Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 27
27
Accepted
Develop a programme promoting targeted, female-focused accelerators in underrepresented high-growth sectors.
Recommendation
The Government should develop a specific programme of promoting targeted, female-focused accelerators in high growth sectors where women are underrepresented. Such a measure was noticeably missing from the Industrial Strategy. (Recommendation, Paragraph 111)
Government Response Summary
The government has accepted the recommendation, announcing the launch of the UKEF Female Founder Export Accelerator in partnership with Lifted Ventures, commencing in January 2026. This programme is specifically designed to support women-led businesses in high-growth sectors to scale internationally.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We recognise the importance of targeted support for female founders in the high-growth sectors and share the ambition to address underrepresentation in these areas. Government is working to align initiatives that support women with the Industrial Strategy and there are already a number of programmes doing so, including the recently announced UKEF Female Founder Export Accelerator. UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, have announced the launch of the UKEF Female Founder Export Accelerator in Partnership with Lifted Ventures, a first-of-its-kind collaboration designed to support women-led and women-owned businesses from diverse backgrounds to expand globally, scale faster and access the finance and tools needed to succeed beyond the UK. Commencing in January 2026, the UKEF Female Founder Export Accelerator is a programme comprising both in-person and virtual learning workshops along with mentoring and coaching. The programme is designed to equip female founders with the insight, support and funding pathways they need to scale internationally with confidence. The in-person workshops will take place in different locations around the country. The cohort will have a significant proportion of founders from global majority backgrounds, highlighting our ambition to support more underrepresented businesses in line with UKEF’s Business Plan to 2029. Weighted scoring reflected whether programme applicants operated in the Industrial Strategy’s growth-driving sectors, as well as their growth and impact potential. The Accelerator programme is targeted towards ambitious female founders who are: • Already exporting and want to accelerate international growth • Preparing to expand into global markets within the next 12–24 months This programme is just one of many initiatives UKEF is taking forward to support more underrepresented businesses, and is part of a programme of activity spanning marketing, events, panels, community engagement and data.