NatWest has surpassed its headline dedication to lend £2 billion to women-led companies by the top of 2025, saying that it has already delivered £2.84 billion in funding throughout greater than 55,900 loans.
The achievement comes a full yr forward of schedule and reinforces the financial institution’s function as one of many UK’s largest backers of feminine entrepreneurship.
The typical mortgage dimension stood at round £50,700, with excessive demand seen throughout all kinds of sectors. Well being-related enterprises obtained essentially the most assist, adopted by leisure, business actual property, retail {and professional} companies. Regionally, London led the way in which in whole lending, carefully trailed by the South East, North West, Scotland and the South West — signalling the breadth of financial exercise pushed by women-run corporations nationwide.
Robert Begbie, CEO of NatWest Industrial & Institutional, described the milestone as proof of the dimensions and ambition of female-led companies: “Surpassing our £2bn funding goal forward of schedule exhibits the power and ambition of female-led corporations. Our dedication is long-standing, with over 1,000 Girls in Enterprise specialists, greater than half of our accelerator founders being girls, and the launch of the primary ever €500 million social bond for female-led companies.”
NatWest’s work to assist girls in enterprise stretches again greater than a decade. Since launching its Girls in Enterprise programme in 2012, the financial institution has invested closely in specialist assist, mentoring, networks and entry to finance. Early partnerships with Everywoman and schemes similar to Inspiring Girls into Enterprise created the muse for what has develop into a nationwide assist ecosystem.
By 2023, over half of the entrepreneurs supported by NatWest accelerators have been girls — a major shift in a sector the place feminine founders usually obtain solely a fraction of obtainable funding. The financial institution’s regional outreach, strategic partnerships and policy-based initiatives such because the Rose Evaluate and the Financial Blueprint for Girls have helped carry visibility and momentum to the UK’s gender funding hole.
Through the pandemic, NatWest tailor-made its assist with resilience workshops, compensation holidays and digital coaching to assist feminine founders navigate volatility. As a founding member of the Investing in Girls Code, it has additionally performed a pivotal function in driving transparency and accountability round lending practices.
Extra lately, collaborations with Meta, Purchase Girls Constructed and Getty Pictures’ Feminine Focus Marketing campaign have geared up female-led companies with digital advertising and marketing capabilities, higher visibility and improved illustration in enterprise imagery. New ring-fenced finance for feminine entrepreneurs and early-stage programmes such because the Start initiative are serving to girls set up and scale ventures in high-growth sectors.
As NatWest displays on exceeding its flagship pledge, the financial institution says it stays dedicated to increasing each funding and alternative for women-led companies, working with business and authorities companions to shut the UK’s gender entrepreneurship hole and assist long-term financial progress.
