Coast to Capital pledges support for female entrepreneurs

It is one of the first LEPs to sign up to The Investing in Women Code and it is also announcing its support for The Gender Index – the largest research study into female entrepreneurship ever undertaken.

 

The Code commits lenders and investors to collect and report data about their performance backing female-led firms. It also hopes to make the UK one of the most attractive countries in the world to start and grow a business by advancing female entrepreneurship.

 

The Gender Index is a live, interactive tool that maps every single UK company in every country, region, LEP and local authority in real-time. Its findings include information on gender, regions, sectors and investment.

 

Julie Kapsalis, Coast to Capital’s Chair, said: “I am thrilled that we are the first LEP to sign up to The Investing in Women Code. We are always pleased to champion female-owned businesses, and we hope that by becoming a signatory alongside more than 100 organisations, we will encourage more LEPs to commit to improving the outlook for female entrepreneurs across their own regions.

 

“Our region is a diverse one, in every sense – geographically, economically, socially, demographically. We see this as a major asset and look at how we can enable opportunity, access, and participation across everything we do at Coast to Capital.”

 

Anthony Middleton, Acting Chief Executive at Coast to Capital, added: “These tools are invaluable in our understanding of our region and will enable us to ensure our strategy is aligned with the type of support our businesses need. Our Growth Hub already provides fully funded advice, support, investment, and strategic leadership to help SMEs drive sustainable business success, and these tools will help us direct this support and investment to ensure we are creating equal opportunities.”

 

For more information about The Investing in Women Code please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investing-in-women-code, and for information about The Gender Index, please click here https://www.thegenderindex.co.uk/.