Let’s celebrate female entrepreneurs, they face bigger hurdles - Sunday Times
Promoting and investing in women should not be about gender targets. It should be about judging people on their merits and praising the likes of Taylor Swift
Along with my children, I recently spent a fantastic evening with one of the world’s greatest female entrepreneurs. For more than three hours, we were transfixed by a 34-year-old who, stung by early rejection and then bad business guidance, determined to chase success on her own terms. As a pop star, Taylor Swift is spellbinding. As a businesswoman, she’s a phenomenon.
Since last year, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour has played 150 shows across the world, 15 of them in the UK. The first 60 earned a gross figure of $1 billion (the latest figures have yet to emerge). With each show selling an average of 72,000 tickets at $239 each, her team will earn $17 million (£13 million) a gig. That’s not even including merchandise, with estimates suggesting “Swifties” spend $2 million a night on branded gear. She has also made a film of the tour, with the streaming rights sold to Disney+ for about $75 million.
We need to celebrate these stories of female entrepreneurship with much greater fanfare. Women have to juggle more than us men just to get a business off the ground, with many more obstacles blocking their route to the top. They are role models from whom the business community can learn so much, which is why I’m looking forward to meeting Greggs’ brilliant chief executive, Roisin Currie, to understand more about her style of leadership.
A recent report suggested that female entrepreneurs made up only 32 per cent of the UK’s smaller business leaders — and that if they received the backing to start and scale at the same rate as men, the UK would benefit from an extra £250 billion worth of growth. Meanwhile, the Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, led by NatWest’s former chief executive, found that only 5 per cent of venture capital money goes to female entrepreneurs.
Women should be judged on their merits, not on gender, when it comes to investment and promotion — something drummed into me at an early age. I was often regaled with stories about my great-grandmother, who helped to set up and run a thriving cotton mill in Huddersfield, and my grandmother, who ran a successful property business in Cleckheaton in Yorkshire, as well as a flower shop. Their achievements were down to who they were, not what they were.
It’s why I don’t subscribe to gender targets — when you chase numbers, mediocrity results. It’s not that mediocre people get promoted, but that businesses respond in half-hearted ways, ticking boxes rather than truly investing in female talent. They are chasing numbers and artificial improvements, rather than changing deep-rooted bias and inequity and building a robust culture where women feel valued and supported — where talent is nurtured.
The more we divide men and women — through gender-specific networking and peer groups, for instance — the more that strengthens the unfair status quo. We need to work together and judge each other on individual abilities.
Taylor Swift’s Eras tour shows grossed $1 billion in the first 60 of 150 shows alone
The first entrepreneur I ever invested in was Sara Davies of Crafter’s Companion, who has just finished her fifth series on the panel of Dragons’ Den, which I suppose makes me the dragon behind the dragon. She, along with her TV colleague, Deborah Meaden, are fantastic role models for female entrepreneurship. I backed Sara because of her passion and desire, not her gender.
Having said that, business leaders must address imbalances by creating more flexible, inclusive and family-friendly working environments. One of the most significant decisions I took at HomeServe was to fast-track female talent. Motherhood and family care shouldn’t affect career trajectories, so our Summit Programme enabled female managers to jump a level in qualification criteria when they take time out to start a family or care for loved ones. It’s been great to see one of those who benefited from the scheme in the US, Deb Dulsky, thrive as chief executive of the building services firm SafeBasements.
Aside from their business acumen, female entrepreneurs often outperform male counterparts because they are more open and collaborative, with greater emotional intelligence and empathetic leadership. They understand how important teamwork is, and because it may have been more difficult for them to climb the corporate ladder or set up their own business, women are often made of tougher stuff. And — let’s be honest, men — we know who’s better at multi-tasking, juggling priorities with finesse and without fuss.
Some male investors think female entrepreneurs are more averse to risk taking, but I think that’s nonsense. They tend to be more sensitive to financial losses than men, which means their approach to risk is more considered and sensible, bereft of over-confident machismo. And while their desire to make money is a key motivating factor, it’s part of the plan, not the sole ambition. They want to make a difference, not just a profit.
Forty per cent of my Growth Partner investments have female founders, a higher ratio when compared to most private equity players. One is Victoria Lynch, from Stockton-on-Tees, who left school with no qualifications to work as a machine operator in the local factory, while training to be a hairdresser at nights and weekends. She now runs Additional Lengths, a hair-extensions business that supplies thousands of salons, and I’ve backed her to expand into America. With persistence, determination and passion, she has found incredible success.
We need to find more ways to help women achieve their potential, climb the ladder and set up their own businesses. It’s why organisations such as Enterprise Nation, which is backed by Growth Partner, are so important. It’s run by an amazing female entrepreneur, Emma Jones, and offers tailored guidance for start-ups.
The more we celebrate and share these success stories, the more inspired girls and women will become. And the more confident they will be that they too can make it on their own terms, just like Taylor Swift.
Richard Harpin is founder and chairman of HomeServe and Growth Partner, and owner of Business Leader magazine