High Growth Female Founder Regional Initiative - Newcastle Roundtable

This roundtable discussion will bring together female founders, investors including angel investors and regional stakeholders to discuss the launch of the Lifted Regional Inclusive Growth Project, harnessing the power of data to increase the number of regional, women-led, growth businesses.

This discussion will create an opportunity to discuss the imbalance of regionally located female-founded high-growth enterprises. There is a significant volume difference between regions with 37 high-growth enterprises all-female or majority-female founded in London, but only one or two in some of the less well-performing regions.

In the regions outside of London, sits untapped potential for ambitious and talented women who could be the founders of high-growth enterprises. However, these women need better access to capital, networks, advice and acceleration, as well as a community of like-minded entrepreneurs and role models to catalyse and support their growth journey.

This session will enable us to discuss how collectively we can drive change, by developing Regional Boards to deliver pathways of support to give better and connected support to high-growth female founders across Newcastle. The board's objectives through direct support to businesses will aim to:

• Increase the number of women-led high-growth enterprises across the regions
• Increase the % of capital invested into Female Founders in the region by 5%
• Increase the number of funds in the region that sign up to the Invest in Women code
• Double the number of visible female founders
• Aim for at least 50% of the current number of female role models
• Identify and activate 5 new initiatives focused on increasing the number of High Growth Female Founded businesses

The round table discussion will focus on the key areas below:

• Introductions, origin story and perspectives of the current pathways for high-growth female founders in the Newcastle region. How can we leverage our ecosystem to create capacity? In this part of the conversation, we will hear from some of the several entrepreneurs who have raised capital as well as from the investors in the room.
• Is consideration around exited sectors and industries as well as cluster sectors important in our approach, and how do we ensure funding is available at all stages - what type of pathway should we be looking to create which is visible and easy to navigate? What key considerations and takeaway factors can we take away from the South?
• How do we create a legacy to ensure this project remains sustainable?
• What are the next key steps and who are the key stakeholders we need to have involved in this intervention?

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

RBC Brewin Dolphin Newcastle, 32 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom