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Britain beats America for female start-up bosses

June 15, 2015
Diversity & Inclusion
Start-up entrepreneurs in the UK are five times more likely to be female than in the US, with a third of the nation’s new businesses boasting a female founder.
 
Of 222 young UK companies surveyed, 29pc of business leaders were women, making UK start-ups 36pc more likely to have female leaders than FTSE 100 companies.
 
The StartupDNA research was commissioned by Wayra UK, the digital start-up accelerator funded by the telecoms giant, Telefonica.
 
The report found entrepreneurs in London are three times more likely to be female than in Silicon Valley or Tel Aviv.
 
Some 34pc of UK founders were also born outside the UK; 20pc from the EU and 13.3pc from elsewhere in the world.
 
Compared with the US, entrepreneurs are 10 times more likely to be from non-white or Asian ethnic backgrounds.
 
“For too long, cultural differences and even languages were seen as putting the UK at some kind of disadvantage,” said Simon Fanshawe, whose diversity consultancy advised Wayra for the report.
 
“This research tells us that start-ups would get far more growth, innovation and entry into new markets if there was a more diverse combination of people involved,” he added.
 
By Rebecca Burn-Callander
 

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