When the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women asked women entrepreneurs around the world about their greatest challenges, one answer dominated: access to finance, cited by 78% of respondents. A further 20% named the lack of business skills and experience. Those two findings, drawn from the Foundation's global survey, define where most scaling effort should go—but they are not the whole picture. The survey's top five challenges also include customer retention, costly and complicated business regulations, and economic shocks. Below is a strategy for each, built into a decision framework you can apply to your own business. This is a practical guide, not financial or legal advice, and the challenge list reflects one specific survey—it may not match every founder's experience.
Understanding the Top Scaling Challenges for Female Entrepreneurs
The Cherie Blair Foundation's list is worth taking seriously because it draws on responses from women entrepreneurs across all regions, making it a rare globally consistent picture of what actually blocks growth. Access to finance topped the list everywhere, with founders reporting high borrowing costs, stringent collateral requirements, and limited financial literacy. Customer retention came third—the familiar struggle of finding and keeping customers that no business escapes.
The other challenges are structural rather than commercial. Twenty percent of surveyed women named limited business skills and experience, with many reporting that they learned through trial and error rather than formal training; the Foundation notes this is sharpest in regions where women's education and mobility are restricted and where mentorship networks remain male-dominated. Regulations—excessive paperwork, conflicting policies, and little government support for new businesses—and vulnerability to economic shocks complete the five. The Foundation warns that without structural reform, women-led businesses risk being disproportionately affected by national and global crises.
Decision Framework: Challenges and Strategies for Female Entrepreneurs
Use this table to diagnose your situation: find the challenge that most resembles yours in the first column, then act on the strategies opposite it. Each strategy is drawn from published guidance—the Foundation's survey and programmes, and recognized scaling recommendations from the Women in Tech Network and the British Business Bank. You can work through one row or several, but start where your bottleneck actually sits.
| Challenge | Impact / Barrier | Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Access to finance (78% of survey respondents) | High borrowing costs, stringent collateral requirements, and gender-biased lending norms—banks often require collateral such as houses or land owned primarily by men | Build a robust financial model, understand cash flow, and diversify funding: grants, angel investors, crowdfunding platforms geared to women-led businesses, and initiatives like the Invest in Women Taskforce |
| Lack of business skills and experience (20%) | Learning by trial and error; limited exposure to business management, marketing, or financial planning slows growth and confidence | Pursue tailored training, digital learning, mentorship programmes, workshops, and industry conferences for continuous learning |
| Customer retention | Finding and keeping customers—growth stalls without a loyal base | Adopt customer-centric strategies, strengthen brand identity to attract customers and open markets, and use social media for reach and relationship-building |
| Costly and complicated regulations | Excessive registration paperwork, conflicting policies, and weak government support for new businesses | Invest early in compliant systems and processes, and seek support networks and advisory resources to navigate requirements |
| Economic shocks and crises | Women-led businesses risk being disproportionately affected without structural reform | Secure the financial foundation (reserves, cash-flow clarity) and form strategic partnerships that spread risk |
A note on how to read the regulation and shock rows: the survey evidence establishes the problem clearly, but the Foundation's own programmes focus on training and mentoring rather than regulatory fixes. The strategies there are drawn from general scaling guidance—strengthening your financial health and forming partnerships—which the Women in Tech Network recommends as scaling fundamentals.
