The Rise Report of Female Entrepreneurship 

From a report by Female Founders Rise, partnered with Barclays Bank

The Rise Report offers a grounded, founder-led picture of female entrepreneurship in the UK—telling the human stories behind the statistics.

These findings speak about vocation, resilience, wellbeing, community, and the call to pursue justice where systems fall short. The research captures the experiences of 2,225 UK female entrepreneurs—from solopreneurs to high-growth scale-ups—who together generate £1 billion in turnover and employ 9,300 people.

The survey on which the report is based, included 11 open-ended questions and therefore preserves real-life insights—what motivates founders, how they understand success, and what support they believe would help them flourish and grow. 

Rather than focus solely on the gender gap, the report shines a light on stories of pride, grit, ambition, and achievement. Ambition and responsibility run together in many responses. Many founders are commercially focused and want to grow to stable profitability—often with longer-term hopes for significant scale and, in some cases, an eventual exit. Yet the report also highlights practical constraints: how do people sustain meaningful work, family life, and health without being forced to sacrifice one for the other?

The report also surfaces the importance—and fragility—of community. A large majority (78%) cite connection as central to their journey, valuing networks, mentorship, and peer support. At the same time, 1 in 7 founders name loneliness and isolation as their biggest challenge.

This is a clear invitation for people in communities to notice entrepreneurs in our midst, to strengthen supportive relationships, and to make spaces where burdens can be shared rather than carried alone.

Funding and finance emerge as the most significant barriers. Nearly half of respondents (45%) identify access to funding as their primary obstacle. Sentiment is overwhelmingly negative in both public and private channels.

For public funding (grants), 78% negative sentiment is reported, with processes described as opaque, bureaucratic, and time-consuming. For private finance (Venture Capital, angel investment and related sources), 73% negative sentiment is recorded, with founders reporting experiences of ghosting, bias, and a mismatch between investor expectations and the realities of caregiving.

The report also broadens what “success” means. Founders describe the “Four Ss of Success”: Stability and profitability (53%), Scale and exit (38%), Social impact (28%), and Self (21%), where “Self” includes wellbeing and work–life balance. This is a helpful lens for mentor conversations: fruitfulness is not only measured by expansion, but also by sustainability, integrity, and the ability to keep going without burning out.

These findings matter because they point to both economic potential and moral responsibility. The report cites that only 2% of venture capital goes to all-female founding teams. It also notes that if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men, an estimated £310 billion could be added to the UK economy. In other words, the issue is not a lack of talent or effort; it is unequal access to resources and opportunity.

This raises practical questions: how can we advocate for fairness, help entrepreneurs navigate systems, and encourage decision-makers to remove unnecessary barriers?

Finally, The Rise Report is a call to action rooted in real experience. Founders do not only describe problems; many articulate practical solutions. The report urges government, investors, banks, corporates, and the wider ecosystem to align around those solutions and deliver them.

We can recognise entrepreneurship as a form of calling/vocation/service and help strengthen local networks of support and, by partnering with others, to help founders thrive.

Maybe simple starting point is prayerful attentiveness—asking for wisdom, courage, and open doors for those building businesses, creating jobs, and serving their communities.

Read the full report here.