Entrepreneurship programme for women launched at Murray Edwards College

Global life science giant AstraZeneca has lent its full support to the initiative – aimed at closing an alarming gender gap in terms of women founders, funders and executives in business.

Murray Edwards Enterprising Women is the brainwave of Murray Edwards College – an establishment for women – and is being opened up to female students and researchers plus recent alumnae across the University.

Cambridge University Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said: “Cambridge contributes around £30 billion each year to the UK economy. We are Europe's 'unicorn' capital with 24 businesses worth over one billion dollars. Over the past three decades, thanks to the power of Cambridge research, 178 spin-outs and more than 200 start-ups have emerged here.

“I am very proud to celebrate another chapter in the Cambridge innovation story – the launch of Murray Edwards Enterprising Women – a dynamic new programme that will provide training, mentorship and guidance in entrepreneurship for women across Cambridge University and beyond.

“Overall, we do better than other universities in terms of the share of women in leadership roles in spinouts, but women are still systemically under-represented in enterprise ecosystems nationwide.

“They miss out on opportunities and career advancement, and the country misses out on the invaluable benefits of their research. The Cambridge picture may be more favourable for women but there is still a significant gender gap – and that’s where the new Murray Edwards programme fits in.”

The programmes cater for students at each stage in their journey to become female founders, from women who are interested in the concept of entrepreneurship to those who have already formed companies and are seeking mentorship, non-executive directors and funding.

The initiative includes a programme to introduce alumnae of the last five years who have founded companies to venture capitalists and angel investors interested in investing in women-led companies. Last year, only two per cent of venture capital funding went to women-led companies.

Dorothy Byrne, President of Murray Edwards College, said: “Cambridge is a powerhouse of entrepreneurship – of massive importance to this region and the UK economy. This initiative is aimed at ensuring that women play a full role in the University's entrepreneurial activities.

“We realised that women were underrepresented in enterprise schemes, start-ups and spinouts at Cambridge University. That underrepresentation reflects what is happening in entrepreneurship across the UK.

“We decided to act. If women students at Cambridge are far less likely than men to use their innovative thinking and research to set up companies, they lose out, the University loses out and the UK economy loses out.”

The initiative is funded by AstraZeneca, Hoare Bank's Golden Bottle Trust and senior Santander executive Rafael Noya in a personal capacity.

Laurel Powers-Freeling, Chair of Uber UK, is Chair of the initiative's Advisory Board. It also has the backing of the UK Invest in Women's Task Force Co-Chair Hannah Bernard, who has joined the Advisory Board.

Bernard points to the importance of university spinouts but also to the fact that in the UK, 75 per cent of the leadership in spinouts are all-male;16 per cent are mixed and only nine per cent are all-female.

Bernard said: “In Cambridge, where the picture is marginally better, there are more women participating, with spinouts having 28 per cent with mixed teams and 67 per cent all male, with four per cent all female but more needs to be done.

“Initiatives like the Murray Edwards Enterprising Women are crucial to the UK. You’re tackling the challenges women face head on by providing the right structure, support and tools to enable more women to start and grow their businesses.”

The first Murray Edwards Enterprising Women programme, for women students, researchers and alumnae at the first stage in considering setting up companies, attracted 110 applicants and launches on Friday.

AstraZeneca and a number of other supporting companies are offering students mentorship and pro-bono non executive directors for their ventures.