As the pandemic continues to impact businesses - both small and large - across the globe, I meet with four diverse founders based in the UK, who are taking part in WeWork's Diverse Founders Programme in partnership with UK social enterprise, Foundervine.

With men being twice as likely to become entrepreneurs than women, the business world has a long way to go to address the barriers which stop women from starting companies, and help to create a more equal society.

Included VC, the first-of-its-kind global initiative building diversity within venture capital, has in a collaborative partnership with 11 funds from around the world, kicked off its Fellowship II. It is the only offering on the market that offers a nine-month, fully funded Fellowship to diverse individuals globally who are looking to enter the VC ecosystem.

You can’t be what you can’t see. This is a phrase that crops up time and time again. We often see organisations pledge to take action to boost the number of opportunities for LGBT+ professionals to take up leadership positions; however there is still a lack of visible LGBT+ role models across business.

The Data & Marketing Association (DMA) has announced a new partnership with not-for-profit organisation, Race Equality Matters, which will seek to achieve racial equality in the workplace.

Over the past few years, we have seen considerable progress on gender equality within the workplace, with logistics providers outlining their commitments to building a more diverse pipeline of talent across all levels.

As someone who once worked for big tech in corporate America, I can attest to the difficulties corporate environments impose on people as individuals, especially caregivers. I don’t limit my identities to only being a mother or only being a professional — I am, like so many things in 2020, complicated and I contain multitudes (thanks for that one, Walt Whitman).

British Polar explorer, Antarctic scientist and author, Felicity Aston is an established expedition leader who has successfully organised and led numerous global missions. As an ambassador for the First Women project, Felicity has led international teams of women to some of the most remote places around the world. Her expeditions have included the first British Women’s crossing of Greenland, The Women’s Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition and The Pole of Cold Expedition.

To date, the artificial intelligence (AI) industry has had quite a difficult history with diversity standards. Despite studies probing inclusivity and bias, statistics for gender and racial diversity in the sector are alarmingly low. And given that we are living in an age of strong activism in these spaces, it is high time that the tech industry follows suit with some practical steps.

In the first part of this series I looked specifically at why women aren’t investing. This time, I’m exploring what’s stopping everyone else.

PitchBook, the data provider for the private and public equity markets, has released All In: Women in the VC Ecosystem, its second annual report examining global Venture Capital (VC) investment in female-founded startups. The report, published with support from Microsoft for Startups and Beyond the Billion, shows the coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately impacted female founders and CEOs negatively, despite undeniable, long term gains in VC investment over the past decade.

A staggering £4bn of investment went to UK tech companies in the first half of 2020. The British Business Bank’s recent Government report, together with recent surveys by leading investment platforms like Stakeholderz, show that despite the challenges posed this year, investors are continuing to back the UK’s high growth tech companies, with many indicating they will invest the same or more over the next year. Tech has long proved to be a lucrative and attractive sector for investors and entrepreneurs.

Startups Magazine and Fiverr have come together to bring Female Founders a Micro-Grant, to win £5,000 Fiverr credit. This competition has now closed for new entries.

This has been quite a year and if 2020’s taught us anything it’s that we need to take very good care of ourselves, as our business’s biggest asset. Your wellbeing is the source of energy and creativity that your business needs.

“I’m starting to think my profile could be an asset for the business,” a brilliant female founder confided over a virtual Zoom coffee a couple of weeks back (I miss real life, barista made flat whites and hugging clients hello but that’s a sidebar). “I always want to make it about the business but I think I could be a bit of an asset.”

We at The WealthiHer Network have delved into the challenges facing female entrepreneurs in today’s society, the potential they create economically and socially, and the turnaround traits needed to drive recovery for all.  Our fear is that without positive action, the path to recovery for female entrepreneurs is under threat… especially in a post COVID-19 society.

Following our recent Women in Tech event to celebrate Female Founders, Startups Magazine decided to support the Young Women's Trust with all the amazing work they have been doing, with all the profits from the event. 

B2B tech Unicorns with more female leaders are more likely to have female staff in the rest of the organisation, according to findings from 'Part One: Female Inclusion' of leading European B2B SaaS Venture Capital firm Notion Capital’s report, Which Diversity Measures Work? 

In our recent Women in Tech issue, we asked one of our partners Fiverr to chose 'Fiverr's Top 5 Female Founders'. Of course, a very hard job knowing how much talent there is out there, but nonetheless her are the wonderful Founders, in no particular order that made that five! 

Founded in 2014, Hatch has been on a mission to increase diversity in entrepreneurship and has been shining the spotlight on diverse women-led businesses ever since.