London Offers Greatest Opportunities for UK Women in Tech, New Study Reveals - Seite 2

According to research from Tech London Advocates, London's tech companies also lead the way in promoting better opportunities for women with almost a third saying they have formal initiatives in place to recruit more women to the workforce, compared to less than a quarter in the rest of the country^[2].

However, London's tech community is making good progress, with a fifth (21 per cent) of tech companies involved in the research claiming to have a female chief executive^[2]. 

Russ Shaw founder of Tech London Advocates said: "Technology's gender problem is the industry's guilty secret that we need to address. Despite a range of highly successful female founders and CEOs in London, senior roles and management teams at digital businesses have more of a 'boys club' factor. For a sector driven by the need for highly skilled and creative talent, failing to harness those currently under-represented makes bad business sense." 

"London Technology Week is an opportunity to celebrate the opportunities technology companies hold for all Londoners, cutting across age, gender, ethnicity and background. The private sector must come together to expand diversity initiatives and work with local communities to make technology careers accessible and attractive to everyone." 

Female founders are an important driver of growth for London and the UK's economy. According to recent research from Founders4Schools, women-led businesses make up 11 per cent of UK SMEs.

Last month the Mayor's International Business Programme helped lead a female-founders trade mission to Silicon Valley designed to help the founders maximise opportunities to expand their business and secure extra funding from the US market. The trade mission was led by London & Partners, the Mayor's official promotional company in partnership with Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK), the Mayor's International Business Programme and the British Consulate General in San Francisco.

Jessica Butcher, Co-founder and Director of Blippar commented on the outcome of the trade mission: "The mission was a fabulous experience bringing together some of the best British female entrepreneurs to both network with each other and learn about how to scale our tech businesses faster to better compete on the global stage.  We came home invigorated and suffused with energy and practical advice, plus as a 'tribe' - committed to each other's success and resolved to step up more publicly as role models to encourage more young women into the technology sector."