Stewart Report must move the dial on female entrepreneurship - Nick Freer

Like most people who meet Scottish entrepreneur and investor Ana Stewart for the first time, I was both impressed and charmed when I met Ana, an individual who combines a razor-sharp business mind with a high likeability factor. So, no surprise really when the Scottish Government commissioned her to chair the Women in Entrepreneurship review, or so-called Stewart Report, that was published earlier this week.

At 150 pages I’m not going to attempt to summarise the report here. The report is publicly available on the Scottish Government site, so it’s there for everyone to read. As an agency, we were pleased to support the PR push by the Scottish Government’s communications team, following on from the advisory services we have offered Stewart since the discovery phase of the review commenced last year.

In a not dissimilar way to the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review by Mark Logan, Scotland’s Chief Entrepreneur, in 2020, the Stewart Report will have an enduring shelf life and is a strong foundation on which the narrative around barriers to female entrepreneurship in this nation will be built over the years ahead.

What has been welcoming, is how positively received the report has been across the board, both in this country and further afield. Of course, the more support the report garners, the greater impact it will have. While it’s a bonus to see the worldwide attention that has already been achieved, the real rub will be around how effective and lasting transformational change can be here in Scotland.

The Stewart Report highlights the importance of female entrepreneurs to the Scottish economy

One of my main takeaways from the report is how male behaviours and mindset are crucial to bringing about this kind of effective change.

We know the status quo is holding back not only female entrepreneurship, but also the economy as a whole. Widespread research shows us that more diverse workforces lead to significant economic growth, and we know that entrepreneurs are absolutely integral to successful modern economies. Therefore, it’s not hard to ‘do the math’, it’s a total no-brainer.

Having a son and daughter, this is important stuff for me on a personal level. And really, essentially, who wouldn’t want a level playing field on gender terms in business. I mean, unless we’re still living in the Dark Ages or something?

But what do more important people than me think on the subject?

Nick Freer is the founding director of corporate communications agency the Freer Consultancy

According to Tim Allan, Founder of Tricorn Capital: “The odds are stacked against women succeeding in entrepreneurship because the current system has not evolved to support them.”

Leah Hutcheon, CEO and Founder of Appointed, says: “I was once advised in an investment meeting to take a male colleague to future meetings to make my tech business more ‘credible’. I sent the next few days thinking of where I might pick up a man to do this. It was both funny and depressing in equal measure.” Depressing indeed.

Worryingly, storied entrepreneurs like Ann Budge think the dial on female entrepreneurship, which some people think has improved in recent years, is nowhere near to that kind of reality: “The gender gap has widened, not narrowed, since I started my business many years ago.”

On this basis, the collective hope is that the Stewart Report’s recommendations are implemented in a timely fashion.

Nick Freer is the founding director of corporate communication agency the Freer Consultancy