Unlocking northern potential — why we must invest in female founders

Here, Prof. Maggie O'Carroll, Co-Chair of the True North Advisory Council, social entrepreneur and CEO of The Women’s Organisation, reflects on the challenges facing female founders following the True North Female Founders Forum.

I had the privilege of chairing the inaugural True North Female Founders Forum, powered by Brabners. The room was filled with energy, ambition and honesty from founders building businesses in tech, food, finance, sustainability and social impact. What united them was a shared experience: navigating a business support and investment ecosystem that remains largely blind to their potential.

Let’s be clear. Female founders are not struggling. They are progressing despite the system, not because of it.

And this is a policy and investment failure.

The North’s untapped growth engine

One of the most telling findings from the recent True North member survey is that access to finance is the single greatest barrier to growth across our network. Not market conditions. Not talent shortages. Finance.

More than 60% of our members told us that poor access to funding is actively slowing the North’s economic growth.

And for female founders, the challenge is doubly acute. They face a fragmented, bureaucratic support environment, laced with unconscious bias and outmoded assumptions about what makes a ‘scalable’ business. As one participant put it:

“We jump through endless hoops just to be told we don’t fit their funding criteria.”

The data backs this up. Only 2% of UK equity investment goes to all-female teams. The same report shows women apply for funding less, and when they do, they receive smaller sums. Truthfully, we don’t need more reports on the gaps that exist. We need a better ecosystem that actually fixes the problem. Remember this is not just an inclusion issue — it’s an economic one.

The women we heard from are not waiting for the system to change, they're building workarounds. But these shouldn’t have to exist.

Our roundtable revealed that most business support and funding mechanisms were not designed with women in mind, let alone for founders navigating caregiving responsibilities, working in sectors outside traditional high-growth definitions, or experiencing low trust in finance and support institutions.

Worse, the pathways for technological adoption, exporting, and growth capital are either poorly signposted or structurally inaccessible for most early-stage women-led businesses.

What can be done?

1. Targeted, women-centric support packages: While some banks and institutions have taken steps to develop initiatives for women-led businesses, these remain exceptions rather than the rule. To make a lasting difference, the Government must tailor policy and release targeted support packages for women. These should include dedicated application pathways, flexible eligibility criteria, and wraparound support such as mentoring and business coaching. Schemes like Fund Her North show what's possible when funding and infrastructure are built around women founders from the outset.
2. Build and resource peer-led infrastructure: Founders are increasingly turning to each other for what formal systems fail to provide: practical advice, warm introductions, and validation. Informal ecosystems are filling this gap but these networks must be properly recognised, invested in, and integrated into local growth plans as core infrastructure for entrepreneurship in the North.
3. Invest in technology adoption: Technology adoption can be a game-changer for women-led businesses – but only if investment and support keep pace. Founders at our Forum are already using AI tools to reduce admin burdens, gain financial insight, and develop more inclusive customer management systems. Yet, barriers remain: many women lack access to tailored tech training, strategic support, or funding for early-stage adoption.

Strategic investment in digital skills and inclusive innovation pathways must be made a policy priority. AI and automation should be positioned not just as tools for efficiency, but as growth enablers that empower founders to build people-first, scalable businesses. To avoid repeating the gender gaps seen in finance, we must ensure this technology is designed and deployed with equity at its core.

My key takeaways:

• The success, resilience and inventiveness of female founders must be recognised as a core driver of regional growth and not a marginal story. These businesses are already creating jobs, innovating, and solving real-world problems with tenacity and limited resources.
• Peer-led and tech-enabled ecosystems are helping women overcome systemic barriers, but they shouldn’t have to build workarounds to access basic investment and business support.
• AI and tech can be powerful tools when deployed on women's terms — particularly for solo founders or those scaling for the first time.
• If we are serious about unlocking economic growth in the North, we need to take a serious look at how women’s enterprises are being enabled, incentivised, and valued within our funding, policy, and investment frameworks.
• Targeted investment isn’t a niche initiative — it’s a growth strategy. If we want to close the UK’s productivity gap, we start by backing the women-owned businesses driving economic value.

We set up the True North LinkedIn Community to continue these conversations. If you’re a woman founder, join us. If you’re a policymaker, funder, or corporate leader  listen to what these women are saying. And most of all, redesign with them, not around them.

The economy we want to build in the North starts with who we back today.