Entrepreneurship Week, follows a significant report launched by the Ladies’s and Equalities Committee final month.
It mentioned entry to finance for female-founders is a “essential concern” given the “tiny fraction” of enterprise capital funding that does going to supporting women-led companies. Regardless of quite a few critiques and initiatives “this case is getting worse not higher”, it warned.
The report outlined 26 actions the federal government ought to take to assist feminine entrepreneurs.
