Alison Rose: Conversations on Supporting Women in Business and Promoting Entrepreneurship for Girls | Feature Article

FINANCE-MONTHLY.COM — Dame Alison Rose has become a leading voice on women in business, drawing from her experience as the first female CEO of a major British bank. Across interviews and events, she’s shared sharp insights on the funding gap, systemic barriers, and the role institutions can play in empowering female entrepreneurs.

At NatWest, she launched initiatives like dedicated women-in-business managers, free accelerator programs, and a £2 billion fund for female founders. Her efforts helped increase the number of women-led ventures in the UK by 33% in just one year.

Through the government-commissioned Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, Alison outlined data-driven strategies to improve funding access, scale support, and create practical, non-competitive ecosystems of mentorship and resources. She emphasized that meaningful change requires targeted interventions—not silver bullets—and urged banks, VCs, and policymakers to step up.

She also spoke candidly about the pandemic’s impact on women. COVID-19 placed an unequal burden of care on female entrepreneurs, but it also accelerated remote work and digital business models. Encouragingly, post-lockdown data shows many women used the moment to pivot, innovate, and scale.

For Alison Rose, empowering women in business isn’t just economic policy—it’s a matter of equity, practicality, and collective progress.

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