Female-led businesses have much poorer access to business funding than their male counterparts.

In fact, in 2024, only 2% of global venture capital funding went to female-only founding teams, according to research by the Founders Forum Group.

The World Economic Forum estimates that, globally, the finance gap for women entrepreneurs is $1.7 trillion, with male-led start-ups and businesses receiving the majority of funding.

But why does this gender disparity exist? And what are the available routes to funding that your female-led business could consider when looking for additional finance?

What causes the gender disparity in access to funding?

The differences in access to funding between female founders and male founders are a problem. This disparity holds back female entrepreneurs, reduces their ability to grow their business ideas and perpetuates the dominance of male-led businesses in specific sectors.

What actually causes this gender disparity in funding?

1. Investor bias: A lack of diversity in the investment world leads to unconscious bias, with investors more likely to favor male-led teams over female-led teams.
2. Networking disparity: Female founders can lack access to the male-dominated professional networks where the majority of funding deals originate, making it harder to find investors.
3. Perception of industry and scale: Investors tend to fund high-growth, male-dominated tech sectors, while female founders are more likely to start businesses in sectors that are perceived as less scalable or less attractive to venture capitalists.

Historically, it may be more difficult to find the funding you need as a female-led business. But perceptions of female entrepreneurialism are changing, and many institutions are doing their best to address the gender disparity – making it easier to find the funding you need.

Five different routes to funding and how they differ:

1. Flexible loans from specialist lenders

There’s a large choice of specialist business lenders that can offer fast and straightforward access to small business loans.

Applying for a loan with these non-bank lenders is generally faster than applying to the big banks and has less emphasis on traditional business credit checks. Non-banks tend to assess your creditworthiness based on your current and future business performance and ability to repay the loan. 

2. Government, local and charitable grants

Unlike a business loan, money you receive from a business grant does not have to be repaid. Grants are usually used to incentivize enterprise within specific areas or industries.

Grants for female-led businesses are offered through a variety of sources, so it’s a good idea to check government and regional websites to check what grants are available. You’ll need to meet the grant’s eligibility requirements to access the funding.

3. Private investors and venture capitalists

Private investors can be a fundamental source of funding when you’re starting your business, or looking to scale up the company.

Angel investors are private individuals who invest their own money into your business, in exchange for equity (usually shares) in the business. Venture capital companies and private equity companies invest in similar ways, but on a larger scale. Any kind of equity investment will mean giving up some ownership of the business (reducing your overall control of the company).

4. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding platforms, like Kickstarter, give you a way to raise funds through contributions from a large group of interested investors or customers.

You can secure small contributions from multiple individual investors or donors to fund a project, campaign or new business venture. With some platforms, you can also sell your product directly to ‘early bird’ investors, allowing you to raise capital early and boost cashflow.

5. Tax breaks and incentives

Tax incentives are a way for you to lower the overall tax liability of your business, usually through tax credits, deductions or specific industry incentives.

By lowering your tax liability, you’ll end up paying less tax at year-end. This helps you keep more of your profits, giving you more capital to invest back into the business.

Working with you to create a funding strategy

Perceptions of female entrepreneurs are changing for the better. But it’s still vital to have a clear, detailed funding strategy to drive investment in your female-led business.

If you’re ready to kickstart your business, come and talk to our team. We’ll work with you to define your business plan, funding strategy and financial management.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Keeping on top of your accounts is a big part of running a successful and profitable business.

But you don’t want to spend ALL your time dealing with accounting tasks, especially when that time could be spent building customer relationships, or developing new products etc.

So, how do you keep your finances in check, while also spending less time on your accounts?

1. Bringing your accounting into the digital age

Switching to cloud accounting can be a revolutionary step for many business owners, especially when you look at the ways you can streamline and automate the basic accounting tasks. By using accounting platforms like Xero, QuickBooks, MYOB or Sage, you get all the basics of small business financial management, but with the benefits of smart automation.

With most modern cloud accounting software, you can:

• • Automate the scanning and digitization of your expenses and receipts
  • Automatically reconcile your bank transactions with your invoices and bills
  • Connect your accounts to other time-saving apps for mileage claims or staff expenses.

2. Getting paid faster and with less admin

With a cloud accounting platform driving your business, you also make it easier to send out e-invoices and get paid faster and more effectively. Improving your payment times and cash collection can make a huge difference to your cashflow position, and also sets the right expectations with your customers – making it clear that you require to be made on time.

Using the invoicing function in your business software, you can:

• • Quickly send out electronic invoices as soon as a job is completed
  • Set up automated invoices to be sent out at pre-agreed points in a project
  • Include payment buttons on your invoice, so customers can pay via PayPal or card
  • Remove the barriers to payment and speed up payment times.

3. Getting a better overview of your important numbers

Using cloud accounting isn’t just about automating the time-consuming financial admin tasks. By recording and tracking all the financial and non-financial data flowing through your system, your accounting platform can actually provide you with a goldmine of useful real-time information.

With cloud accounting providing your reporting, you can

• • Access totally up-to-date real-time information, to improve your decision-making
  • Track your performance against targets to see how well the business is performing
  • Monitor spending and budgets to keep your cashflow under control
  • Understand your return on investment when it comes to sales and marketing activity
  • See how promotion has driven sales but reduced your profit, due to discounting.

Talk to us about setting up a more productive kind of accounting

If you want complete control of your finances and business decision-making, updating your accounting software and processes will be key to achieving that goal.

We can help you decide which accounting software is most suited to your business, and how to maximise the benefits you get from automation and real-time data.

Get in touch to talk through updating your accounting.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

The way you lead your team and grow your business determines whether you’re cultivating a transactional or thriving business.

Ask yourself: Are you a mushroom grower or a rose grower?

Mushroom leadership: The hidden danger

Mushroom growers thrive in the dark. That’s literally how mushrooms grow (kept in the shadows and fed sporadically). Unfortunately, this metaphor applies to far too many business leaders.

Without realizing it, leaders who operate like mushroom growers often:

• • Lack a clear vision for the business
  • Deliver inconsistent or confusing messages to their team
  • Prioritize short-term production over long-term development
  • Create environments where staff are kept in the dark and fed whatever information happens to come up

When your people don’t see a future or path for growth, they’re unlikely to contribute their best ideas, let alone stick around long enough to blossom.

Rose leadership: Cultivating growth with intention

Contrast this with the mindset of a rose grower. Rose growers are deliberate:

They prune branches that aren’t growing in the right direction. They feed and fertilize consistently. They protect the plant from pests. Most importantly, they focus on the result: the blossom.

As a leader embracing rose-growing principles, you:

• • Set a clear direction and align with your partners on that vision
  • Identify each team member’s potential and coach them toward it
  • Prune behaviors and practices that don’t support growth
  • Build an environment where development and performance coexist
  • Celebrate progress and visible results along the way

This mindset shift isn’t just about better management, but rather about transforming into a value-driven, future-focused business.

Start growing roses.

To move your business forward, you need to lead with intention.

Here are some actionable steps to help you get started

• • Define your vision for your business
  • Align your leadership team
  • Train your staff to have forward-looking conversations
  • Create systems for consistency and follow-through
  • Celebrate every step forward

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

In a world where so many of your customer touch points take place online, there’s still a place for good, old-fashioned customer service.

Personal, tailored and (crucially) human interactions are what make your business unique. But how can you learn from your customer data to make this bespoke approach more effective?

We’ve highlighted four ways to use data analytics to improve your online customer service

1. Personalize your communications and experiences

Your CRM and e-commerce systems are full of useful customer data.

By diving into data points like customers’ purchase history or browsing behavior, you can offer each customer a more personalized experience. This could include tailored product recommendations, relevant content from your blog or discounts on their favorite product. Knowing what a customer loves about your brand, or your product, shows you understand their needs – and that’s great for building stronger relationships and brand loyalty.

2. Make customer support more targeted

Sifting through your customer service data to find the common pain points can be revealing.

Analyze your data relating to customer feedback, product issues or common complaints. This helps you build up a detailed picture of the everyday issues experienced by your customers. Based on these insights, you can deliver relevant training for your customer support team, leading to faster, more-effective resolutions. The same data can also inform your self-service features, making it easier for customers to autonomously find the resolutions they need.

3. Resolve any potential issues fast!

The faster you can react to customer feedback, the more valued your customers will feel.

Monitor data for signs of customer frustration or churn risk. Data points to look for include low engagement, or a sudden drop in purchases. By looking out for these potential problems early, you can reach out quickly with proactive support and special offers – before real damage is done and the customer decides to leave and disengage from your brand.

4. Improve your products and services

You can improve your products/services by factoring in the most common customer complaints and making changes based on this feedback.

Collect and analyze your customer feedback from surveys and reviews to pinpoint specific areas for improvement – and factor these into your product design and development. Acting on your customers’ feedback doesn’t just show you’re listening; it shows that you designed your products specifically for their needs. This is a great way to make customers feel valued.

Let’s get analytical with your customer data

The secrets to delivering these unique, personalized customer interactions lie in the data that’s already in your customer digital systems. Talk to our team and we’ll help you come up with a strategy for reviewing, analyzing and classifying your customer data.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Ask any business owner what their values stand for, and you’ll often hear the same list: honesty, professionalism, and quality. All great things, but here’s the uncomfortable truth:

These aren’t core values.

They’re the bare minimum.

Customers expect honesty. They assume professionalism. They take quality as a given. Touting these as your firm’s values doesn’t make you memorable, it just make you one of the same.

In today’s competitive landscape, your ability to stand out matters more than ever.

What real core values look like

Real values express your unique identity. They make your team say, “Yes, that’s us.” They make your customers think, “I feel that every time I work with them.”

Here are some examples of real, human-centred values that resonate:

Family First

Remembering our purpose in life

Enduring Relationships

Being there with care and respect

Keeping It Real

Practical and proven solutions

Empowerment

Believing in you

Fun

Because life is too short

Each one tells a story. Each one sets a tone. Each one builds an emotional connection, which is exactly what you need if you’re serious about becoming your clients’ trusted advisor.

The Power of Simplicity: 3 Words, 7 Words

To make values stick, keep them short and sharp. Here’s the rule:

1. Three words or fewer per value
2. Seven words or fewer to define it

Why? Because you need them to be memorable. If your team can’t recite your values, how can they live them?

What to Do Next

• • Audit your current values – are they generic or unique? Do they tell your story?
  • Define 3 or fewer real core values – make them emotional, memorable, and personal.
  • Keep each one under 7 words – clarity wins.
  • Share them – make them visible, repeatable, and part of your daily conversations.
  • Live them – give your team permission to call each other in (not out) when values are missed.

You’ll be amazed how this small shift transforms your culture and opens the door to a more advisory-driven business.

As Dr. Seuss said:

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”*

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Ever wondered what it actually means to work ‘on’ your business as well as working ‘in’ your business? You’re not the only one, so let’s break it down.

First, here are some practical distinctions to compare working ‘on’ and working ‘in’.

Now that the key differences have been explained, here are the five most important activities you should be doing with your business to drive success:

• • Prepare a business plan and update it annually. Tip : Do this in the last month of your financial year or the first month of the new financial year
  • Prepare a budget and forecast for the upcoming 12 months. Tip : Do this at the same time as you prepare your plan (and of course, review this annually too)
  • Report against that plan and budget monthly
  • Communicate the plan and the results to the owners and your team
  • Meet monthly for 1 to 2 hours to review your progress, your numbers, your business structure and any risks and opportunities that exist to improve the business

How much time should you set aside to work on your business?

Working on the business doesn’t need to be a full-time role, but you should make sure you’re allocating sufficient time each week to focus on it.

A good guideline is to be working on your business 1 to 2 hours each week, while allowing for a half-day progress check in each month to make sure you’re on track.

Also, set aside 1 to 2 days each year to go off-site and update your business plan and structure. Best practice is to get someone independent of your business to help you establish and maintain these regular disciplines and hold you to account to really improve your business.

What do you need to change to work more effectively ‘on’ your business?

If you need our help, get in touch.

“The business is there to serve you, not the other way round. You should not be a slave to your business” – Anon

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.