Prime Highlights:
- The Whole Point, formerly The Lifted Project, has rebranded and set up five regional boards to support women-led businesses in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, and Newcastle.
- The initiative has already provided over 4,000 hours of guidance and helped 350 women-led businesses secure funding and grow.
Key Facts:
- Only 2% of UK business funding goes to women-led businesses, with more than half concentrated in London.
- The Whole Point partners with organisations like Lloyds Banking Group, Azets, and Mills & Reeve to deliver workshops, accelerator programmes, and investment-readiness support.
Background:
A UK-wide initiative aimed at increasing funding for women-led businesses has rebranded as it enters a new phase of growth. The Whole Point, formerly known as The Lifted Project, is expanding its regional reach to strengthen the UK’s position as a “gender smart” investment hub.
The initiative has set up five regional boards in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, and Newcastle to support women entrepreneurs. Since it started, it has offered over 4,000 hours of guidance and helped 350 women-led businesses get funding and grow.
Zandra Moore MBE, co-founder and chair of The Whole Point, said the lack of standardised data on women-led businesses is limiting access to funding outside London. “In the UK, only 2% of funding goes to women-led businesses, and more than half of that never leaves the capital,” Moore said. “We need data, not gestures, to show that backing women boosts the economy.”
The initiative is also a delivery and insight partner for the government’s Invest in Women Taskforce, helping to create a consistent national definition of women-led businesses. This approach aims to enable comparable data across funders, lenders, and government bodies.
In Leeds alone, The Whole Point has identified over 15,000 active female directors, yet fewer than 90 have received investment to scale. Partnering with Lloyds Banking Group, the initiative has organised panels and mentorship sessions on growth strategies, funding navigation, and scaling challenges. Regional programmes, such as the Built to Rise Accelerator sponsored by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, have helped 11 women-led scale-ups prepare for investment.
The Whole Point has worked with accountancy firm Azets and law firm Mills & Reeve to give founders workshops on finance, legal matters, and tax planning. Delegates reported improved confidence in pitching, negotiating, and investment readiness.
Following the success in Leeds, The Whole Point plans to roll out Money Talks roundtables across other regions and launch The Whole Point Index, a live data dashboard tracking emerging women-led businesses across the UK.
Moore concluded: “The UK already matches Europe for women-led businesses valued over $1 billion. By fixing regional imbalances, we can ensure growth isn’t concentrated in the south but benefits the whole economy.”
