From Mary Portas to Karren Brady - what it's really like being a businesswoman in Britain

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Numerous studies - including exclusive new research by the Telegraph published to mark the launch of the 'Women Mean Business' campaign - have shown that female entrepreneurs in Britain find it harder to access startup funding. Indeed, only nine per cent of all UK startup money goes to women-led businesses each year, despite women owning 33 per cent of business is in Britain and a further one in eight wanting to become entrepreneurs.

But behind the numbers there are human stories. Women - whether young and just starting out, or leaving corporate roles to start their own projects - are facing hurdles.

Here, some prominent female founders tell us about the obstacles they overcame on the road to success...

Baroness Karren Brady

'When I took over Birmingham City in 1993, I was just 23-years-old. Being a woman, and a young woman, in the Nineties in a male dominated environment had its challenges.

At my first press conference, I did a serious presentation about the club, its financial situation and more importantly what I planned to do about, it as well as what my ambitions were for it. When I was finished and I asked the press if they had any questions.

I only got one: “what are your vital statistics?”. Clearly that was all they were interested in.

At my first away game, I asked the steward on the door where the directors’ boardroom was and he pointed me to the ladies room. The steward presumed I was a director’s wife. When I politely pointed out I was the Managing Director, he told me to wait where I was and he would “find out what to do with me”,  as in 1993 women were not allowed in the boardrooms of football clubs.

I always say it was the first door I kicked down, and held open as long and as wide as possible to get as many other women through it!'

Justine Roberts, Founder and CEO, Mumsnet

'In the early days of Mumsnet, before the internet bubble burst I put together a business plan and began to tout it around. It was a bruising experience - many investors were sceptical to say the least - I just didn't fit the mould of young, male, business school grad and investors seemed unable to grasp the possibility that a mother might be the best CEO for a start-up based on my own idea and designed for other mothers.   

'One German investor said authoritatively: “When you fail, give me a call and I will give you a job on my website” - they went bust 12 months later. Another told me that he liked my idea but that there was a fundamental problem. Namely, me. Had I "thought about recruiting an experienced CEO to run the company instead?"

Even now that Mumsnet has grown to be one of the top 10 most visited social networks in the UK I still get investors asking me who we have to run the business side of things.'

Dame Helena Morrissey

'A great many people told me the 30% Club would fail. My hope was to create a campaign to achieve a real breakthrough in board diversity, to reach at least 30 per cent women directors. The approach would be collaborative, working with men, through voluntary actions.

There were numerous counter-arguments – ‘we need legislation’, ‘it’s all been tried before’, ‘this is not a business issue’ - even after the financial crisis had so painfully demonstrated the risks when directors were similar and familiar. One day, a FTSE 100 chairman snapped at me ‘You’re going to destroy British business!’

That was just so wrong in every sense that it simply increased my resolve. Since then, the proportion of female FTSE 100 directors has increased from 12.5 per cent to over 28 per cent. There are now no all-male boards. More importantly, the mindset has shifted – diversity is now seen as part of what it takes to be a modern company.'

Mary Portas, Broadcaster and retail consultant 

'We underestimate the role of instinct and intuition on business. Most great businesses are built on vision and instinct, but often investors ignore this side of things. That's where the disconnect comes, because women often work on instinct whereas men often just want to talk data.'

'I just thought why do I have to play this game, I'm going to do things differently, my own way, but even when you do that it's very difficult to unshackle yourself from the way things have always been done, the way men have always done things.'

Nicola Elliot, Founder of Neom

'There needs to be more inspiring men doing job shares, taking extended paternity or seeing it as a valuable and worthwhile thing to do 50:50 childcare in the home, I think this is one of the biggest issues for my female friends, they just don’t have the time and support they need and are still expected to do the lions share of the family tasks. That means pushing on with any career is incredibly hard.'

Jo Fairley, Co-founder of Green & Blacks 

'Women bring an intuition. We have a better sense of what will probably work. We’re not going to do something completely off the wall. [Our ideas] might not seem as bold as covering the entire Arizona desert in solar panels or whatever, but possibly we’re more pragmatic and practical.”

The game is still played according to the rules laid down by the dinosaurs, where you’ve got to be at work for 18 hours a day, you’ve got to go to client dinners every night. And women just go you know what, I don’t really want that.”

I think part of women not wanting to progress in larger organisations is because they’re going ‘I want to create a role for myself where I am in charge of my destiny and in charge of my time.'

Ella Mills, entrepreneur and author, Deliciously Ella

'I never thought I’d have the ability to start my own business. It’s not something I’d ever been encouraged to even consider growing up and therefore it felt way beyond the realms of possibility. Once I did start, I was dismissed by a lot of people, but fortunately, I also had a great close support group who greatly encouraged me.

I’m passionate now about providing support to those females who aren’t lucky enough to have a support group like I did, and we must all pull together, both men and women, to ensure we do everything we can to support more female founders. There is no reason for men to be more funded or backed, and I hope to play a part in creating that positive change.'

Rebekah Hall, Founder Botanics Cold Pressed Juices

'Human nature is to put people in pigeon holes, but I've always pushed against that. I spent 10 years in a profession that is assumed to be the bastion of testosterone filled men. A CEO of a well known luxury goods business once told me that the only way I was going to have the kind of job I wanted was to start a business myself. Corporate financiers don’t run businesses, particularly consumer ones. He hadn't meant them as words of encouragement, but I went on to found a business that is helping to shape the (consumer) category of healthy drinks in the UK.

Among those cries of “you can’t” were voices of support. My mum, who taught me the tenacity that has taken me this far, but also the 2 investors that provided me with the capital and mentorship to navigate this difficult journey. They are both men incidentally.'

Whitney Wolfe Herd, Founder of Bumble 

 'Launching Bumble was one of the toughest, but most rewarding decisions of my life. When I look back to where I was three years ago, it's as though I'm a totally different person. The social impact we've been able to have as a brand is the most rewarding output you can wish for as a CEO, and I wouldn't change anything about the journey I've been on - despite Bumble being born out of experiences that were both professionally challenging and personally draining for me. 

I was told repeatedly by people – especially by investors, who statistically are majority male – that an idea and a mind-set like the one we’ve created with Bumble (encouraging kindness, respect and equality) wouldn’t be possible, and that it has no revenue potential. Through this journey I met Andrey Andrev (my business parter) who really believed in the vision, my passion and the need for a product like Bumble within the dating space. He gave us the resources to bring Bumble to life - something that wouldn't have been possible without him.

This experience really defined for me what feminism should be about - supporting each other as individuals- irrespective of gender. This needs to evolve to create spaces where the playing field is levelled - equal thinking, equal access to opportunity, a seat at the table for everyone. No stigmas, no preconceptions, no opinions formed by social conditioning - we need all people, of all genders, races and ethnicities being treated fairly.'

Karen Gill MBE and Maxine Benson MBE, Co-Founders of Everywoman

'Twenty years ago, we were extremely enthusiastic at the prospect of starting our own enterprise. However, time and time again we were actively discouraged, specifically with one business advisor telling us not to bother as it would be much harder work than we could anticipate, we would struggle to find investment and ultimately would probably fail.

This stark introduction to the barriers women faced when starting a business inspired us to start everywoman. We recognised that there was a need to connect, champion and inspire women in business, highlighting the successes women achieve when given the tools and encouragement to do so. From an idea triggered by being told we couldn’t, everywoman is now a network of thousands and reaches over 100 countries.  

We have hosted over 50 awards programmes inspiring the next generation of female talent, we are proud to have a plethora of Ambassadors that actively support our vision and we are in the process of our second funding round. Twenty years on, it turns out we could.'

Holly Tucker, Co-founder notonthehighstreet

'So many times in my entrepreneurial career, I’ve been told I couldn’t do something; that, somehow, being a woman made me less able to undertake certain challenges than my male counterparts. The thing that really sticks in my mind, is raising my first round of investment for Notonthehighstreet.

I remember my co-founder Sophie Cornish and I, two (relatively!) young women, approaching male investors, and quickly being dismissed as ‘girls’ who wanted to start a craft retail site. We were told countless times that it wouldn’t work out; that, somehow, we were deemed more of a risk, because we were female retail fanatics. Suffice to say, each time I was told I couldn’t do something, it drove me to work harder.

Each ‘no’ made me more determined to succeed, to prove the closed-minded naysayers wrong. I’m lucky enough that the first investor saw past gender and saw the future. To this day, he’s my mentor, biggest fan and life friend.'

Natasha Stromberg, Founder of Genderbuzz 

‘I became deeply frustrated by the Venture Capital scene in the U.K so I spoke to a Canadian friend of mine who introduced me to a Female tech Portfolio manager in Canada and I went out to see her to discuss my idea.

She loved it and absolutely thought it had potential. It was the first time my idea had been seen as truly viable by someone in the venture capital world.'

Pip Black and Joan Murphy, founders of Frame fitness studio

'When Joan and I came up with the idea of Frame back in 2007, we were told that no one would help to fund a fitness business that went against the age-old strategy of "sell as many memberships as you can and hope that as few as possible of these members actually turn up."

But we believed so strongly in the positive effects of getting people moving and making it an enjoyable experience that we worked all the hours putting together an in-depth business plan which allowed us to convince the bank that investing significant money into a pay-as-you-go fitness start-up run by two women in their mid 20's with no prior experience, was actually a good idea!

So money in the bank we set about building Frame Shoreditch, and here we are 10 years later with six sites in London and more on their way.'

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