Nationwide has taken on the role of sole banking partner to Female Founders Rise, one of the larger UK networks working with female entrepreneurs and non-binary founders.
FFR counts more than 12,000 members and concentrates on the earliest part of the journey, taking founders from an initial idea through to their first million in revenue. The tie-up is meant to give those members more behind them as they scale, pairing Nationwide’s stated focus on businesses and local communities with the work FFR already does.
The commercial case for it is spelled out in The Rise Report, described as one of the biggest grassroots studies of female entrepreneurship in the UK. Its headline finding: if women launched and grew businesses at the same rate as men, the UK economy would be up to £310 billion better off.
Hannah Bernard, director of business banking at Nationwide, said female-led businesses contribute a great deal to the economy through growth, innovation and job creation, and that too many of them still run into barriers. Working with FFR, she said, lets Nationwide help those owners build something that lasts while broadening what the society offers UK SMEs generally.
Emmie Faust, who founded Female Founders Rise, pointed to the overlap in outlook. Nationwide’s purpose-led model and its interest in long-term prosperity for members and communities sit close to FFR’s own values, she said, which is what makes the pairing work. With 12,000 women already supported, she expects the banking partnership to widen that reach across the UK.
