Women’s early-stage entrepreneurial activity is now 9.2% of the UK’s adult population, the highest level ever recorded, and there has been a big growth in the number of self-employed females over 50, new research reveals.
Launched to coincide with Women’s Enterprise Day as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the report by Prowess: Women in Business said the proportion of females launching their own venture is up from 5.7% of adult population in 2015, while women aged over 50 are one of the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs, accounting for one in four female business owners.
But while the study celebrated the “start-up boom”, it warned of a “scale-up crisis”.
This is due to the number of women-led employer SMEs falling from 19% of all employer firms in 2021 to 14% in 2025. The decline represents a loss of around 70,000 women-led employer firms.
The report said female entrepreneurs are being held back from scaling due to reasons including:
- Rising fixed costs and fragile margins
- Income volatility, especially for those on Universal Credit
- Limited access to finance
- Business models built around unpaid care and flexible work
- Sectoral concentration in low-margin industries
The report also despite being a fast growing group, women over 50 are underserved by business support and finance programmes which often target younger founders, and overlook mid-career redundancy, age discrimination, caring responsibilities for older relatives and grandchildren and limited pension security.
There are challenges too for disabled women entrepreneurs and ethnic minority women, including limited access to finance.
Meanwhile, women on Universal Credit face reduced hours or having to close businesses to avoid breaching welfare rules.
Erika Watson, director of Prowess: Women in Business, said:
“Women are starting businesses in record numbers, but too few are able to scale. The fall in women-led employer firms since 2021 shows the system is still stacked against them.
“With targeted support and finance, fairer welfare rules and support for later-life entrepreneurs, women’s enterprise could be one of the UK’s strongest economic growth opportunities.”
Among the recommendations in the report are targeted support for women to scale up their businesses, expanding enterprise support for women over 50, improving access to follow-on finance and regional investment and align business and welfare policy so enterprise is not penalised.
Other female entrepreneur findings
In terms of where women entrepreneurs are based, the report said London is still home to the largest absolute number of women-led businesses, but the biggest growth since 2020 has occurred elsewhere
That includes a 41% rise in North West England, 37% in Scotland, 35% in West Midlands and 28% in Wales.
For the sector trends, women’s entrepreneurship is concentrated in service sectors, particularly health and care, education, creative industries, retail, and professional services.
However, the report said a growing proportion of women are moving into STEM-aligned and sustainability sectors, such as digital consultancy, renewable energy, and ethical fashion.
Between 2015 and 2025, women-led businesses in digital and ICT services have more than doubled (+115%).
In contrast, participation in hospitality and retail has stagnated post-pandemic due
to rising costs and labour shortages.