New research has revealed where in the country is best for women-led startups, exploring how prepared women entrepreneurs felt when starting their businesses, how supported they were, and if they knew where to turn for help.

A survey from Sage of 500 small business leaders found that 32% of women entrepreneurs felt they didn’t have the required support when starting up, compared to 29% of men, whether that be financial, governmental, support from trade organisations, or support from within industry networks. Those in the North East ranked the highest in several important factors of a regional ranking, including how many female entrepreneurs felt supported when starting up (81%) and how well they were able to manage work life balance struggles (69%).

According to the data, women started their own businesses mostly for flexibility and work-life balance reasons (51%), compared to men, whose top reason for starting up was the financial opportunity (48%).

However, while the majority of business owners said they felt ready and prepared when they first launched their business in terms of the skills and knowledge they needed, 27% of women and 23% of men felt they were not completely ready, and 97% of all entrepreneurs said that they needed to develop or improve upon various skills to successfully run their business.

The results also showed how women were more confident in most areas than men when it came to achieving success within the next 12 months, with women more confident about:

• Their business becoming more profitable
• Growing brand awareness
• Improving customer satisfaction
• Improving work-life balance
• Increasing sales
• Becoming more environmentally sustainable

Fact Sheet: Women in Business Survey Findings

32% of women entrepreneurs felt they did not have the required support when starting up, compared to 29% of men – whether financial help, support from the government and local councils, support from trade organisations, or support within industry networks

Female entrepreneurs encountered struggles with profitability (77%), work-life balance (72%), becoming environmentally sustainable (65%), minimising costs (71%), managing business finances (74%), understanding tax requirements (75%), and knowing what technology is available to use (69%) more than men said they did.

27% of women and 23% of men said they were not ready or prepared when starting up.

When it comes to work-life balance, men report being more successful at managing it (67%) versus 61% of women.

Twice the number of women (12%) said they did not access any funding resources or options when starting up (versus 6% of men).

Women start-up owners are more confident than men when it comes to:

• Becoming more profitable (68% vs. 67%)
• Growing brand awareness (67% vs. 64%)
• Improving customer satisfaction (74% vs. 72%)
• Increasing sales (66% vs. 61%)
• Becoming more environmentally sustainable (61% vs. 53%)

As 1 in 3 female entrepreneurs feel unsupported at the beginning of their startup journey, and twice the number of women not accessing funding resources compared to men, clearly there is more to do when it comes to fostering environments that uplift women-led startups. With this information in mind, there is room for improvement across the country to drive further support for future startup entrepreneurs entering their journey to business success.

You can read more about the study from Sage here: https://www.sage.com/en-gb/blog/top-women-startups-locations/