Written evidence submitted by Visiting Professor Dr Sara de Freitas [FEN0011]

Response to Female Entrepreneurship in the UK

What steps should the Government take to help support the development of female-led high growth enterprises?

I have worked as a University Researcher, establishing three research labs, developing 20 software applications and 3 platforms. Have led the academic portfolio in four universities (2 in Australia), 3 colleges and 2 schools (including the largest online school in the UK with 4,000 students). I have been a Director in three companies, most recently as an edtech start up, Weypoint building immersive experiences. I have attracted public and private funding, including 12 EU projects, 3 EPSRC, 3 InnovateUK projects, and as a PLC company Director who sold the company for over 70M in 2022, I have some thoughts on both the problem and solutions.

So, I have a unique position having been on all sides of the equation of innovation and policy, industry and academia, business and public sector.

My view on the position for government is that fast action is needed. There are clearly major challenges as outlines in the recent Uk government Female Founders report at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/women-led-high-growth-enterprise-taskforce-report/women-led-high-growth-enterprise-taskforce-report-html. Which demonstrates the scale of a hidden problem. Rachel Reeves, the first female chancellor has already paused funding of the Smart awards, we await a review there.

Actions need to be taken, and a flurry of female founders investment pots have arisen, just for them, as the bias against them has clearly been unsurmountable. The last glass ceiling for women in the UK? Perhaps.

But what can be done? So know now that over 30B could be opened up if funding was available for female founders. My feeling is that two things need to be done urgently.

1)     Establish female targets for all boards (not just FTSE) – otherwise the problem will never be surmounted within a reasonable time window. This worked in FTSE, so why not in AIM and other areas?

2)     Set up a ring-fenced amount for InnovateUK female founders – maybe 15% for 2026, rising to 50% (in 5% increments) over the following 5-10 years. This should include more female assessors at InnovateUK, opportunities for female founder mentors, and a growth in flexible funding instruments that respond to SMEs and start ups, as well as larger companies.

March 2025