GUEST COLUMN:
Councillor Mary Ann Brocklesby
Leader of Monmouthshire County Council
Chair of Cardiff Capital Region
When we talk about building a strong regional economy, we have to start with the basics. Are we giving every entrepreneur – regardless of gender, background or circumstance – a fair chance to succeed? In the Cardiff Capital Region, we are working to ensure that female-led businesses are properly supported.
This isn’t an add-on to our economic strategy. It’s central to it.
The figures remain stark. In Wales, fully female-founded teams received just 2.3% of equity investment in 2024. All-male teams received more than 75%. And just 15% of senior investment decisions are made by women. That’s not just a funding gap. It’s a systemic issue around who has access to the right networks, who is taken seriously, and who gets to define the rules.
If you step back even further, it starts before investment. If you are a young woman in the region, thinking about your next steps – where are your role models? Are you encouraged to consider starting a business? Do you see people like you succeeding in those spaces? That’s where we’ve worked hard to make progress.
Through the Women in Innovation Fund, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, we’ve supported women not just with funding, but with training, networking and mentoring. That combination matters. It recognises that access to finance on its own is not enough. If you are excluded from the networks that underpin entrepreneurship – the informal advice, the introductions, the confidence-building – then the playing field is never level.
We’ve seen the difference this approach can make. Businesses like Mazuma and Human Data Sciences are led by women who are not only building successful ventures, but acting as powerful ambassadors for the region. They are showing what is possible – and they are helping disrupt the norms that have kept so many others out.
Female-led businesses bring particular strengths to our local economy. They are more likely to reinvest in their communities, adopt flexible working practices, and make use of local supply chains. These choices matter. They help shape an economy that is more inclusive, more adaptable and ultimately more resilient.
But we must go further. Too many women are still stuck at the start-up stage. Our focus now is helping these businesses grow and scale. That means thinking carefully about the full pipeline of support – from training and mentoring, to access to larger-scale funding. And it also means being clear that failure is not the end. We want to create a business culture where it is safe to try, to learn, and to go again.
That applies to all entrepreneurs – but particularly those who have been historically under-represented. Women, black and ethnic minority founders, people from non-traditional educational backgrounds – all face structural barriers to accessing capital and networks. These aren’t just statistics. These are people with ideas, ambitions and potential.
That’s why we continue to work with partners – including local authorities, Welsh Government, and the private sector – to build a whole-system approach. It’s not about one scheme or one pot of funding. It’s about changing the environment in which businesses grow.
Ultimately, this is about economic sense. If we want a competitive, modern and inclusive economy in the Cardiff Capital Region, we need everyone at the table. That means creating conditions where diverse businesses can grow and where success doesn’t rely on who you already know.
We don’t want special programmes that last for a year or two. We want lasting change. That means putting women and other under-represented groups at the heart of our strategy, not at the edges. It’s not about creating a new room. It’s about changing the room itself – so that everyone can walk in, contribute, and thrive.
Councillor Mary Ann Brocklesby talks about this and more in the Cardiff Capital Region podcast episode Empowering Female Entrepreneurs. Listen to the podcast here:
