A Fife businesswoman is to lead Scotland’s first all-female angel investment group.
Cupar-based Jackie Waring, who has long promoted the role of women in Scottish business life, has taken on the role of chief executive of the Investing Women network.
The organisation is launching with a series of events in Edinburgh this week in a bid to redress the fact only 2% of Scottish angel investors are female despite 46% of UK wealth being held by women.
Angel investment groups provide seed funding for new companies looking to raise cash to support their start-up business plans.
They often target high-risk but high- growth sectors such as the life sciences or digital communications, but Mrs Waring said Investing Women would simply invest where the business opportunity was right.
She hopes the group would make a major contribution in helping stimulate growth in a tough economic climate.
“Investing Women members will generate significant new seed and early stage investment in Scotland’s young innovative companies,” the new chief executive said.
“There is no shortage of innovators and entrepreneurs in Scotland and we want to help accelerate the growth of more of them to realise their market potential.
“Why shouldn’t we have as many female investors as male? I believe, given time, we will.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to increase the funds available for investment in Scottish talent, and Investing Women will help more women get into this arena.
“What we are delivering will be good for women, good for growth and good for the economy.”
The new organisation has been modelled on US-based practices, and prominent American investment angel Susan Preston has travelled to Scotland to lend her support at the scheme’s launch.
She said: “Having led the USA’s first women angel group, I am delighted to see a similar pioneering vision in Scotland.
“The proportion of women angels in the USA is now increasing rapidly, and that movement has been led by those who also recognised the market opportunity.
“The increased resource brought by new angels, currently at 22%, is boosting growth in the US economy as well as increasing the numbers of women-led companies. These same opportunities are here for women in Scotland who pick up the gauntlet.”
The two-day launch event begins today with a workshop aimed at female entrepreneurs, while there is to be a further masterclass tomorrow.
Caroline Halliday, non-executive director for Sustainable Heat & Power Ltd, has taken the opportunity to get involved.
She said: “I am relatively new to angel investing, and being part of this wider community is giving me the opportunity to increase my knowledge, share expertise and gain confidence in angel investing.”
The Investing Women venture is being taken forward as a joint venture basis between Mrs Waring and Morisons Solicitors.
Head of corporate Ross Hood said: “We want to create opportunities, not foster divisions. There is room for anyone who wants to make a difference and who shares the vision.”
Gordon Merrylees, managing director of RBS Business Banking in Scotland, said: “Our support of Investing Women will help Scottish female entrepreneurs realise the potential of alternative funding such as angel investing, and give them access to experts who will share their skills and knowledge to help them to perfect their investment pitch.”