Gender export gap in Scotland: research

4. Findings

4.1 Quantitative findings

Throughout this section we refer to four categories of SME ownership based on gender:

• Women-led refers to SMEs controlled by a single woman or having a management team of which a majority were women.
• Equally-led refers to SMEs controlled equally by women and men or having a management team of which are equally women and men.
• Minority-women led refers to SMEs having a minority of women in control or in the management team.
• Male-led refers to SMEs entirely controlled or managed by men.

4.1.1 Overview of women-led SME exporters in Scotland

4.1.1.1 What proportion of Scottish SME exporters are women-led?

In 2022, of the SMEs that exported in Scotland, only 21% were women-led, while another 18% were equally-led by women and men. 49% of exporters were entirely male-led, while another 12% had women as the minority ownership (Figure 2).

SMEs, with male-led occupying 49 per cent, women-led on 21 per cent, equally-led on 18 per cent, and minority women on 12 per cent.">

Historically, the proportion of Scottish SME exporters that are women-led is lower, between 12% and 14%, while the proportion of male-led is higher, between 52% and 59%. However, 2021 and 2022 saw a small increase of women-led exporters and a small decrease in male-led exporters (Figure 3, Table 4).

Table 4: Scottish SME exporter ownership, 2016-2022

Year	Women-led	Equally-led	Women in minority	Male-led
2016	12%	17%	12%	59%
2017	12%	17%	18%	54%
2018	14%	17%	17%	52%
2019	14%	17%	17%	52%
2020	13%	18%	13%	56%
2021	19%	23%	11%	47%
2022	21%	18%	12%	49%

4.1.1.2 What proportion of women-led SMEs export in Scotland?

Historically, between 12% and 17% of women-led SMEs export in Scotland, whereas between 17% and 21% of male-led SMEs export. Year on year, a higher proportion of male-led SMEs export compared to women-led SMEs by between 2% and 9%. Generally, a slightly higher proportion of UK women-led SMEs export (0-2%) than Scottish counterparts (Figure 4, Table 5).

Table 5: Proportion of Scottish SMEs that export by ownership, 2016-2022

Year	Women-led	Equally-led	Women in minority	Male-led	UK women-led
2016	12%	12%	17%	20%	14%
2017	12%	16%	23%	21%	14%
2018	14%	14%	20%	20%	16%
2019	17%	15%	24%	19%	17%
2020	14%	15%	21%	19%	15%
2021	14%	17%	14%	18%	15%
2022	15%	13%	14%	17%	14%

4.1.1.3 Typically, how much do women-led Scottish SME exporters turnover?

Despite a lot of fluctuation year on year, women-led and equally-led Scottish SME exporters typically turnover more than non-exporters. However, the average compared to male-led exporters is typically much lower. Generally, UK women and equally-led SME exporters have a higher turnover than Scottish counterparts (Figure 5, Table 6).

Table 6: Average turnover of women-led Scottish SME exporters and non-exporters, 2016-2022

Year	Women and equally led non-exporters	Women and equally-led exporters	Male-led exporters	UK Women and equally-led exporters
2016	£735,986	£1,748,472	£10,600,007	£3,077,148
2017	£711,193	£2,698,966	£5,991,584	£2,945,299
2018	£1,132,173	£2,464,075	£8,137,308	£2,892,809
2019	£1,440,956	£3,663,341	£8,381998	£3,195,108
2020	£1,435,703	£593,137	£7,272,500	£2,000,169
2021	£784,621	£3,034,553	£7,594,836	£2,759,914
2022	£1,099,633	£1,545,727	£11,300,007	£3,003,660

4.1.1.4 Typically, how many employees do women-led Scottish SME exporters have?

Despite fluctuation year on year, interestingly, women-led and equally-led Scottish SME non-exporters typically employ more than exporters. However, the average number of employees compared to male-led exporters is typically much lower. Again, UK women and equally-led SME exporters generally have a higher number of employees than Scottish counterparts.

Considering women-led exporters also turnover more than non-exporters, this perhaps points to a possible productivity gain as they turnover more with fewer employees (Figure 6, Table 7).

Table 7: Average number of employees of women-led Scottish SME exporters and non-exporters, 2016-2022

Year	Women and equally led non-exporters	Women and equally- led exporters	Male-led exporters	UK Women and equally-led exporters
2016	14	12	31	21
2017	13	22	35	23
2018	17	14	50	18
2019	17	24	40	20
2020	14	8	57	15
2021	18	14	35	16
2022	17	11	39	17

4.1.2 The impact of exporting on business growth

4.1.2.1 Does turnover increase for women-led Scottish SMEs post export?

There is statistical evidence that exporting increases turnover for both women-led and male-led SMEs in Scotland. There is no significant evidence that exporting increased turnover for UK women-led SMEs. This study is not able to draw conclusions on the reasons for this, which for example, could relate to structural differences, perhaps because of access to larger and closer local markets.

For Scottish SMEs that were women/equally-led and began exporting in 2018, the 1-year coefficient for DiD (compared with non-exporting pre-2018) was £2,217,040 with a p-value of 0.14. This means that there was a marginally statistically significant impact of exportation on turnover. This suggests that women/equally-led SMEs that began exporting in 2018 experienced on average a £2.2 million greater increase in turnover one year after they started exporting compared with non-exporters.

Likewise, the DiD coefficient for male-led SMEs was £4,832,569 with a p-value of 0.05, showing a significant positive impact on turnover for exporters compared to non-exporters. This shows that while both women/equally-led SMEs and male-led SMEs experienced an uplift in turnover compared to non-exporters over one year, male-led exporters experienced a greater one-year uplift.

Those that exported in 2018 were followed up in 2019 and we still found a positive significant impact on their turnover, with a DiD coefficient of £3,672,016 and a p-value of 0.001. This means that the exportation in 2018 had a significantly positive impact on the turnover of the women/equally-led SMEs by year two.

The DiD coefficient for male-led SMEs was £4,777,001 with a p-value of 0.02. This means that there was significant impact of exportation on the turnover of the male-led SMEs after year two. However, the impact of exporting after two years was still greater for male-led SMEs compared to women/equally-led SMEs.

While there was no statistical evidence that exporting increased turnover for UK women-led and equally led SMEs over either one year or two years, there was evidence that UK male-led SMEs increased turnover. The DiD coefficient for UK male-led SMEs was £2,988,281 with a p-value of 0.03 for one year. The two years DiD coefficient for turnover was £2,650,130 with a marginally significant p-value of 0.11.

4.1.2.2 Does the number of employees increase for women-led Scottish SMEs post export?

There is no statistical evidence that exporting increases the number of employees for women-led in Scotland. Likewise, there is no significant evidence that exporting increased the number of employees for UK women-led SMEs. However, there is marginal evidence that exporting encourages growth in the number of employees for both UK and Scottish male-led SMEs.

In 2018, the DiD coefficient (compared with non-exporting pre-2018) for women/equally-led Scottish SMEs that exported was 10 with a p-value of 0.3. What this means is that the number of employees in women/equally-led SMEs increased by 10, but there was no statistical significance to show that the increase was because of exportation.

The DiD coefficient for male-led Scottish SMEs who exported in 2018 was 32 with a p-value of 0.07. This implies that the number of employees in male-led SME exporters increased with statistical significance to show it was because of exportation. The DiD coefficient for UK male-led SMEs who exported in 2018 was about 12 with a p-value of 0.09.

In 2019, the DiD coefficient for women/equally-led SMEs that exported in 2018 was 4 with a p-value of 0.8. This again means that there was no significant impact of the exportation in 2018 on their employee number 2019. the Scottish male-led SMEs had a DiD coefficient of 36 with a p-value of 0.1. This again implies that there is a marginally statistically significant impact of the 2018 exportation on the number of employees. The DiD coefficient for UK male-led SMEs two years after exporting was 7, however, this is not statistically significant.

Overall, any increase in employment numbers for women-led and equally led SMEs post-exporting cannot be solely attributed to exporting alone. This study cannot draw conclusions on the reasons for this. There is a likely interaction effect with other business activities (innovation, new local market entry, marketing etc.) that could explain this.

4.1.3 The economic case for closing the gender gap

The proportion of SMEs that are women-led is historically lower than male-led figures^[3]. Therefore, there are less women-led businesses as a starting point in Scotland. Considering the proportion of women-led SMEs in Scotland who export is also lower than the proportion of male-led SMEs in Scotland who export this represents a double gender gap. As well as closing the gender gap in regard to increasing the number of women-led SMEs, increasing the proportion of these women-led SMEs who export can also generate economic benefits to Scotland.

4.1.3.1 What impact can be achieved if women-led Scottish SMEs export at the same rate as male-led Scottish SMEs?

If a similar proportion of women-led Scottish SMEs exported as male-led SMEs it could potentially increase total turnover generated by SMEs by between £2.1 and £6.35 billion over one year^[4].

We base this calculation on the number of SMEs in Scotland in 2018, our baseline year for calculating the impact of exporting on turnover, where 14% of those were women-led:

Total SMEs Scotland 2018^[5] = 343,535

Total women-led SMEs Scotland in 2018 (14%) = 48,095

In 2018 the difference in the proportion of male-led SMEs who exported was 6% higher than women-led SMEs. Therefore, we calculate the potential increase in the number of women-led SMEs by 6%. This would equate to an additional 2,886 women-led SME exporters.

Total women-led SMEs Scotland in 2018 = 48,095

If 6% more women-led SMEs exported to equal the rate of male-led SMEs = 2,886

We then multiply this by the anticipated increase in sales turnover one year after exporting from our CDID calculation, which was about £2,200,000. This would equate to a potential turnover increase of £6,349,200,000 collectively.

If 6% more exported = 2,886

@ £2,200,000 turnover increase = £6,349,200,000

We also calculate a bottom-line scenario based on the lowest difference in the proportion of women-led SMEs exporting compared to male-led SMEs exporting, which is 2% in both 2019 and 2022. If 2% more women-led SMEs exported this would equate to an additional 962 SMEs exporting, with a turnover increase of £2,200,000, resulting in a collective turnover increase of £2,116,400,000.

If 2% more women-led SMEs exported = 962

@ £2,200,000 turnover increase = £2,116,400,000

If a similar proportion of women-led Scottish SMEs exported as male-led SMEs it could potentially increase total turnover generated by SMEs by between £3.4 and £10.35 billion into the Scottish economy over two years^[6]. This is based on the same calculation as above using our CDiD calculation which showed increase in sales turnover two years after exporting was about £3,600,000.

Total SMEs Scotland 2028^[7] = 343,535

Total women-led SMEs Scotland (14%) = 48,095

If 2% more women-led SMEs exported = 962

@ £3,600,000 turnover increase = £3,463,200,000

If 6% more women-led SMEs exported = 2,886

@ £3,600,000 turnover increase = £10,389,600,000

It is important to note that these calculations are simplistic and indicative. They do not consider how the economy would be impacted by an increase in the share of SMEs exporting – such as compositional or any spillover effects.

4.1.3.2 What other economic impacts might be expected?

After exporting women-led SMEs also increase the number of employees they have by an estimated 10, although this cannot be attributed to exporting itself. This is likely in tandem with other value-generating activities, such as innovation, or home-market expansion.

Women-led Scottish SME exporters generally have a higher turnover figure than non-exporter counterparts, which is achieved with a lower number of employees. Although not a typical measure of productivity, outputs (turnover) are achieved with lower inputs (employment) indicating that these firms are also more productive.

Given the key findings from the quantitative analysis, we now move to the findings from the qualitative analysis of understanding women exporting (or not) in Scotland.

4.2 Qualitative findings

4.2.1 Women exporters

Sixteen women exporters of products and services were interviewed to capture their insights about their internationalisation process. They belonged to industries such as manufacturing, consultancy services, retail, personal care, media production services, technology, education, and health. The participants reported challenges and opportunities to expand abroad and mentioned the most valuable support provision that has brought them benefits. They also highlighted the current support required to continue growing internationally. The main difference for women exporting products and services was that exporters of services reported they had more flexibility to decide where to be located physically to deliver their services. For example, one woman decided to provide her film services abroad to avoid issues with customs when importing camera equipment and custom designs from the European Union to film in Scotland. Another difference is that women who exported services said they needed to build their reputation and experience to be competitive in the global market, rather than competing with specific attributes of the product, such as materials that are recognised for being autochthonous to Scotland, like tweed. Therefore, they emphasised the importance of having international hubs that represent the country which offers physical space to build trust with local potential customers.

It was a commonality that women from all sectors mentioned they needed more support to understand the local regulations and contractual specifications for exporting to a specific country. However, women exporting products highlighted that they needed more support both before and after exporting to understand and manage international logistics (e.g., transport, Incoterms, pricing and taxes, regulations, and customs). Although women exporting both products and services mentioned that Brexit has been an obstacle to international growth, women exporting products have been more affected due to customs restrictions and higher taxes on their products. Lack of information about the target market was also a barrier for exporters of products.

Given the data collected and analysed, the following four themes were identified for women entrepreneurs who were exporting: (1) challenges to export, (2) support provision, (3) support to grow internationally, and (4) opportunities to grow (illustrative quotes can be found in Appendix 7). The first theme highlighted that woman recurrently reported a lack of awareness in finding the right support. This was specifically attributed to the lack of integration of services provided by local institutions. Under this theme, they also mentioned Brexit as an obstacle to exporting to the European Union, difficulties in obtaining finance for growth, and a lack of information before entering a target market. Two important barriers emerged particularly for women: gender stereotypes and caring responsibilities. Women reported experiencing unconscious bias when receiving support or negotiating with men in certain cultures. Although women want to grow their businesses, they find it difficult to travel for business abroad when they have caring responsibilities at home.

The second theme that emerged was support provision. All women reported having participated in or having received assistance with networking, funding and investment, training, acceleration programmes and growth, business advice and mentoring, and support from international hubs. Women highlighted the importance of having a mentor who supports them with their inquiries when they are trying to internationalise. The third theme was support for international growth. Women exporters would like to gain access to high-quality connections and networks, receive more funding to grow abroad, and participate in trade missions and fairs. Furthermore, they would like to receive more support for legal and regulatory advice specific to each country and have greater awareness and integration of services and support programmes. In this theme, the women emphasised the importance of having support focused on women, such as short and virtual courses and networking events with other women to learn from their experiences in exporting. All women reported their ambitions to continue growing. The final theme that emerged was opportunities to grow. Women exporters highlighted three main opportunities to expand their businesses further: market diversification, exploring new potential markets, and digitalisation. It was interesting that some women said that, as Scotland is a small market, internationalisation should be seen as an organic process to grow.

4.2.1.1 Challenges to export

The participants reported numerous challenges they faced when trying to expand into international markets which included:

• The lack of awareness to find the right support emerged in many conversations. Most of the women exporters we spoke to found it difficult to receive the right information to apply for funding or navigate the system for local support. This constraint was mainly observed among less experienced exporters, but even women with more experience highlighted that they had encountered or were facing similar issues. For some participants, this could be attributed to a lack of interaction with local support facilitators.
• Some participants also perceived a lack of information and nepotism when applying for certain funding applications. This is because some of the women felt there are some entrepreneurs who know about the grants in advance given their networks (through friends and family working in the support ecosystem), making it more difficult for others to participate.
• Brexit has also been a significant obstacle, not only for the women exporting but also their service providers. Many of them halted their sales to Europe, while others reported a decline in their sales to this market. This was because their product prices increased, making them unable to compete in the European market. This could be explained because there are more women involved in sectors that were highly affected by Brexit, such as cosmetics, clothing, and textiles.
• European customs have also been problematic for exporters after Brexit. The participants explained that it has been difficult to gain clarity about the changing regulations and local adaptations they need to be able to export after Brexit.
• Another challenge for growing exports was finance. This obstacle was attributed to a lack of resources such as workforce capital, equipment investment, and cash flow for responding to large customer demands. Women also reported they perceive to have more difficulty in accessing funding and raising investment than their male counterparts. They attributed this to unconscious bias and gender inequality due to women are considered as “less capable of managing finance” because of their family responsibilities. Some women mentioned that often ethnic minorities in the UK also have higher pressures for taking care of their families because of their cultural backgrounds. Thus, these factors affected their confidence when they were applying for funding.
• Women emphasised that a major challenge for expanding abroad is the lack of information about the target market. They are finding it difficult to understand the logistics, local regulations, labelling adaptations, data for pricing their products and services, terms of negotiation, and potential customer information.
• Logistics and regulation of the markets have challenged exporting because the women entrepreneurs feel they do not have in-depth knowledge to deal with these processes.
• Specifically for women exporting, two main challenges were highlighted by the participants. First, they noticed unconscious biases from men when they negotiate or deliver their products and services in cultures with high levels of gender inequality. This prevents them from doing business in certain markets. For example, a woman reported that she could not travel to the Middle East to provide her services because this was not well perceived by men in this region. Second, women exporters also consider that caring responsibilities is an issue for international travel to look for business opportunities. They found that it was less flexible for woman to travel considering they had to arrange their caring responsibilities before going abroad.

Lack of awareness to find the right support

• Lack of interaction
• Perception of nepotism

Brexit

• Product price increased
• Customs barriers

Access to finance

• Lack of resources (labour, capital, equipment)
• Gender inequality and unconscious bias to access to funding

Target market disinformation

• A lack of knowledge in logistics and regulation

Caring responsibilities

• Lack of flexibility for travelling abroad

Gender stereotypes

• Negative perception to access to funding

Networking opportunities

• Important to get funding & investment

Funding & investment

• International trade missions to access potential customers

Training & acceleration programmes

• Support to grow

Business advice & mentoring

Personalised mentoring to entering new markets

International hubs

• To generate credibility with potential international customers

4.2.1.2 Support provision

In general, women exporters provided positive feedback about the current support provisions offered by the local and international institutions such as Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Development International, Business Gateway, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of China, Department of Business and Trade (DBT), British Business Bank, CivTech Scotland, Entrepreneurial Spark, University of Dundee, University of Strathclyde, Scottish Chamber of Commerce, and British High Commissions.

They mentioned having access to various resources and assistance programmes that have been beneficial for their businesses. They received different types of support:

• Networking events promoted by the local agencies have been important to get funding and investment for their businesses.
• Most of the women mentioned that support for participating in international trade missions was crucial to expanding into other markets. They have been able to access potential customers and close business deals during these international events.
• Most of the women have received funding and investment in early stages, some others for growing their businesses.
• Some women have accessed training, accelerators, and growth programmes for exporting. Most of the women mentioned they were involved in these activities in the early stages of their businesses.
• The universities have also been good allies to support women in their process to grow their businesses abroad.
• Business advice and mentoring was personalised which has been crucial for women who were starting to export or seeking access to a new market. Women felt they were supported, and they could ask specific questions according to their challenges and opportunities. Having an account manager also helped them to generate potential contacts in international markets.
• Women who had more experience exporting, reported they have hugely benefited from these international hubs via banks or Scottish agencies. They have gained credibility with their potential international customers by scheduling meetings in the offices of these hubs and their bank branches abroad.

Networking opportunities

• Networking opportunities

Funding & investment

• International trade missions to access potential customers

Training & acceleration programmes

• Support to grow

Business advice & mentoring

Personalised mentoring to entering new markets

International hubs

• To generate credibility with potential international customers

4.2.1.3 Support required to grow internationally

The participants mentioned numerous types of support they required to continue growing and expanding their sales in international markets:

• Women reported that one of their biggest challenges for navigating the local support system was a lack of awareness about the availability of the local support programmes. Thus, several women stated they would like to have more awareness and integration of services and support programmes specifically to export. This request is not specific to women but it was reported by them as a challenge and is a factor that could enhance the transparency and agility of the current support system.
• Some of them mentioned that having appropriate communication and information would help them to navigate the system. For example, they said they would like to receive “advance warning” of events and funding calls to have more time to organise the documentation needed to apply for these activities. Women feel the information is fragmented due to all activities and events organised and offered by different institutions. They would like to see centralisation and integration of these services to easily access the support aimed at helping women export. Another aspect that was highlighted is to simplify the access to information to participate in the activities promoted by the different agencies in the ecosystem.
• Women exporters are also looking for high-quality connections and networking events. These actions could facilitate access to funding and investment and help them gain new customers overseas. Women highlighted the importance of having a network with stakeholders who are part of the export process.
• Most of the participants mentioned their need for funding and investment. Many of them reported they would like to receive funding for participating in trade shows and international exhibitions to enable them to continue growing.
• Mentoring and advisory services was another type of support required for women exporters. Specifically, they would like to learn about legal issues and specific regulations for better understanding their target markets.
• Women exporters emphasised that after Brexit it would be beneficial to receive support to continue exporting to European countries. Specifically, personalised mentoring to understand the local norms and regulations of the countries they would like to export to.
• Participants also expressed they would like tailored support for women such as short training courses, webinars and events specialised to help them to navigate the export requirements. For instance, women starting to export would like to have events where they can interact with other women who have more experience exporting. This could be explained because they would like to gain confidence by seeing other women who have been able to successfully export. They also feel more comfortable asking questions to other women who have similar difficulties and personal responsibilities.

Awareness & integration of services / support programmeså

• Ensure transparency and agility
• Simplify info and communication

Funding

• Financial support to export
• International trade shows

Legal and regulatory advice specific to each country

• Legal issues (e.g., origin norms)
• Logistics (e.g., pricing, taxes, transport)

Support focused on women

• Events only for women
• Short & virtual training programmes

Good quality connections & networks

4.2.1.4 Opportunities to grow

Women also reflected about those opportunities they considered to have been important to grow and continue expanding overseas:

• Regarding market diversification, some women highlighted that the market size of Scotland is very small which reduces their opportunities to grow. Therefore, they need to diversify their exports to other markets in the early stages. Market diversification has also been an option when women exporters have experienced high-risk selling in only one market.
• Women exporters also reported they would like to access to new potential markets. Several women emphasised they are finding it difficult to export to Europe because of Brexit, they would like to explore opportunities in the United States. They said they found this market attractive due to the size and low language barriers.
• Regarding exports of services, it was explained by some women that the potential markets which they selected were because of possible international associations and their own expertise to run their services abroad.
• Other potential markets mentioned were Canada, Middle East, Nordic countries, and Australia. Despite women finding it difficult to export to the European Union (e.g., Germany and France). They would like to receive more support to understand how to navigate the export requirements in these markets.
• Some women also explained digitalisation was important for them because they can be more agile to respond to their international customers. Therefore, platforms such as Amazon and Etsy have enabled the companies to grow by facilitating the delivery of their products to other markets. Some women explained that social media has been crucial in ‘advertising’ their products and reach customers globally.

Market diversification

• Mitigation of risk
• Scotland a small market to grow

Exploring new potential markets

• US, Canada, Middle East, Nordic countries, and Australia. Despite women finding it difficult to export to the EU (e.g., Germany and France)

Digitalisation

• Agility and flexibility
• Crucial for advertising their products and services

4.2.2 Women non-exporters

The women who were not exporting came from a wide range of sectors, from media to retail to technology. Although their sectors varied, most of the businesses were in the services industry with only one woman with a product. As we know women are dominantly based in the service, retail, and hospitality sectors, the sample highlighted this with a range of services being offered from consultancy to coaching to marketing. As previously mentioned not all sectors are represented as this would require a larger sample and there are sectors where women are not represented in Scotland e.g. construction. Furthermore, there are services that cannot be exported e.g. catering, where we intentionally did not reach out to women entrepreneurs in these sectors. The women with service-led businesses were mainly based at home, particularly those who were consulting. Furthermore, none of the women interviewed highlighted that they would reject an opportunity to export their services (or goods) if the chance arose for them. However, the sample that we used is strong and provides a basis to draw relevant conclusions that can apply to all sectors.

The businesses also varied in when they started, from the ‘oldest’ being established in 2008 and 3 businesses being set up this year. There was also a commonality with these businesses employing others: only 2 businesses employed, with both being in the services sector - one employed 4 full-time staff whereas the other employed 4 part-time staff. It should be noted that none of the women who did not have employees wanted to employ staff. There were several reasons for this including, not wanting to manage others, not to grow their business to the extent they, themselves could not solely undertake the requirements/fulfilments of their clients/customers and the flexibility that being the only person in the business allowed them which would change if they had to hire staff.

Given the data collected and analysed, the following four themes were identified for women entrepreneurs who were not exporting: (1) prevailing historical barriers, (2) challenges setting up the business, (3) opportunities to growing and exporting and (4) facilitating the next steps (illustrative quotes can be found in Appendix 8). The first theme is no surprise given that the historical barriers have been prevalent for over 30 years and have become more exacerbated since COVID-19. These barriers include the lack of access to finance (to start-up and grow), networking (where events and times are not suitable for women) and the social and cultural issues where women are the primary carers for family (and have little support in starting or growing their business which allows them to manage their family alongside their business). The second theme that emerged was the challenges the women faced in setting up their business, such as the lack of support for women (especially in the service sectors), the confusing landscape of support available and the enterprise agencies who lacked adequate support. The third theme refers to the women highlighting the opportunities for them to grow and export their service or product. Although the women wanted to grow and expand their business, they did not necessarily want to employ people. Rather they wanted to grow in terms of income and market share (internationally) if the opportunity arose and if they had access to the right information at the right time. The final theme from the analysis was the women exploring how their support needs for their business to internationalise could be met. They would need a holistic support system (one where they are not going from agency to agency collecting snippets of information) and access to more knowledgeable business advisors on matters such as regulations, tax issues etc. of exporting.

4.2.2.1 Prevailing historical barriers

We know that the challenges women entrepreneurs faced were amplified during the pandemic and the main challenges continue being focussed around the historically reported barriers for women like access to finance, networking and social and cultural barriers (for example, childcare and working from home) (Arshed, 2021):

• Many of the women who were interviewed started their business because of their disillusionment with employment. They were not looking to employ or grow in the short-term as their main concern was to start and build a business for themselves to ensure financial income and some stability. Discussions of ‘being pushed out’ or ‘being bullied’ or a ‘job ended’ pushed them into self-employment.
• Further to the historical barriers, women spoke of the cultural norms not being acceptable in that they had caring responsibilities.
• Others became self-employed because of the breaks in their careers given their caring responsibilities.
• The lack of access to finance across the varying sectors in supporting women in their businesses was one of the key deterrents for the women exporting.
• There was also a lack of meeting women in similar positions through support agencies. Many of the women were disillusioned with the ESOs because of their lack of bringing together a community of women exporting to support one another.

4.2.2.2 Challenges facing support

The challenges come as no surprise, as previously mentioned the historical barriers that women entrepreneurs have faced continue. It has been argued in previous studies that women who are growing their business, often receive ‘better’ support or do not want women-specific support compared to those women in the early stages or those who are not planning (in the short-term at least) to grow (Arshed et al., 2023):

• Many of the women were of the view that they were not given the support they required to start or grow their business when the time came.
• They often felt they were undermined by enterprise support agencies because of their business idea/growth opportunity, which was often service oriented and homebased, this meant that they were not supported in the right way or encouraged to take their business idea/growth opportunity further.
• There was a consensus amongst the women that the entrepreneurial landscape for support was confusing and overwhelming.

4.2.2.3 Opportunities for growth and exporting

Although we know women-led business grow slower than their male counterparts because of the sector that their business is in or because of internal or external constraints women face, the analysis highlighted that many of the women were looking to grow, albeit at a slower pace because of their personal preference and values:

• Many of the women wanted to grow and eventually internationalise but they did not necessarily want to employ people because they did not want to manage others and wanted to grow organically at their own pace.
• There was a strong emphasis amongst the women interviewed that they firstly become established in Scotland before they started to export (regardless of sector or product/service).
• There was also hesitation about exporting because of the laws and regulations surrounding exporting and internationalisation but none of the women would actively ignore or avoid the opportunity of exporting if they had a chance to do so.

4.2.2.4 The support requested to achieve growth and exporting

There were several suggestions from the interviewees themselves to help women who were not yet exporting to support them in growth and lead them to internationalise their products or service because they felt the current support provision was not adequate:

• Sustainable support – to ensure holistic support that is provided throughout rather than in stages or ad hoc.
• Easy access and easy to navigate information online and with business advisors.
• Business advisors understanding and being knowledgeable about the current economic landscape of exporting re. Brexit and COVID.
• Support with finance and tax for internationalising their businesses.

4.2.3 Enterprise support organisations

Enterprise support organisations reported several barriers and challenges for women-led SMEs to engage with their services and programmes. Typically, ESOs supported women in a limited number of export sectors and many of these sectors had common challenges. They identified some specific needs that women-led SMEs have from support and opportunities for development which differed to male-led SMEs. However, they also identified shared challenges faced by all SMEs. Across these interviews it was apparent that the types of challenges faced and needs identified were specific to the different stages of business development – pre-growth, early growth, and growth (Table 8), rather than the types of sectors.

Table 8 : Summary of ESOs interview findings

Barriers and challenges to support

Pre-growth

• Poor awareness and perception of exporting

Early growth

• Selection criteria for support targets specific markets and sectors
• Cultural barriers to trade

Growth

• Skills and resources.
• Access to international networks

Support needs and opportunities

Pre-growth

• Showcasing and promotion of women exporter role models
• Basic advice and information about e-commerce

Early growth

• Coaching and advice support.
• Flexibility in service delivery through online provision

Growth

• Support service integration
• Gender-aware targeting

4.2.3.1 Pre-growth

Stakeholders described several key challenges at the pre-growth stage, including:

• A lack of awareness and a negative perception of exporting amongst smaller and newer business leaders. This was expressed as a greater issue for female founders and women-led business owners who generally had lower feelings of efficacy and belonging.
• Negative perceptions of exporting were related to wider negative perceptions about general business growth. ESOs identified a lack of awareness and promotion about the benefits and opportunities for growth as missing from the current support at the pre-growth stage.

The stakeholders also identified several opportunities for developing the existing support to meet the needs of pre-growth women-led business owners, including:

• Doing more to promote the awareness of exporting to wider audiences, particularly those starting out or pre-growth. Having a greater number of role models and showcasing success stories was highlighted as being important. This was with a view of increasing the overall pool of growth businesses to consider exporting and be available for more advanced support that already exists.
• Basic advice and information for the earliest business stage was also viewed to be missing from existing pre-growth support but could equip women with basic knowledge and understanding that could inform existing perceptions.
• In particularly, ESOs frequently expressed opportunities regarding e-commerce and reaching wider markets through social media marketing and selling on online platforms.

4.2.3.2 Early growth

Stakeholders described two key challenges at the early-growth stage, including:

• Women-led SMEs in the early-stage of growth often did not meet the criteria for access to support. Public sector agencies generally had criteria for supporting specific target sectors that were male dominated, thus unintentionally excluding women from receiving support. It also acted to discourage them from attempting to apply for specific support programmes. This was also acknowledged as impeding opportunities for exporting, specifically for women, but also in general for Scottish SMEs.
• Cultural barriers, such as how women in business are viewed in certain countries, were also a challenge for women attempting to access new export markets. This was typically the case when engaging with ESOs that organised trade missions. Other cultural barriers restricting participation in trade missions was caring responsibilities.

Opportunities were emphasised as having the potential to alleviate some of these problems:

• Cultural, as well as technical, training and advice was beneficial to women starting on the export journey, alleviating them of concerns that they may have around business etiquette.
• Providing a supportive space with peers for participating in trade missions was key so that women did not feel isolated.
• Having online trade missions and training opportunities was identified as an opportunity for more women to participate in support, especially those with caring responsibilities.
• Again, e-commerce opportunities and using digital online sales platforms was touted as providing opportunities for women to grow internationally. This was seen as an opportunity for early growth for women located in specific sectors that were not the primary focus of support organisations.

4.2.3.3 Growth

Stakeholders described two key challenges at the growth stage, including:

• The main challenge at this stage for women-led growth SMEs was accessing skills and resources to facilitate export. Committing to participate in a trade mission would incur a short-term cost, and although the ESO reported the return on investment for participation was exceedingly high, the initial cost inhibited participation. There was a strong link with regards to the gender finance gap and accessing investment to pursue export opportunities. This was, in general, linked to wider challenges faced when scaling-up, including developing production capabilities. It also included developing skills to understand international trade regulations and how this implicated their businesses. Developing these skills and knowledge took resource commitments.
• Another challenge that women-led SMEs need further support with is access into networks that enable international trade. Generally, women are less likely to participate in growth-orientated and international business networks that can help forge connections with companies in foreign markets.

The main opportunities for advancing these challenges at the growth stage include:

• Ensuring that business support services were joined-up so that women-led business owners had greater access to opportunities. Each ESO stated that there needed to be a joined-up approach between organisations to warrant a pipeline of support for women-led SMEs to ensure that they had access to growth support and participation in trade missions.
• Ensuring that organisations that supported growth SMEs were gender-aware would be helpful in encouraging more women into their services. For example, ensuring that messaging and promotion was reaching diverse organisations was considered key. Another example of gender-awareness was through non-gender specific ESOs working with gender-specific ESOs as gatekeepers, to access women-led SMEs and encourage them to participate.

4.2.4 Limitations of the qualitative data collection

It is important that we highlight the limitations of the qualitative data collection and analysis. Firstly, qualitative data is often not generalisable as it cannot be generalised from the study’s sample to the entire Scottish business population. However, the qualitative sample size in the study is large enough to allow the unfolding of nuances and rich information to highlight ‘new and richly textured understanding’ of the phenomenon under study. Furthermore, the study included a diverse sample of women-led businesses in Scotland and we employed in-depth interviews which enhanced the richness and generalisability of the results. Secondly, not all sectors are represented as this would require a larger sample and there are sectors where women are not represented in Scotland e.g. construction. Furthermore, there are services that cannot be exported e.g. catering, where we intentionally did not reach out to women entrepreneurs in these sectors. However, given the sample and the spread of sectors included, we are confident that the challenges identified were common across the sectors and therefore the sectors included are sufficient to draw conclusions.