Ahead of Global Entrepreneurship Week (17-23 November) with the 2025 theme #TogetherWeBuild GEN UK Chair, Marc Ortmans, was honoured to speak at the 5th World Business Women Summit held at the House of Lords.

Savvitas led by Helene Martin Gee and Sue Lawton MBE convened women leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers, changemakers and male allies to set out visions for change. A wide array of subjects were discussed – leadership, investor bias, access to finance, purpose driven growth, inclusion, visibility, trust, and hard won achievements.

Amid these conversations, was an interesting observation around gender framing. When a woman is a pioneer, an innovator, groundbreaker, creator, trailblazer or leader often the defining language is less factual and more emotional – amazing, wonderful, delightful and so on. Accurate portrayal can go a long way towards engendering rightful representation and due recognition.

Savvitas will be publishing the full action focused WBW 2025 Summit Report, together with the launch of its new Rethinking Capital White Paper.

Unlocking the economic potential of female entrepreneurs through improving access to finance is also being discussed by the UK Women and Equalities Committee’s new report ‘Female Entrepreneurship’ which is calling for the introduction of a Female Enterprise Investment Scheme as part of the Autumn Budget. The Rose Review identified such initiatives could help unlock £250bn for the UK economy.