Taskforce Urges Investment in Women-Led Ventures to Fuel UK’s Tech Evolution

A glaring gender gap in the UK’s high-growth entrepreneurship ecosystem is hindering progress and stifling the full potential of women in driving innovation and economic growth, a new report has revealed.

The report, from a taskforce spearheaded by Anne Boden, founder of Starling Bank, advocates for significant reevaluation of investment strategies with only six per cent of high-growth enterprises being wholly or majority led by women.

The Women-Led High-Growth Enterprise Taskforce, chaired by Boden since it was established in May 2022, has worked with entrepreneurs, campaigning organisations, and the investment community to gather data and identify the main barriers for women in starting and scaling high growth enterprises.

Funding

Central to its report’s findings is the stark revelation of persistent barriers obstructing women entrepreneurs from accessing essential funding. Despite strides made in recent years, the report highlights that only a fraction of equity investment in the UK is directed towards fully female-founded businesses.

Women continue to receive less than two per cent of venture capital funding annually, painting a concerning picture of gender disparities in the investment landscape.

To increase the amount of money going into female-founded businesses, the Taskforce recommends:Investment companies must publish the percentage of senior investment professionals they employ alongside targets, as female investment professionals are more likely to back female founded and led businesses.
Investment companies sign up to the Investing in Women Code, where signatories are more likely back female led companies (35 per cent vs 27 per cent); although the number of signatories has grown by 40 per cent to 204 since 2022.

Diversity

Women-led businesses often encounter obstacles related to workforce diversity, leadership representation, and access to networks. The taskforce found that even after securing investment, women entrepreneurs face challenges in building diverse teams and accessing networks crucial for business growth and expansion.

Just 18 per cent of high-growth enterprises include one or more women on the founding team – while all-male founding teams make up 82 per cent of high-growth enterprises.

Improving diversity in senior investment roles is a key driver in enhancing the funding pipeline for women-led, high-growth businesses.Taskforce members agreed that gender balanced investors offer a broader spectrum of perspectives and experiences, enriching the decision-making process, reducing group-think.

Regional differences

Almost 45 per cent of England’s high growth enterprises are in London and considering that only 13 per cent of the UK population reside in London, this shows an imbalance in high-growth activities. The report stresses the importance of creating tailored support networks and resources for women entrepreneurs, particularly those outside traditional tech hubs like London.

To increase the number of women-led high-growth businesses outside London the Taskforce recommends:The establishment of Female Founders Growth Boards on a regional basis that will bring together public and private local stakeholders.

Boosting the economy

“As this report shows, the number of high-growth enterprises with at least one female founder is incredibly low and the picture is even worse for all-female teams,” says Maria Caulfield, Minister for Women. “This represents a shocking waste of talent and innovation and understanding the issues and barriers behind it was something I was particularly keen to understand.”

“We know women have the skills and ambition to launch successful businesses and we want to make sure they have every opportunity to do that. It is vital to everyone that we use this untapped potential to help boost the UK economy. I welcome the findings of the Taskforce’s work which will help us to achieve the government’s target of increasing the number of female entrepreneurs by half – equivalent to nearly 600,000
entrepreneurs – by 2030.”
Boden’s vision

In the report’s conclusion, Boden says: Our recommendations are ambitious, but I won’t apologise for that. Making small incremental changes won’t move the dial. We’ve been talking about this being a challenge for too long. Now we need to take big strides forward.

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Waste transfer milestone at Scottish plant

The final box of solid ILW being sealed (Image: NRS)

The retrieval has been completed of more than 2100 tonnes of solid intermediate-level radioactive waste from five above-ground concrete bunkers at the Hunterston A Magnox nuclear power plant in Scotland. The project began 20 years ago.

Hunterston A - a twin Magnox reactor site - is 30 miles south west of Glasgow and was Scotland's first civil nuclear generating station. The plant, opened in 1964, ceased operations in 1989 after generating a total of 73 TWh of electricity.

Intermediate-level waste (ILW) was transported from the plant via underground tunnels and stored in one of five above-ground concrete bunkers that were constructed on site between the 1960s and 1980s. This waste consists of contaminated metallic components, debris removed from used fuel elements and 30,000 fuel element graphite sleeves.

Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS) - which is responsible for safely decommissioning the first generation nuclear and research sites across the UK - said the Hunterston A site holds the largest inventory of solid ILW across all its sites.

Creating an opening into bunker three through a 2.4m thick concrete wall (Image: NRS)
NRS noted that ILW becomes a site's highest radiological hazard once all the used fuel has been removed. Defueling of Hunterston A was completed in 1995. NRS said this waste is often located in hard-to-reach areas, making the task of retrieving it "a complicated business requiring, in some cases, many years of engineering work before it can begin in earnest".

The Solid Active Waste Bunker Retrieval (SAWBR) project was established to retrieve the ILW from the bunkers at Hunterston A.

The initial breakthrough of the first bunker was conducted manually in 2014 using core drills and wire saws to remove an 800mm-deep concrete slab. Then a remotely-operated vehicle broke through the remaining 400mm depth to create the first full opening.

A remotely operated vehicle removing waste (Image: NRS)

Remotely operated vehicles were used to recover the waste to a purpose-built facility constructed on the side elevation of the bunker. The waste was then loaded into three-metre-cube-size stainless steel boxes. The filled boxes were then transported to the site's ILW store pending future encapsulation at the solid intermediate level waste encapsulation (SILWE) facility before being returned to the ILW store for long-term storage.

NRS has now announced that the final box of solid ILW has been sealed.

"This is a fantastic achievement which has safely and compliantly reduced one of the most significant hazards on site," said Hunterston A Site Director Mark Blackley. "Over 85% of the ILW inventory has now been retrieved. This is a tremendous testament to everyone who has been involved in or who has supported this project. The remaining 15% of ILW inventory are residual sludges from the spent fuel storage ponds and acids. These are in the process of being recovered and treated."

Stuart Blair, Waste Operations Manager at Hunterston A, added: "The process to empty the bunkers has not been without its challenges. The team has overcome many technical challenges throughout, employing operational experience and innovation to progress the waste recoveries safely and efficiently.

"This represents a major milestone for the entire site with all colleagues across functions and departments playing a key role in supporting this achievement. Most of the team that has completed this work has been involved since day one of retrievals which makes the achievement especially satisfying. With safe and sustainable decommissioning, the process takes decades to complete, so I am also mindful of former colleagues who have contributed significantly over the course of the 20 years since the recovery concept was born."Researched and written by World Nuclear News. Waste transfer milestone at Scottish plant : Waste & Recycling - World Nuclear News
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