Minority group businesses are estimated to provide £25-£32 billion to the UK economy annually, and women-owned businesses provide around £70 billion. However, women and minority groups are seen to be under-represented as entrepreneurs and have lower levels of business performance.

 

In this article, I will explain the common challenges faced by women and minority groups in the UK and what the 12 Startups Owned by Women and Minority Groups in the UK.

Common challenges faced by women and minority groups in the UK

 

Work-life balance

Having to juggle work and family is one of the most common challenges women entrepreneurs face. Since women are the primary caregiver in their families more frequenttly, the battle for work-life balance is real. Parent entrepreneurs have dual responsibilities to their companies and their families; finding ways to dedicate time to both is crucial to maintaining the elusive work-life balance.

 

Mothers in leadership positions, or those who are self-employed, have to juggle the requirements of their job and their children frequently. However, evidence suggests that women who manage to combine motherhood and entrepreneurship are beneficial to the UK economy.

 

For the UK, the so-called “mum-economy” creates £7.2billion and provides 204,000 jobs. These figures are predicted to rise to £9.5billion and 217,600 positions by 2025.

 

Sourcing funding

In the UK, women-run companies earn just 9% of the funding funnelled into startups. And not only are there fewer prospects for women to obtain government support, but most women-led startups are starting up with far less money behind them. The fact that women frequently start their companies while working part-time, or after a career break, often restricts startup funds.

 

However, men are more likely to launch their business straight out of full-time work.

 

Fear of failure

People from marginalized groups are reluctant to put their vulnerability in the open. Usually, vulnerability is considered a weakness. To avoid looking like they are not “strong enough”, members of marginalized groups will do whatever they can.

 

Ethnic minorities have also had to work twice as hard to prove themselves with less cushion for failure, similar to women. The idea of exposing how they feel or think or opening themselves up may seem dangerous and risky.

 

Women also tend to be harder on themselves than men and are more likely to fear failure. A recent Vistaprint survey found that British female business owners find it harder to resolve failure than their male counterparts. This would mean that while they may want to, a fear of failure prevents many women from starting businesses to begin with.

 

Lack of mentors

When you don’t have anything or someone to look up to, it is hard to work for something. With men still dominating the majority of the business world, it can be challenging to create your path. With the lack of female founders, it results in fewer mentorship roles and smaller networking opportunities.

 

Many business owners learn from someone who has “been there and done that”, a privilege that many women do not have. Fortunately, this is changing, as many female business networks start and continue to expand, emphasizing the value of key mentors and sufficient opportunities for women to network.

 

Here are the 12 startups owned by women and minority groups in the UK

Black Ballad

Black Ballad is a lifestyle platform located in the UK that aims to describe the human experience through the lens of black British women.

 

With their new membership platform, their mission is to build conversations through their content, empower black women through their events, and bring attention to the best black brands owned by giving exclusive access to their directory. Their goal is straightforward: to build a media platform to help black women live their best lives in Britain.

 

FlairFootball

For children who play football, Flair Football is a smartphone app that enables them to monitor their results and prepare for upcoming matches. The goal of Flair is to make each young football player feel like a pro. Their ultimate goal is to become a global digital forum for the next generation of athletes. The app is available in the UK and Ireland.

 

WeAreTechwomen

WeAreTechWomen brings women together from a wide variety of industries and sectors of tech network leaders, chairs, and co-chairs. They share best practices, notably concerning running a tech network. They also educate their participants in terms of women in tech campaigns, programs that impact working women in tech.

 

They enable their members to build successful growth strategies within their networks through the leveraging of best practice.

 

They provide a cross-company, network collaboration platform, and facilitate network hacks to help expand tech networks.

 

They help and inform leaders of the tech network by expanding their awareness of their projects, policies, activities and gender initiatives for peer group networks. They also provide a place for their members to meet with other representatives of the network and offer networking options to network mentoring.

 

Smoothbalance

Smoothbalance is an Android and Web accounting application. It is exclusive for sole traders, freelancers and SMEs. You can send quotes, invoices and record expenses to the app. The user of the app can also allow an accountant to access such information to promote frictionless bookkeeping and simplify tax returns.

 

Bloomingfounders

Founded in 2015, Blooming Founders is a brand that aims to help early-stage female entrepreneurs and diverse teams succeed.​

 

With their ecosystem of products and services, they want to create new opportunities for female founders and enable them to build profitable businesses.

 

They do this by helping them to expand their network by providing practical business education and by facilitating access to investors.

 

While they work with women in mind, we welcome people of all genders to be part of what we do. They have a vision where everyone is equally empowered and willing to turn their ideas into successful companies, regardless of gender, age, race or social background. They are on a mission to create the best environment for female founders to build the business of their dreams.

 

StorkCard

For busy moms and dads, StorkCard is created to do financial thinking so that they can concentrate on the joys of raising children, not the expenses. Their mission is to redefine the relationship that parents have with money and encourage parents to take control of the costly adventure of raising a family.

 

StorkCard has been chosen to be part of the Finance Innovation Lab’s Financial Health Fellowship, which supports social enterprises operating in the field of financial health and wellbeing. They were also featured in the London Assembly’s report to the Mayor on how to boost the financial well-being of the people in London.

 

Making Humans

Making Humans is an empowerment course for mothers. With Making Humans, mothers can learn the exact strategy they can use to care for themselves as a new mother during this amazing transition. They can get confident after kids, redefine their new identity of ‘mum’ and build the remarkable life they want for her and their growing family.

 

They can know what to expect and save on the time, effort and heartache of learning the hard lessons yourself. They can get strategies in spades that will help you discover a new, fresh perspective and mindset for mothering. And lastly, they can get support from a coach that understands you, and knows what you’re capable of, even when you doubt it.

 

Search Smartly

SearchSmartly has a unique technology that reimagines and simplifies the experience of property matchmaking. They do the heavy lifting to discover the properties that are best suited to the complete, hyper-personal needs of each tenant, whether it is a short commute, good local education, living near green space, and so on. Instantly, tenants can be paired with the homes and communities that suit their needs best.

 

Driven Women

Driven Women’s Lifeworking™ program helps women define their success, become accountable to their goals and make this ‘bigger life’ happen. Research shows that accountability, commitment, and regularly writing down one’s goals are the secret to successfully reaching personal goals and fulfilling aspirations.

 

This is why they get together once a month to share their progress, create positive habits and put plans into action, one small step at a time.

 

Flexa Careers

Flexa is the only platform that focuses on flexible working – the most in-demand employee benefit. They only partner with forward-thinking businesses that provide flexible working environments, and they review every business with which they collaborate, something that can’t be achieved by conventional job boards.

 

Jamii

Jamii is a discount card and discovery platform that makes it easy for customers to discover and shop at the best of the UK’s independent black-owned businesses. Launched in August 2016, their goal is to make shopping as seamless and instinctive as any other black-owned brand.

 

Jamii is about pride in whom they are: promoting the beauty, ambition and strength of the Black British community.

 

They encourage people of all backgrounds to embrace the magic of their people, their culture, their past and their future. These are the ideas at their core: respect, identity and unabashed blackness.

 

Widewalls

Founded in 2013, Widewalls is among the world’s fastest-growing and most popular online resources for modern and contemporary art, respected for the quality of its content and usability. Widewalls provides a detailed, year-round global coverage of top galleries, festivals, activities and art fairs, along with breaking news and tips, elaborate featured articles on various trending themes in the arts and art industry, dedicated to art enthusiasts, collectors and art professionals alike.

 

They also interview today’s most influential contemporary art professionals, upcoming and results from art auctions covering 80% of the market over the past four years, and a marketplace with more than 100, 000 artworks to discover and buy.

 

How Trendscout services are helping these startups

We believe everyone should feel confident in making an informed decision when it comes to investment goals. Yet for many, it can feel overwhelming to know where to begin, how to pick your investment, and whom you can trust. That’s why we’re here to help.

We evaluate every company we work with its potential, mission and ethical practices, ensuring that the startups we serve will always fit with our values. We work only with startups that are aligned with our principles and values.

We’re always searching for the next opportunity at TrendScout. Our team is inspired to find a startup in 3, 5 or 10 years that will be known by everyone. If you are an investor, we take the time to consider you and your current situation as well as what your investment objectives may be.

We identify which startups could offer the best opportunity in the coming years, using the results of our market research, and provide you with the greatest return.

If you are interested in investing with us, schedule an appointment with us today. Rest assured that someone will assist you and help you every step of the way.

TS [CTA] Funding Guide for Women & Minority Groups

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