Tailored support for women entrepreneurs to enter international trade

Women-led businesses will receive more help to sell overseas after a study found Scotland could benefit from billions of pounds in extra trade.

The Gender Export Gap report estimates that Scotland’s trade could increase by between £3.4 billion to £10.3 billion over two years if women-led businesses exported at the same rate as those led by men. From 2016 - 2022, between 2% and 9% fewer women-owned small and medium-sized companies sold overseas compared to those run by men.

Actions to be introduced include targeting more women to take part in trade missions and export training programmes.

The Scottish Government will consider how best to implement those recommendations, in order to help address the gender export gap in Scotland. Initial work will focus on addressing the following recommendations as soon as possible:

raising awareness of exporting opportunities for women-led SMEs
better targeting women-led businesses for foundation training programmes and information on e-commerce
including more women in our programme of trade missions
increasing the international exposure of women’s networks
collating gender-segregated data for exporting in Scotland
aligning our export and entrepreneurial policy priorities for women-led SMEs

These recommendations align well with the Scottish Government implementation of Scotland’s Vision for Trade, the National Strategy for Economic Transformation, A Trading Nation, and the recent Pathways: Women in Entrepreneurship Report.

In 2023, Scottish Government's Chief Entrepreneurial Adviser Mark Logan and Barbara Mills, Deputy Programme Director for CivTech and Programme Manager for the Scottish Government sat down with techUK's Head of Skills, Talent & Diversity, Nimmi Patel to discuss the Pathways report.

The Gender Export Gap report was authored by Professor Norin Arshed, Dr Stephen Knox and Dr Carolina Marin Cadavid from the Universities of Strathclyde and Stirling, and was published in February 2025.

techUK’s TechTogether campaign, taking place throughout March, is a collection of activities highlighting the UK’s technology sector pursuit to shape a more equitable future. In 2025 we are exploring: Inclusive AI, investing in diverse founders and entrepreneurs, the power of allyship and mentorship, and empowering young people.