HerPower #1 - Dismantling Stigmas and Empowering Female Founders

Hey, it's Dawn McGruer, the Business Growth Coach, and welcome to Dawn of a New Era, the podcast where we talk all things health, wealth and happiness, and where founders share the good, the bad and ugly of being an entrepreneur. So welcome to part one of our mini series for Dawn of a New Era, all about female empowerment. And the first one that we're talking about is dismantling stigmas and empowering female founders. So data from the first half of 24 highlights the need for really targeted support because the amount of capital going to male teams and founders has surged to 86%, while investment in businesses founded by women has dropped to just 1.

8%. So it's always been a big mission of mine through my podcast, Dawn of a New Era, to really provide actionable insights, inspiring stories, and a sense of community whilst addressing these critical issues that surround female entrepreneurs and face us in today's business environment. So earlier this year, I decided to take my mission a step further and bring a voice to all female business owners and founders, and I started the Her Power Community, which has just launched. Now, the whole ethos of the community is about empowering female founders to recognise their limitless potential and pursue their ambitions with confidence.

Now, the Her Power Community aims to really reverse these disparities in female-led businesses by providing tools and support and a powerful network for women in business. So as women, we really need to start challenging societal norms and dismantling these stigmas and fostering this safe space where every woman can harness her inner strength and think growth, but act with intent. We have just launched our Female Founder Lunches, which are going to be hosted in London and Manchester, with the core theme being about where connections flourish and growth is intentional. So we are seeing shifts across the landscape for female-led...

Our led businesses with the recent announcement from the UK Finance Minister, Rachel Reeves, who has endorsed a new initiative aimed at directing more investment towards female-led founder teams. Central to this plan is the establishment of a 250 million funds of funds, plus the Investing Women Taskforce was launched in March this year by entrepreneur Debbie Wosskow and Barclays Bank executive Hannah Bernard. Now, the intention was to create a funding environment for female entrepreneurs by bringing a new pot of capital on stream while also encouraging more women to actually become investors. Now, Debbie even went as far to state that the figures show that female-led businesses deliver a far better return than those managed by male founders.

And did you know that there are relatively few women in senior roles at VC funds and only 14% of angels are actually female? So if we all pull together as a powerful community, we can change this landscape and the attitudes to investment towards female founders. So come and join the conversation and the community on Instagram at Her Power Community and join our VIP list to find out more about our next events. So join me on part two of our Female Empowerment mini-series.

Thanks for listening to Dawn of a New Era, the podcast brought to you in association with the Her Power Community. This initiative was founded by myself, and it's all about empowering female founders to recognise their limitless potential and pursue their ambitions with confidence. Now, there is less than 1.8% that goes into investing in female-founded businesses, and we are here to make positive change.

So come and support us on Instagram at Her Power Community and find out more about what we're doing to support female founders to scale and grow their businesses.