Women-led companies outperform those led by men despite often facing more barriers

Women-led companies often outperform those led by men, earning around an extra £4.3 million each year, according to money.co.uk analysis of the Global Fortune 500 list.

The data shows that female-led companies earn an average annual turnover of £10.4 million, compared to £6.1 million for male-led firms.

Despite this, female entrepreneurs still face more barriers than men, especially when it comes to accessing crucial funding, like securing investment or being accepted for a business loan.

In fact, according to analysis from Startups, on average, female-founded businesses each received £5.15 million less in funding than solely male-owned organisations last year.

So, what does female entrepreneurship look like in 2025, and what barriers do we still need to overcome?

Barriers faced by female entrepreneurs

According to the Gender Index, there are significantly fewer female-led companies that are ‘fast-growing’ in revenue, earnings, or market share in the UK, at just 2,407 compared to 15,130 led by men.

The research shows that unequal funding opportunities play a big part in this, with male-led companies most commonly funded by private equity. This type of funding offers benefits often including a bigger cash injection, flexibility in what the funds are used for, and enhanced credibility through having a well-known investor involved in the business.

Last year, out of 435 businesses that received private equity funding, only 3.2% were female-led companies, compared to 90% that were led solely by men.

Whereas, female-led companies are most commonly funded through angel investors (5.5%), who are high-net-worth individuals investing their own money.

While these investors can be a valuable source of funding, they typically have access to much less capital than bigger, private equity firms, making it more difficult to scale quickly.

Beyond funding inequality, like women across the workforce, many female entrepreneurs also shoulder greater childcare responsibilities, which can limit the time and resources available to grow their businesses.

Research shows that one in four mothers (26%) reduce their working hours due to childcare compared to just one in 12 fathers (8%), and nearly two-fifths (39%) of women work part-time, compared to just one in six (15%) men.

Trailblazing female entrepreneurs

Despite these barriers, the 8% rise in the number of self-employed women in the UK over the last decade, reaching 1.56 million in 2024, shows a strong entrepreneurial spirit and determination to overcome. This is compared to a 12% decrease in the number of self-employed men in the same period.

London is leading the charge on this trend, with the highest proportion of self-employed women (13.2%), followed by the South West (12.5%), and only slightly lower figures across the rest of the UK, according to Nomis.

Within these regions, the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea (33.7%) and the north-Devon town of Torridge (31%) stand out as the top hubs for self-employed women nationally.

According to the same source, building finishing trades, including tile installers, glaziers, and painters, rank top compared to other sectors for the number of self-employed women in the field. There are 5,100 self-employed women, equaling for over four-fifths (83.6%) of the trade’s total female workforce.

Meanwhile, health, well-being, and social care are the most popular sectors for female-led businesses. There are 225,842 UK businesses in this field, two in five (39.9%) of which are led by women.

Changes needed to allow female entrepreneurs to thrive

Neelam Ahuja, Small Business Expert at money.co.uk business, comments: “Female entrepreneurs have significantly impacted the UK economy, as seen in the impressive revenue generated by female-led companies. However, it’s no secret that being a woman in business can come with barriers, whether it’s struggling to access capital, a lack of mentorship and networking opportunities, gender stereotypes, or work-life balance challenges.

“Despite this, the rising number of self-employed women over the years shows the perseverance of female trailblazers to overcome these barriers and make their mark in the entrepreneurial landscape. But to enable female entrepreneurs to flourish further, progress still needs to be made regarding equal opportunities.

“Business leaders can contribute to this by creating more mentorship and networking opportunities for female entrepreneurs, where women in business can share their knowledge and experiences to further their development. Financial service providers must also ensure they create equal access to funding opportunities through grants, loans, or investment capital.

“By creating equal opportunities like these, as well as highlighting female role models in the workplace, businesses can foster a more inclusive environment and pave the way for more female entrepreneurs to reach their full potential.”

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