# BWSMAGAZINE
BWS Questions with ….
Jackie Waring
INVESTING WOMEN Jackie Waring – CEO of all-female business angel group
What was your own career background ? In 1990 at the age of 25 I was appointed CEO of regional economic development agency , Gordon Enterprise Trust where I was privileged to work alongside a board of inspirational entrepreneurs who greatly influenced my own future thinking . I went on to run three companies , ranging from a 50-employee business to my own enterprise policy consultancy founded in 2003 . I later became the UK ’ s first Advisory Board Member to the Global Banking Alliance for Women , based in Washington DC .
What inspired you to launch Investing Women ? I was driven by both passion and frustration to help overcome some of the barriers preventing female entrepreneurs from achieving their full potential . Access to finance for female-led companies was a key area of focus through my work for the UK Government ; where I led on this issue . Through my business activity in the US , I became aware of the ‘ echo effect ,’ where a rise in female angel investors has been proven to be closely mirrored by an increase in women-led companies gaining investment . I wanted to replicate that phenomenon in Scotland .
What has Investing Women done ? We established a dynamic network of experienced businesswomen who are keen to help other female entrepreneurs achieve growth and financial investment . We then created our AccelerateHER Awards and annual Ambition and Growth Conference to provide a platform for aspiring businesswomen . This approach is working : this year we doubled the number of awards entries to almost 190 . In the first two years of the awards , finalists have raised over £ 3.75m in investment between them . Investing Women has invested in 10 companies to date , 80 per cent of which have female founders in their growing teams . The overall investment leveraged exceeds £ 10m as we frequently invest alongside other investment syndicates . TC Biopharm , Scottish Biotechnology and Sofant Technologies are among those exciting companies we ’ ve supported .
Is it right to focus solely on women entrepreneurs ? The phenomenal opportunity for economic growth represented by women entrepreneurs is still far from being fully realised . Achieving gender equality will be a wonderful outcome from releasing this potential ; and it is the wider economy that will benefit . Increasing the number of femaleled start-up businesses to the same level of those run by men would deliver a five per cent boost to our economy , equivalent to over £ 7.6bn . And that ’ s before these companies start to grow and scale !.
Does Scotland provide a good environment for female entrepreneurs ? There are many positives . Scotland is rich in innovation and we lead the world in areas such as life sciences and technology - including Fintech , which offers great economic potential . We have an entrepreneurial ecosystem the envy of many other countries and both this ecosystem and the Scottish Government are increasingly proactive in supporting female entrepreneurs . Partners in the ScotCanDo backed Framework for Women ’ s Enterprise and emerging programmes like Unlocking Ambition are achieving real impact here . Thanks to the great support of LINC Scotland ; Scotland has a strong , collaborative business angel community . This is of growing importance to Scottish companies given 2017 saw business angels invest and leverage £ 54m to boost Scotland ’ s most innovative businesses
What would define success for Investing Women ? For us , success is seeing equal levels of female and male business angel investors in the future . This will mean a near doubling of current levels of investment into Scottish companies and , applying the ‘ echo effect ,’ will help significantly more women grow their companies across international markets .
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