Key facts about Women in business

• Women entrepreneurs represent one of the fastest growing business segments in the UK at the present time.
• Every year, women in Scotland start 11,000 new businesses.
• These businesses are concentrated in the retail, personal services, education and health areas and most women-led firms are, on average, relatively small with many run on a part-time basis.
• Of those self-employed in Scotland, 27% are women - around 67,000 people - 43% operate part-time and 12-14% of businesses are majority-owned by women.
• In the USA, 38% of the self-employed are women and 26% of all businesses are owned by women.
• However, in Scotland the proportion of businesses led by women has been increasing gradually over recent years and they account for a greater share of start-ups than their share of the existing business base.
• About 277,000 Scottish women aged between 16 and 64 are would-be entrepreneurs. Of these, 34,000 have a current ctive interest in setting up a business.  Their main motives for wanting to become self-enployed are independence, flexibility and control over one's own destiny.
• Compared to only 5% of men, 20% of women want to work from home so that they can combine family and work responsibilities more effectively.

Many women do not think they could set up their own business because they do not have the necessary skills or entrepreneurial characteristics. They also list not knowing other business people as a reason they lack the confidence to start their own business.

Don't be one of these women! Only you can make your business dreams happen, but Business Gateway can help you with every aspect of starting up.

Take a look at our case studies to see a selection of the successful businesswomen who took the plunge and are now running their own successful companies.

Browse this site for extensive information and contacts or call 0845 609 6611 for advice. Good luck!

Further research

Read the Barclays report on Women In Business (PDF, 427kb)

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