By the end of 2027, Tide, the top business financing platform, plans to launch 200,000 female-led firms. It is the first fintech to provide this level of support for female-led SMEs.
The pledge is a component of Tide’s initiatives to advance gender equality and lower obstacles for women in business. The action builds on a prior accomplishment, when Tide said it had signed up 100,000 female-owned businesses, 10 months ahead of its 2023 end-of-year goal1.
- Fintech makes it simpler for women to launch and manage large-scale businesses.
- Tide’s ‘Women in Business’ multimedia series serves to uplift, educate, and support its female members.
- For free training and guidance on overcoming business issues, members will be directed to Mastercard’s Strive UK program.
Content series on women in business
Only twenty percent (20%) of all new firms in the UK are run by women2. Tide is creating a Women in Business content series to encourage, educate, and champion female members in order to address these and other issues.
Members of Tide will be forwarded to the Strive UK program of Mastercard. Strive UK offers free access to training and focused guidance to address common business issues including developing a social media strategy, establishing an online store, or accepting payments online.
More than half (53%) of UK women find it difficult to launch their own business, according to a recent survey of 2,000 Tide members3. They listed some of the biggest obstacles as a lack of mentors, operational knowledge, and self-confidence. According to the poll, female business owners require assistance in the areas of business mentoring and learning and development.
“Having listened to our members, we know the challenges they face when starting and operating a business, and we want to make that process as simple as possible,” said Heather Cobb, SVP Member Engagement at Tide. “Only 5.6% of women in the UK operate their own business4, which is significantly less than the rates in industrialized nations like Canada (15%) and the US (11%). The promise we made today is just the start of our effort to advance gender equality in entrepreneurship, and we look forward to collaborating with Mastercard and other parties to make this a reality.”
“If we band together, there’s so more we can do to promote female entrepreneurs”, according to Kelly Devine, President, UK&I at Mastercard. “It’s wonderful that Tide is assisting women in finding support, inspiration, and knowledge that will help them establish and build a business because entrepreneurs informed us that they frequently don’t know where to search for reliable support services.”
Fostering growth with the Strive UK initiative from Mastercard
The Mastercard Centre for Inclusive Growth’s Strive UK program, an initiative of Mastercard, aims to support small businesses with digital skills, particularly those run by women and people of color.
Tide members can:
- Using the Make a Plan tool from Enterprise Nation, create a customized business action plan.
- Through Digital Boost, get in touch with professionals in strategy, marketing technology, finance, and more for one-on-one or small-group business mentorship.
- Through Be the Business, users may connect with a mentor, get free technological assistance, and have access to their very own board of seasoned businesspeople for a full year.
A network of female entrepreneurs
The Women in Business content series from Tide will highlight insights gained from managing cutting-edge firms, assisting the community of female Tide members in accelerating their endeavors. Serial businessman and social activist Atinuke Awe (Tinuke), one of these members, recently conducted a seminar on “Accessing Alternative Finance.” Tinuke is the creator of Learning with Ez, a platform for varied educational resources, Mums and Tea, a social network for mothers, and Five X More CIC, an organization devoted to improving Black maternal outcomes in the UK.
Since the launch of its product in December 2022, Tide has also seen a rise in the number of members in India. By the end of 2027, Tide hopes to have helped 500,000 women-owned enterprises get off the ground. To help female business owners manage the delivery of India’s government aid initiatives, it just developed the Sarthika web platform.
Sources: Businesswire
