Women's Enterprise Task Force hosts access to finance roundtable
Further to the publication of our Myths and Realities of Women's Access to Finance report (see here), the Women's Enterprise Task Force hosted a roundtable discussion on this topic at HSBC on Thursday 3 September.
The discussion was hosted by the Task Force, with grateful thanks to HSBC, and was attended by a variety of experts from financial institutions and support organisations. WETF member Professor Sara Carter presented on the issues (you can download her presentation here). Discussion centred around the myths and realities of women's access to finance, existing issues, and experiences of those female entrepreneurs and venture capitalists around the table. The progress of the Aspire Fund (a co-investment fund for women, and brainchild of the WETF) was also discussed.
WETF co-Chair Glenda Stone then presented the WETF's access to finance Recommendations, as proposed in the WETF's Greater Return On Women's Enterprise report (see here). These were thorougly discussed and roundtable attendees put forward several productive comments on how the Recommendations can be honed, as the consultation process progresses.
The Women's Enterprise Task Force would like to thank all attendees for their thoughtful and productive contributions to the discussion.