• Female Founder Finance is a women-owned organisation that works with female-led small businesses to help them secure finance and build their networks.

• UKEF has partnered with Female Founder Finance so that female owned businesses can receive export finance support to help them scale up successfully through exporting.

• UKEF’s financing support for small businesses was worth over £570 million last year, while an independent review estimates around a quarter of a trillion pounds could be added to the UK economy if women received more business investment opportunities.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) and Female Founder Finance have partnered up to help more women-owned businesses access export finance support to help grow their business and compete on the international stage.  Having launched in June 2023, Female Founder Finance has handled over £115 million worth of funding.

Female Founder Finance works with women who have founded their own businesses and who have been disadvantaged when seeking access to finance.

The partnership between UKEF and Female Founder Finance will streamline the process for referring eligible businesses into one another’s financing programmes, therefore reducing missed opportunities for women owners. For example, Female Founder Finance can introduce their clients to UKEF’s short-term products for small exporters, including capital guarantees, bond support guarantees and export insurance policies. In turn, UKEF can refer female clients to Female Founder Finance where appropriate.

According to the Rose Review, only six percent of UK women run their own businesses, compared to around 15% of women in Canada, almost 11% of women in the USA, and over nine percent of women in Australia and the Netherlands. The report also estimates £250 billion could be added to the UK economy if women matched men in receiving business investment.

Tim Reid, CEO of UK Export Finance, said:

Supporting small businesses is a priority at UKEF. Each year we support a large number of small businesses. Just last year, 88% of businesses to which we provided a loan, guarantee or insurance were small or medium-sized businesses.  By partnering up with Female Founder Finance we will reach out to more women-owned businesses, providing financing to support them to increase their exporting capacity.

Roxanne Goodman, Founder of Female Founder Finance, said:

By working in partnership with UK Export Finance we can equip women-led businesses with the knowledge and funding they need, and empowering them to reach new international markets, fuelling growth and innovation through export finance, and adding back to the growth of the UK. Together, we can open doors to new markets, drive innovation, and ensure that the voice of women entrepreneurs resonates worldwide.

This announcement was made in the run-up to Small Business Saturday (7 December 2024), an annual event which celebrates small businesses across the country.