Why Scotland needs to invest in female founders

The thing that stayed with me wasn’t the numbers – it was what kept happening in the room. Women arriving unsure of themselves, navigating big changes in life, work, health or confidence. Women wondering whether to start something new, or whether they still had the energy to keep going with what they’d already built. And the same words, again and again: “I needed this.”

That phrase has stayed with me, because it tells you something important about where we are. Women-led start-ups now make up 54 per cent of all new businesses in Scotland and are growing turnover faster than male-led firms – yet they receive just 2.8 per cent of equity investment. Closing that gap could unlock £310 billion for the UK economy.

Eighty per cent of Scotland’s female founders say they lack support, compared to just 40 per cent of men. Both the Scottish and UK governments cite lack of networks as the single biggest barrier to women scaling as quickly as men. The talent and ambition are clearly there but the infrastructure to support it is not.

A lot of the problem is practical. Many women still bear the brunt of childcare responsibility, making it difficult to attend networking events that take place in the evenings or during school pick-up time.

The “motherhood penalty” costs mothers an average of £65,618 in lost pay by the time their first child turns five, according to the Office for National Statistics. The connections that help businesses scale are being made in rooms these women can’t get into.

I know how that feels. I started egg in 2017 as a Facebook group when I moved to Edinburgh with no local network. It’s now Scotland’s largest platform for women in business. But my experience isn’t unusual – it’s typical.

There are signs that government is starting to take this seriously. The Scottish government’s Ecosystem Fund is now backing organisations that work directly with women in business.

Through that fund, we were able to provide free childcare at every stop on our recent Scotland-wide tour and subsidised tickets for women on maternity leave.

That’s what practical investment looks like – not grand strategy but solving the specific problems that keep women out of the room.

The egg Business Club has allowed female founders to connect, collaborate and work with one another to support their business growth – from brand strategy and social media positioning to everything from leadership coaching to car sourcing.

Female business owners shouldn’t have to travel to the Central Belt to find community, and they shouldn’t have to choose between bedtime and a business opportunity.

Networks aren’t a nice-to-have. They’re where deals get done, where partnerships start, where someone tells you about an opportunity you’d never have heard about otherwise.

The Ecosystem Fund has shown what’s possible when government backs this directly. Now we need the wider business community and investors to follow. With just 2.8 per cent of equity investment reaching female founders, we are leaving that £310bn on the table. The money follows the network and it’s time Scotland invested in both.

Kylie Reid, founder of egg