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First woman to run a major bank: 'It's utter nonsense you can't have children and a career'

Alison Rose - Hollie Adams/Bloomberg
Alison Rose - Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

The cost to the UK economy of not supporting female entrepreneurs has been calculated as £250 billion.

Launching the 100 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch List in collaboration with The Telegraph, NatWest’s chief executive Alison Rose said this would be the potential value if women in this country matched men who are starting new businesses. The figure represents around four years of natural Gross Value Added (GVA) growth, added to the UK’s current total GVA of around £1,900 billion per year.

However, Rose said the barriers to women setting up businesses are often falsely perceived as a lack of ambition, being more risk averse than men and not being as good networkers.

“Women do not lack ability or ambition and we have the data to show that from the Rose Review,” said Rose.

Only one in three UK entrepreneurs is female: a gender gap equivalent to 1.1 million missing businesses. Female-led businesses are only 44 per cent of the size of male-led businesses on average, in terms of their contribution to the economy; and male small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are five times more likely to scale up to £1 million turnover than female ones.

Rose was commissioned by the Government to head the Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, published in 2019. She said the problem is often the “soft barriers” women encounter when pitching for scale funding. “At the horrifying end of the scale I’ve heard stories of women going for funding and being asked if their husband is running the business for them. Or the receptionist being brought in from the front desk so there’s another woman in the room. Or being asked ‘Do you really have the ambition to deliver this?’, really questioning their ability. These microaggressions as well as the perception issues are the problem.”

Last week, it was reported that Joshua Ma, a senior executive at TikTok, was stepping back from his role after making remarks disparaging the concept of maternity leave. He allegedly said that as a “capitalist” he “didn’t believe” firms should offer maternity leave.

“It's hugely worrying,” said Rose. “It gives the message to young women and business leaders that someone in a senior position can think like that. It’s the reason why role modelling and mentorship is so important; that often used phrase, ‘If you can’t see it you can’t believe it’.”

As the first woman to run a major bank, Rose is a visible example of how family and business are not mutually exclusive. “That idea that if you want a successful career you can't have children is utter nonsense. I’ve got two children and my career is not going so badly,” she said.

The 100 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch list will be spotlighting some of the most exciting high potential women owned businesses in the UK. The top ten will receive support that includes mentoring by the Rose Review Board, while the top businesswoman will receive a £10,000 grant to invest in their business. The results will be published in the run up to the Telegraph’s Women Mean Business event, launched in 2018.

Rose hopes that the watch list and the event will continue to connect more women with mentors and bridge the gap at a time when women are facing challenges in the workplace and business.

Alison Rose - Hollie Adams/Bloomberg
Alison Rose - Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

Women bore the brunt of the domestic load during the pandemic, with global data from UN Women stating the unpaid work burden could set women back 25 years. And now the rising cost in living and childcare represents a new challenge. It’s a consideration Rose has seen many women in business have to face.

“I’ve seen a lot of women go, ‘Oh gosh, I earn this in my job and my childcare knocks out the value from an economic perspective’. But the professional and personal value that they get from both working and being a mother is hugely valuable. We have to make sure that it's not just a stark choice for people.”

She urged women: “Think about the lifecycle of your career as a woman. Children have this amazing habit of growing up. What might be relevant for now, might not be in two years’ time.”

Hybrid working is helping her to make sure NatWest is a working environment that takes into account the “whole person”. “The majority of business leaders would say creating an inclusive culture is fundamental to business success. It’s about talent.You want the best talent you can possibly get in an organisation.”

Despite the cost of living crisis, she says now is a brilliant time to be an entrepreneur: “There’s now more support than ever in terms of access to grants, funding support, networking and mentoring and angel investment.”

Last year saw record levels of businesses starting up. “We now have 140,000 new businesses started up last year by women. That’s a 33 per cent increase in 2019. What we’re seeing is 20 per cent of all new businesses are run by women, which are record levels.”

The statistic she is most pleased with is that the highest growth is the 14- to 24-year-old group of women. “Almost an eightfold increase in young women starting businesses.”

In the post pandemic recovery she says we need to keep the focus on female entrepreneurship and the barriers.

“Every day that we don’t do this we’re leaving £250 billion value on the table. And £250 billion of value are new jobs, new contributors to the economy, a thriving economy. You can only have a thriving economy if you have a thriving entrepreneurial culture.”


The Telegraph and NatWest have launched the 100 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch list to shine a spotlight on some of the most exciting businesses in the UK.  For more details, click here.

Female entrepreneurs to watch
Female entrepreneurs to watch