Prosper Autumn, Black Country Chamber of Commerce magazine

PROSPER SPOTLIGHT: THE GENDER INDEX
New report sees positive change
for women in enterprise
A Black Country and West Midlands Perspective
Following the publication in
March of the Gender Index
Report 2022, a report with a
clear and accurate picture of
the UK company landscape
analysed by gender, Prosper
decided to take a deeper
look into specific regions
across the UK, including the
Black Country and wider
West Midlands.
The Gender Index, who’s headline partner
is NatWest, is ground-breaking and is the
largest research study into female
entrepreneurship ever undertaken.
A live and interactive tool that maps
every single active UK company, it
accurately measures the number of
female-led companies and their impact on
the UK economy.
Powered by AI, it holds live data on more
than four million active UK companies,
constantly refreshed and always up to date
in every country, region, LEP and local
authority in real-time giving findings on
gender, regions, sectors and investment.
Back in 2019, the Rose Review, the
Treasury commissioned review led by
Alison Rose, CEO of NatWest, into female
entrepreneurship, identified that an
additional £250bn could be contributed to
the UK economy simply by empowering
more women to start and grow companies.
Currently, just 16.8% of active UK
companies are led by women. The Gender
Index is committed to help change that,
with a collective ambition to help create a
fairer future by providing a clear picture of
what’s truly going on across the UK
company landscape.
Chair of the Gender Index, Jill Pay, told
Prosper, “Our ambition is to drive positive
change for women in enterprise, driven by
data, leading to a fairer future.
“With the technology at our disposal,
this is achievable. We can map every active
UK company across the four nations, by
region, LEP and local authority, by sector,
investment type, fast growth and company
age, all in real time.
“We have the insights to work with policy
makers, local and national government,
corporates, researchers, investors and
female entrepreneurs to inspire a more
inclusive, diverse - and stronger - economy.”
This is the first-time gender
disaggregated information has been made
freely accessible for the public, through an
interactive website, www.thegenderindex.
co.uk and reported. By comparing the
Black Country and the West Midlands to
other regions as well as England and the
UK, the factors leading to the unreasonably
low percentage of female-led companies
were identified.
Key findings:
In the Black Country…
• Across the Black Country just 17.28% of
active companies are female-led. Based on
research into the total number of
companies across the four local authorities,
‘‘
The Rose Review identified
that an additional £250bn
could be contributed to the UK
economy by empowering
more women to start and grow
their own companies...
of which there are 15,831 in
Wolverhampton, 18,005 in Dudley, 13,925
in Walsall and 18,845 in Sandwell, Prosper
identified just 20.66% of companies are
female-led in Wolverhampton, (3,271),
while the figures are lower in other parts of
the region: 16.27% in Dudley (2,930), 16.5%
in Walsall 2,298 (2,298) and 15.96% in
Sandwell, (3,008).
• Of the 363,212 active companies that
were identified across the whole of the
West Midlands, just 17.1% are female-led.
However, this is the third highest female
leadership percentage for a UK region,
surpassed only by London (18.5%) and the
south-east (17.2%). This is higher than the
national figure of current active companies
which is 16.8%.
• Wholly male-led companies account
for 59.4% of companies in the West
Midlands. A further 16.3% are designated
as ‘mixed led’ which is the third lowest rate
after London (12.5%) and the north-west
(15.7%).
• Meanwhile, the West Midlands has the
fourth highest average turnover growth for
female-led companies across all the
regions in the UK. For male-led companies,
it is joint sixth alongside Yorkshire and the
Humber. With regards to both mixed-led
companies and uncertain-led companies, it
is fifth.
• Average turnover growth for femaleled
companies is 18.4% and 15.5% for
male-led companies. Mixed-led companies
are in between the two at 17.2%.
Compared to England, the average
turnover growth for companies of each
type of leadership in the West Midlands is
lower.
Average turnover growth in England is
21.1% for female-led companies, 19.1% for
male-led companies, 19.2% for mixed-led
companies and 27.7% for uncertain-led
companies.
Lower averages are also the case when
measured up against the UK though to a
lesser extent. The UK’s average turnover
growth is 19.0% for female-led companies,
17.3% for male-led companies, 17.4% for
48 PROSPER AUTUMN 2022
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