The Investing in Women Code

The Investing in Women Code is a commitment to support the advancement of  female entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom by improving female  entrepreneurs’ access to tools, resources and finance from the financial  services sector.  

A diverse and inclusive business ecosystem is good for customers,  entrepreneurs, businesses, investors, and society. BEIS and the signatory firms  share a commitment to work in partnership to make the United Kingdom one of  the most attractive countries in the world to start and grow a business by  advancing female entrepreneurship. 

The Investing in Women Code recognises that there is already valuable work  underway by individual organisations to help women who are seeking to start or  scale up their businesses. Signatories to the Investing in Women Code aim to  build on this work.  

Signatories to the Investing in Women Code make the following commitment: 

My organisation is committed to a culture of inclusion and to advancing access  to capital for female entrepreneurs. My organisation will:  

• nominate a member of the senior leadership team (or key individual  within my Angel group or network) responsible for supporting equality  in all my organisation’s interactions with female entrepreneurs; 
• provide a commonly agreed set of data about my organisation’s  investing or lending activities and about its own staff and leadership  team to an industry body designated by BEIS, on the understanding  that BEIS will collate this data and publish it on an aggregated and  anonymised basis in an annual report; and 
• adopt internal practices that aim to improve female entrepreneurs’  access to the tools, resources and finance they need to grow their  businesses, working with relevant players in the ecosystem, and  review these practices annually. 

My organisation will make this commitment public. 

Organisations may be removed as signatories to the Investing in Women Code  if they do not fulfil these obligations. Signatories may also withdraw voluntarily. 

BEIS welcomes interest in the Investing in Women Code from all organisations  that finance businesses, directly or indirectly, whether through equity or debt. If  you would like more information about the Code, or would like to become a  signatory, please contact: investinginwomencode@beis.gov.uk.