Fund Femme, a new global database of women and non-binary owned businesses created by Wunderman Thompson, has launched to help tackle the gender inequality in the economy.
Despite making up 50% of the population and having 80% of spending power, women represent only 33% of business owners.
COVID-19 has dealt a massive blow to femme owned business with women-founded start-ups receiving 27% less funding.
Similarly, women were a third more likely to work, or own a company, in a sector that was shut due to COVID-19 regulations last year. With the investment gap widening, small to medium owned femme businesses have become even more vulnerable.
“Our economy does not represent us, and that needs to change," says Oriel Irvine Wells, co-founder of Fund Femme and copywriter at Wunderman Thompson UK.
"By giving businesses owned by women and non-binary people a platform, we hope to make people more aware of the many amazing founders out there who are often overlooked.
"By thinking more about who we support when we spend our money and changing our shopping habits to reflect this, we can create genuine, long-lasting change and bring our economy back into balance."
Fund Femme is designed to tip the scales and put balance back into the economy.
The global platform allows consumers to discover, and shop from, women and non-binary business owners across beauty, fashion, food, homeware, technology, health and wellness, travel, fitness, arts and culture, media and charities.
Users can filter based on category, location or through tags that business have added to identify themselves.
A core part of the platform’s mission is to celebrate and promote femme founders, tell their stories and establish support networks for business owners via an editorial hub on the website and designated Instagram @FundFemme.
Businesses joining can be of any size, all that is asked is that the entrepreneurs share Fund Femme’s principles rooted in equality, ethics, honestly, passion and consideration.
“Only 3% of venture capitalist funding currently goes to women owned businesses despite the fact they deliver higher revenue on average," Wunderman Thompson UK CEO Pip Hulbert says.
"That’s an imbalance that needs to change. We know the reasons why, I could reel off stats all day about the benefits of a balanced, representative economy.
"My hope is that Fund Femme, an initiative born from a group of smart, ambitious and passionate women, can be a part of that change, providing a platform for underrepresented businesses to flourish.
"I’d urge everyone to think about the businesses you know that can join the movement, and how you use your spending power moving forward. Every pound plays a role in shifting the scale.”
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