RBS commits to additional £100 million in funding to help support Scotland's female entrepreneurs

Royal Bank of Scotland is earmarking an additional £100 million in funding to help support Scottish female entrepreneurs recover from the pandemic.

In January 2020, the banking giant announced a major programme to help female entrepreneurship following the findings of The Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, led by the group’s chief executive Alison Rose, above. Picture: Nick Ansell/PA Wire

The funds, which form part of parent group NatWest’s backing of female-led firms across the UK, will be made available over the next four years with an ultimate aim of helping these businesses scale and grow.

In January 2020, the banking giant announced a UK-wide £1 billion programme to help female entrepreneurship following the findings of The Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, led by the group’s chief executive Alison Rose.

That investment has now been doubled, with an additional £1bn of debt funding being made available, £100m of which is targeted at Scottish businesses.

A central finding of The Rose Review was that the single biggest issue holding female entrepreneurs back is the lack of funding directed towards them. Traditionally, women are less likely to take on debt than male-led businesses and this can impact their ability to scale and grow at the same rate, the bank noted.

The additional £100m funding will be open to both new and existing customers and represents new lending into the Scottish economy with the intention to continue to close the gap with male entrepreneurs, RBS added.

Rose said: “As we build a purpose-led bank that champions the potential of people, families and businesses up and down the country, we are committed to supporting the UK’s recovery from the crisis.

“However, if women find themselves at even more of a professional disadvantage on the other side of this crisis, then we’ll be attempting to build an economic recovery whilst ignoring a huge area of potential.

“All of us, from ministers to employers, have a duty to ensure that further pain isn’t felt disproportionately by women and that anyone who retains an ambition to start or grow a business is helped with targeted and innovative assistance.

“We’re determined to play our part and I’m pleased to confirm that we are now able to launch a second tranche of funding to continue and extend our support to female entrepreneurs and business owners,” she added.

Martin McTague, policy director of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “FSB research shows women-led small businesses are less likely to access any form of external finance than their male counterparts, with a quarter of women business owners telling us that the ability to access finance is a key challenge to starting their own business.

“Dedicated funds like this, promoted to current and potential small business creators, could make a real difference.”

The Female Entrepreneurship Funding builds on a number of initiatives that the bank already has in place to support women looking to start, scale and grow their businesses.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Entrepreneurial Hubs – based in Edinburgh and Glasgow – have supported more than 500 entrepreneurs across the country, of which 42 per cent in Edinburgh and 49 per cent in Glasgow have been female-led.

To support the UK’s recovery from the coronavirus crisis, in partnership with the FSB and the British Chambers of Commerce, the bank has established an SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) “transformation taskforce”.

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