en
UK & Ireland
September 25, 2008

THE ASPIRE FUND

You will no doubt be aware that the Government made a commitment in its Enterprise Strategy – Enterprise: unlocking the UK’s talent, March 2008 to establish a risk capital fund that would be accessible to women-led businesses.

This investment fund will, alongside improvements in investment readiness provision, send out a clear signal that risk capital finance is available for women-led businesses and that they should not be deterred from seeking external capital to finance their growth.

Government proposes to use this fund as a beacon to encourage female entrepreneurs to seek appropriate risk capital finance and to demonstrate that attractive and viable investment opportunities exist. A key element of the fund will be to seek to improve the linkage between those providing funding and those providing investment readiness support.