Starling Financial institution has teamed up with Small Enterprise Britain, the UK’s main champion of small companies, to launch a brand new year-long partnership aimed toward empowering ladies throughout the UK to begin and develop their very own companies.

The partnership will characteristic occasions, analysis, and a brand new free on-line coaching programme, ‘Feminine Founder Fundamentals: the definitive information to beginning and rising your small business’, which is about to launch in early 2026. The initiative goals to supply feminine founders with the abilities, community, and confidence to unlock their progress potential, at a time when the variety of feminine founders within the UK has been declining.

Current UK authorities analysis from 2024 exhibits that ladies led simply 14 per cent of SME employers, a determine that has declined steadily lately. That is regardless of ladies making up round 30 per cent of solopreneurs, indicating a major untapped potential for scaling up.

The partnership is rooted within the recognition that higher help is required for the UK’s feminine founders. It kinds a part of Small Enterprise Britain’s mission to spice up the variety of feminine entrepreneurs main SMEs to 30 per cent by 2030. In accordance with estimates, if ladies began and scaled new companies on the similar fee as males, it may add as much as £250billion to the UK economic system.

Free coaching on finance, AI, and resilience

The brand new ‘Feminine Founder Fundamentals’ programme will encompass on-line masterclasses and peer-learning alternatives. It’s designed for ladies who’ve not too long ago began their very own companies and can give attention to constructing confidence, progress, and monetary abilities.

Established feminine founders will lead the masterclasses. Finance professional Faye Watts will lead a session on ‘Accessing Finance & Funding’ to assist individuals perceive funding choices, whereas internet design professional Cheryl Laidlaw will ship an ‘AI for Productiveness’ masterclass, exploring tips on how to use synthetic intelligence to streamline operations and save time.

The programme can even help psychological resilience and monetary wellbeing. This follows joint analysis from Starling and Small Enterprise Britain which discovered that 60 per cent of feminine founders battle to change off from work.

Kick-off on the Emirates

The partnership formally kicked off with a networking occasion for over 150 feminine entrepreneurs at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium on Saturday eighth November. The occasion, which capitalised on Starling’s partnership with Arsenal, befell forward of the Girls’s Tremendous League match in opposition to Chelsea and celebrated ladies’s achievements in each enterprise and sport.

“There’s such unimaginable vitality when ladies come collectively to have fun success and help each other, whether or not in enterprise or on the pitch,” mentioned Michelle Ovens CBE, CEO and founding father of Small Enterprise Britain. “This occasion with Starling at Arsenal Emirates Stadium was the right solution to kick off our new partnership… Collectively, we’re constructing on that momentum with a brand new coaching programme to assist much more ladies begin and develop sensible companies.”

Grace Graham, CEO of WorkSpa and one of many founders who attended the occasion, added: “It was a robust reminder of how essential it’s to create areas the place ladies really feel seen, supported, and celebrated as they overcome obstacles and develop their companies. Initiatives like this new partnership with Starling are essential, offering the coaching and assets ladies must develop, lead, and thrive.”

Michele Rousseau, chief advertising and marketing officer at Starling, mentioned: “Starling is proud to be a female-founded financial institution. We stand behind feminine founders who’re driving innovation and progress throughout the UK. This partnership with Small Enterprise Britain displays our dedication to serving to individuals be good with cash, whether or not that’s by monetary instruments, abilities improvement, or just celebrating their achievements.”