Giving female founders a roadmap to investment

Karen Holden, founder of A City Law Firm, set up the Female Founders Growth programme to help women founders to scale their businesses.  A recent survey by InvestEngine shows women are more risk averse when it comes to finance, with almost two thirds (62%) saying they would want to know their money was in a low-risk product (vs. 56% of men), but that, while women are less likely to invest in the first place, when they do, they get better returns than men. The Female Founders Growth programme is holding a Roadmap to Investment event in London from 5-7.30pm on 19th September with six industry experts and five investors to help women founders access and understand possible routes to investment. Karen spoke to workingmums.co.uk about what she hopes the event will bring.

workingmums.co.uk: Why are you putting on this particular event?

Karen Holden: Most founders, starting a business, will require funding at some point. Many female founders, as highlighted by The Gender Index, don’t secure as much investment as their male counterparts. This is believed to be about opportunity and access. We are often asked what women should do to secure funding and what kind of funding they should take. This event, A Roadmap to Investment & other funding, aims is to help women understand everything they should and shouldn’t be doing, in what order and it seeks to open opportunities up for female founders.

workingmums.co.uk: Has this come out of issues that have been raised in the Female Founders Growth programme that you set up?

KH: These issues have been made clear in the press and through The Gender Index and Rose Review, but yes, during our events and working with female founders, we have found the same questions and gaps time after time. Particularly, we have noticed women were not asking for enough money or setting out their pitch and structure to promote scalability so, with some slight adjustments, we were able to open up more opportunity.

workingmums.co.uk: How has that been progressing since its launch? What are the main challenges that come up in discussions?

KH: We have not really officially launched: we have run a few events and a pilot programme to understand truly what was needed. With our successes, we have been able to tweak exactly what people want, in what format we should deliver this and what ultimately works. After the Roadmap to Investment and armed with this essential information there will be an opportunity in October to perfect what has been learned and to actually pitch.

workingmums.co.uk: Funders have been traditionally reluctant to invest in female-founded firms. Do you think that is changing in any way?

KH: Whilst I do understand the figures suggest this reluctance, you also need to look behind the figures. There are a number of factors involved: sometimes it can be the women creating their own barriers, not asking for enough money or being reluctant to pitch;  other times it’s that the business genuinely isn’t scalable or high growth, which is what investors are looking for. My experience is that funders are actually looking for more female-led businesses, as they are more cautious and have a track record of success.

workingmums.co.uk: Research also shows women tend to be more risk averse when it comes to investment. Do you think more education on how to seek investment and on what works will build their confidence in a difficult marketplace [given the investment playing field is far from being even]?

KH: Many women are also averse to debt finance as well as investment. Having looked at this further females are very cautious as to their liabilities, whether it’s because we’ve been conditioned to look after the finances for the family or we are more mistrusting or less willing to gamble on ourselves. There are many theories. We are encouraging female founders to look for government funding through grants and tax reliefs and to consider their options as well as investment. More information and understanding is leading to females taking up more opportunities.

workingmums.co.uk: Have you personally encountered issues around attracting investment as a female founder?

KH: Unlike many women, I chose to scale my business through debt financing so that I could retain ownership and control yet have the necessary capital to scale. I do see more women doing this and reaping the benefits, but it’s still not seen as the norm.

workingmums.co.uk: What are you main hopes for the event?

KH: Obviously, we would love founders to sign up to the programme and understand the proposition and benefits. However, we would simply like to signpost female founders to what they need to do to start, scale and secure investment and wish them success. As a female founder, I want to see other female founders thrive. So I’m doing my best to give them as many resources and as much information as possible.

*You can register for a ticket to the event here.

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