The evidence is in, and it’s quite clear – gender-balanced teams and businesses perform better.

That’s a key reason why, under its ‘Women in Business’ strategy, Enterprise Ireland has over the past decade focused on diversity and increasing the number of women-led companies in Ireland.

These efforts are paying off. In 2011, just 7pc of Enterprise Ireland’s high-potential startups were led by women. By 2021, that figure had risen to 29pc. So while we may not be at parity yet, the progress is clear.

Positive momentum is also evident from the Female Founders & Funders 2022 report from Tech Ireland, which states that women-founded tech firms in Ireland raised €230m in 2021. While that’s an increase of 120pc on 2020, it still only represents just 13pc of all funding in this space.

Across Europe more broadly, only 1.8pc of capital raised by tech companies in 2021 went to all-women founding teams, according to European Women in Venture Capital (VC).

As a result, Enterprise Ireland continues to focus on this area to bring about positive, sustainable and long-lasting change in the entrepreneurship ecosystem and to harness the full talent and expertise of a diverse population. This is vital, as we position Ireland as a leading location for entrepreneurs to start and scale businesses, and to be ambitious about the growth they can achieve.

While Enterprise Ireland invests directly into companies, we also invest indirectly through seed and venture capital funds. For example, under its most recent seed and venture capital scheme, Enterprise Ireland sought commercial fund proposals that help progress key EI strategic priorities, including our ‘Women in Business’ strategy.

Source: Irish Independent

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