What is inclusive entrepreneurship?
Dr Lorna Treanor, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Haydn Green Institute, on how to support inclusive entrepreneurship
Dr Lorna Treanor
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Haydn Green Institute, University of Nottingham
Dr Lorna Treanor
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Haydn Green Institute, University of Nottingham
The answer you get may depend upon the person you ask! The OECD says inclusive entrepreneurship is critical to ensure economic growth is fairly distributed across societies, creating opportunities for all.
They highlight that many member states seek to support diverse entrepreneurs, whom they term ‘The Missing Entrepreneurs’, with policies targeted toward women, young people, older and disabled individuals, as examples. They contend that inclusive entrepreneurship contributes to inclusive and sustainable growth in addition to supporting social and financial inclusion.
So, under this umbrella term, policymakers, academic researchers and other civil society organisations may focus their activities on supporting a particular group, such as women or ethnic minorities.
Why does this matter?
The research evidence base has established that individuals from underrepresented (or underserved) social groups or categories of belonging, experience greater challenges and unique barriers when trying to start and grow a business. In part, this is because the typical entrepreneur is portrayed as a middle-aged, middle class, white, able-bodied, heterosexual man – and this construction of the normative entrepreneur has informed enterprise policy, entrepreneurship education and academic research (Treanor, Jones and Marlow, 2020). Those with different characteristics and identities to this may be considered less entrepreneurial (Ahl, 2006) and this can influence their ability to access entrepreneurial opportunities, support and resources.
Women face structural gender barriers due to stereotypes and assumptions about what is suitable work, and what skills, qualities and aptitudes they ‘naturally’ have. The expectation is that they will want to have children and that their over-riding commitment lies in the realm of their domestic responsibilities (Treanor and Marlow, 2021). For those who do have children, practical issues such as affordable childcare exist, as Centre for Progressive Policy research shows. These assumptions constrain women’s career progression in the workplace and the same assumptions and sexist discrimination are faced when women are self-employed.
What are the barriers?
Entrepreneurship and self-employment are discussed as a neutral activity open to all, but there are obvious issues around equality and inclusion. A key barrier is access to finance. Women are generally considered to pose a higher risk when it comes to investment finance (Marlow and Swail, 2014; Treanor and Marlow, 2024). In 2017 in the UK, women-led businesses received only 1p in every £1 invested (British Business Bank, 2019). However, when different categories of social belonging intersect i.e. when someone belongs to two or more social groups that typically face disadvantages, the barriers can be heightened. An intersectional analysis showed that black women entrepreneurs only received 0.02% of funding awarded.
Yet, the research evidence shows that women are just as capable as men of starting a successful business (Marlow and McAdam, 2013) with some data suggesting that the return on investment in women entrepreneurs is 78% compared to a 31% return on investment in male owned firms (Forbes, 2022). Women entrepreneurs are more likely to reinvest in others in their wider community and so the multiplier effect is greater (Cherie Blair Foundation).
We have to ensure that we do not just focus on routes into self-employment and entrepreneurship, but that we establish routes out of marginal, precarious self-employment. The UK currently has the highest rate of people living in self-employed poverty in Europe with those self-employed more than twice as likely as employed persons to be living in poverty (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2024).
How can we support inclusive entrepreneurship?
There is a growing discussion around inclusive entrepreneurship to amplify the voices and champions of those at a distance from mainstream support provision. Given constant calls to improve economic performance and productivity, and the grand societal challenges we face, it is sensible to harness the ideas of the creative, problem-solvers amongst us and to support anyone wishing to start a viable business, regardless of their personal characteristics or background.
Promoting inclusive entrepreneurship requires a commitment from policymakers and all organisations to ensure that individuals, regardless of their personal characteristics or background, have equitable access to relevant opportunities, support and resources to start (or grow) their business. The Charter for Inclusive Entrepreneurship seeks to secure equitable access to appropriate supports for all groups, including those with protected characteristics and facing disadvantage, as well as recognising the influence of location.
If all organisations engaged in inclusive recruitment and progression and diversified their supply chains, we could deliver inclusive growth by creating a more equitable environment that supports quality self-employment and entrepreneurship for all.
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