 Rwy'n meddwl i fynd i gyfle i'r lyingu yn y cwmwysgol i gyda'r gwmpas practise i gael, ac yn mynd yn gallu gwahodol. Mae'n mhebwll i'r ffynifau y torfight y Mae Bethau, felly fe gyda y cyfnodeb ddechrau, i ffynifarsau 3137-3, yn elu phwyllwyr Mikell-Beth, i ffordd o gair yn y bwysig hefyd. Mae'n gymhwynt yde Chyfafol hwnny'r golygu. Mae'n meddwl i'n cefnod i chi'n meddwl, i ddwych chi'n ritatedwch ar gwaith hwnnw, Rydw i'n edrych yn fawr, o bobl oedd yn gweithgafol â holl Llanr and Rathbwrdd, ac rydw i'n rhaid i gael Mi sisiau Tomson i gyd nifer o'i debatiau fyddwch mwy sydd gyda ichi Tomson. Rydw i'n rhaid i gael eu cerddurio'r cyflymau ar Gwия. Rydw i'n gweithio'r cyflymau ar y cyfrannol 190 rhaid, ac rydw i'n gweithio'r cyflymau ar Ffasart Scyddianiaeth, wrth gwrdd i'n cael ei ddeudu'r cyfrannol yn y rhai cyfrannol. Oni, wrth gwrs, yr adeithi dr Jacob Brannowski rwyf yn ysgolwg gydag unig o'r cymdeithasau o'r anol yn y ffordd rwyf yn cyd-dweithio'r cyhoedd y byd, ac yn cymdeithio'r cyhoedd rwyf yn cymdeithasol. Felly, gwrs, mae ymdd yn tynnu fydd y byd yn cymdeithio'r cyhoedd rwyf yn cymdeithio'r cyhoedd. Fy gydag y bydd yn cymdeithio'r cyhoedd rwyf yn cymdeithio'r cyhoedd has been framed by men, for men and the simply does not reflect our wider society. The motion therefore speaks to what I think is an essential truth. If Scotland is to reach her economic potential, the power of women must be unleashed and to do so we will have to see a major cultural shift. We need a culture for business and enterprise that's enabling for women as well as men. There are real strengths and difference and research literature demonstrates that diversity, particularly cognitive diversity, aids effective group-based decision making business. On that point, although today's debate is about women, I believe that we need more inclusive diversity across the board and indeed on the boards. There's much to commend in the progress that's been made in some areas over recent years. For example, in March 2014, the Scottish Government published a framework and action plan to increase the impact of women's enterprise to the Scottish economy. Using a partnership approach, it has been pioneering and was the first of its kind anywhere in the European Union. Scotland established women's enterprise ambassadors and there have been many workshops held by both government bodies such as Business Gateway and a range of private sector firms that are all focused on encouraging women in their business ambitions. However, that can never be enough when faced with unstated cultural assumptions that continue to limit women's engagement. The barriers are quite profound. As research from Women's Enterprise Scotland has found, women start their businesses with 53 per cent less capital than men, ask for 30 per cent less funding and, consequently, are hugely under-capitalised from the outset. Their research has also found that women-owned companies contribute £8.8 billion gross value-add into the Scottish economy every year, and that's more that comes from food and drink, the creative industries or sustainable tourism. Women have created over 230,000 jobs, but that is not yet enough. I hope to see the day when women-owned businesses in Scotland have created closer to a million jobs and I don't regard that as an unreasonable ambition. The most recent global entrepreneurship monitor report into women's entrepreneurship was published in November 2021. It provides both hopeful and worrying insights into recent trends. On the hopeful side, it points to the ambition of women-led businesses to increase their number of employees. In mid-2020, 30.2 per cent of women entrepreneurs surveyed expected to hire six or more employees in the next five years, increasing from only 18.7 per cent in the 2019 report. However, although that is encouraging, it is still less than the 48 per cent of men with high expectations for growth. However, as the monitor makes clear, the patterns of entrepreneurship vary widely when comparing women and men. In 2020, women far exceeded men on the rate of solo entrepreneurship. However, that factor could indicate an inability to access finance at the same rate in stages as men rather than necessarily a business or lifestyle choice. However, those types of businesses add value and can start to break the barriers. For example, InDes, who recently gave evidence to the Economy, Economy and Fair Work Committee write a study that suggests that e-commerce is breaking the mould in gender equality. They suggest that, unlike in the gaming industry or other areas of digital, around 50 per cent of business owners in e-commerce are female. We can learn from areas of progress beyond our shores. I was fascinated some time back to listen to a tech talk by Hala Thomas-Dottier, who managed to take our company on to your capital through the eye of the financial storm in Iceland from 2007 onwards by applying so-called feminine values to financial services. Let me mention just two. Firstly, risk. She argues that we should not be risk averse in preventing innovation, but nor should we be cavalier with risk as it was characteristic of testosterone-filled males who were the authors of the financial crash. I would also argue that risk assessment today must take a different approach given its history and development towards fundamentally men-owned businesses. Women face particularly risks, too, that go beyond finance. Thomas Dottier makes the point also that businesses do not succeed on the basis of spreadsheets, but through people. It reminded me of my days in some businesses where one role in particular sought to deliver transformational change. I always use the phrase that we must deliver through people and not to people. Her focus on due diligence involving emotional capital gives us all much to consider. Some would argue that Government's support for businesses during the pandemic has been gender neutral, but if you look at the actuality and distribution of funding, it tells a different story, not one of neutrality but of gender blindness. The United Nations describes gender blindness as including an inability to realise that policies, programmes and projects have different impacts on men, women, boys and girls. As one example, with thanks again to research from Women's Enterprise Scotland, it is the distribution of the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund, or Perth for short. It provided bespoke grants and wraparound business support to viable but vulnerable MSEs in Scotland during the pandemic. Proportionately, more funding was given to male than female-led businesses in every local authority area. Indeed, in Angus, East Dunbartonshire and East Lothian, no funding whatsoever was allocated to female-led businesses from Perth. I am a supporter of the need for a more rigorous and comprehensive approach to capturing and disseminating the gender-based data that we need for monitoring policy impact but also designing policies in the first place. I have on my two committees on more than one occasion raised this issue with a number of bodies in Scotland. Only to find out such data is not yet being gathered and disseminated as standard practice, so we need to take women in business issues very seriously. I ask the Scottish Government to reflect on all policies and all strategies to ascertain where appropriate how they support women already in business and into business. For example, the recent retail strategy mentions women but does not yet go far enough to flesh out specifically how women in retail can be the heart of its future. In summing up, Professor Sarah Carter of Strathclyde University in this to say, research shows that if women started businesses at the same rate of men, the number of entrepreneurs in the UK would increase dramatically, whilst the underrepresentation of women in entrepreneurship is an international concern relative to other high-income countries, Scotland's rates of female business ownership are persistently low. I know that this is a rallying call for us all. Access to finance is critical. We need an in-depth understanding of cultural barriers. Our programmes must ensure equality for women in businesses and we must continue the good work that has already started to stamp out misogyny. There is a long way to go yet to create a level playing field for women in business. I believe that this Parliament and this Government will play a leading role in that endeavour. Scotland means business and that means women in business. Thank you, Ms Thomson. I now call on Collette Stevenson to be followed by Pam Gosall for around four minutes. I want to congratulate Michelle Thomson in securing this debate and I'm glad to speak in it. I also want to acknowledge the excellent work that is being done by Women's Enterprise Scotland. Right across the country, women play a vital role in business. When it comes to ownership, however, only 17 per cent of small and medium enterprises are women-led according to the latest small business survey Scotland. Just as in other aspects of society, women face particular challenges in business and we must do more to break down those barriers. When I was a councillor, albeit less than a week ago, I chaired business gateway Lanarkshire for a while and I got to meet many talented entrepreneurs. I know the particular challenges that women can face, including when it comes to disproportionate caring responsibilities and sometimes the lack of confidence in an area dominated by men. That lack of confidence is perhaps reflected in the statistics on women starting business with much less capital than men and asking for less money in funding bids. It has been recognised, including by business gateway, that women in business often want more opportunities for networking and mentoring and often with other women who are or have been in similar situations. Many women have experience of being a main caregiver and having to juggle that with work and other life commitments is often very difficult. There is also the issue of misogyny, and women's health needs, too. There was a great discussion about that at the Women's and Business Cross-Party group last week. It is crucial that we do as much as possible to tailor support for women's wellbeing, and that is true in business, too. In terms of policy, the Scottish Government has committed to establishing a women's business centre supported with a £50 million investment over this Parliament. The centre will ensure that women-led businesses have accessible, relevant advice and the right support. Women's Enterprise Scotland has already launched a digital version of that, and I encourage that any women business are considering setting up a business to look it up. Another commitment from the Scottish Government as part of that work to support women in business is the funding support that will be given to 100 women per year to develop pioneering business ideas. That is our daily welcome policy, and it will support many women entrepreneurs. That will investigate and make recommendations on the gender gap in the opportunities in business and consider things such as education, financing and support and mentoring. I hope that the review's short, medium and long-term recommendations will help to remove barriers and support women in and into business. To conclude, in Scotland, women-owned businesses can contribute an estimated £8.8 billion to the economy and directly employ almost 250,000 people. That is a huge benefit to the women leading those companies, to the employees, to the extractor and to our society as a whole. Just imagine, when we break down the barriers facing women in business, how those benefits will multiply. I thank Michelle Thomson for bringing that motion forward for debate. I am delighted to contribute today on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives. Women in business is a subject that is extremely close to my heart. As some of you may know, after my father sadly passed away in my teenage years, I had to step up and run the family business. Not only did I run the family business, but I later on changed the model to transfer it into a portfolio property so that I could pursue my career and my education. However, it was not without its challenges. I was thrown into the deep end and had to learn to swim without guidance or support as an Asian girl in a male-dominated business environment, but I am proud to stand here today knowing that times have changed. As a trustee of many women groups, I have seen many women starting up a business from the kitchen or garage, having a small dream and turning it into reality. On many occasions, the greatest challenge for women in business is infrastructure. They need allies. They need investment. They need support. A report showed that doubling the number of women-led businesses and increasing productivity by about 40 per cent would power around £50 billion in the UK gross value added. It adds around 50,000 new female entrepreneurs and 260,000 more women-led businesses in the UK economy by 2030. However, this year, women-owned businesses in Scotland only accounted for 14 per cent of SMEs down from 2017 from 20.6 per cent. How do we turn that around? Sitting on the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, I am no stranger to the topic of women's inequality in the labour market and the statistics outline in the member's motion today emphasises the challenges that I speak of. Professor Norrin Arshad told the committee that we need to see more collaboration with financial institutions to understand access to financial support. She also highlighted concerns about duplication and confusion over what is effective, who is doing what and what is going where. It is confusion like this that puts women off, puts them off to attempting to wade through bureaucracy to apply for funding. I will be clear that I welcome the First Minister's £50 million of funding for the National Women's Business Centre, but it is unclear what stage its development is at and how exactly it intends to support and empower women entrepreneurs. However, those issues can be ironed out with more accurate data on women's participation in a labour market. Currently, we lack data on what works and what does not work, what type of support works for intersectional differences among women, whether she is bame, has children, has a dependent or is single. That is not me taking an opportunity to bash the SNP. It is about getting it right for those women and ensuring that investments are effective and not wasted opportunity. Investing in supporting women-led businesses has a great social and economic value. Although I welcome commitments to invest in a women's business centre, that cannot be another botched SNP project that is cluttered with bureaucracy. First, we need more detailed data showing that what is happening on the ground on women's participation in the labour market to inform more accurate support mechanisms for funding streams. Secondly, we need more clarity on the women's business centre, for example, what support will it offer and how will it function. We need to see more promotional campaigns on the social and economic impact of investing in women-led businesses. I want to congratulate and thank Michelle Thompson for her members' debate today and for her great speech. I also thank her for becoming the deputy of the cross-party group on women enterprise. I have chaired it for six years now. After listening to Pam Gosel's speech in particular, I would really love it if Pam Gosel would consider joining as a member, because I think that you have a lot to add to that. I am also speaking to some of the women entrepreneurs who come to the cross-party group on women's enterprise. A lot of them are business leaders and are actively involved in the consultation around shaping the new business women's centre. I think that some of your fears or questions around it might actually get a lot of comfort from hearing those voices, because they are very much involved. It is also interesting to hear what Pam Gosel said about the drivers for how she ended up being a business leader. I am reflecting on my own business career before I came into this Parliament. The stories of many other women that I hear from in the cross-party group, how did they get into business? There are relatively few of them who ever thought that they wanted to run a business. Circumstances led them to setting up in businesses. In my case, I had two small children and I wanted to be able to be in control of what I did over a week. I wanted to be able to work in my profession around media. I wanted to be able to pick and choose what I could do because childcare was an issue. I was almost a dream as such. It was almost a necessity. I think that that is the case for quite a lot of women. I was totally comfortable being a business entrepreneur in a man's world. I was offshore an awful lot. I was working in a male environment of television production, but I was also offshore doing a lot of safety. That never bothered me, but I never scaled up and never went to any so-called networking events or business events. I never did that kind of thing because that aspect of things just seemed a bit kind of dragon's den to me. I did not like that. I came to this job and I am active in the CPG. I find out that I am not an anomaly, but support does not necessarily mean the traditional networking events, the traditional funding opportunities and the structures that are there. Support also means nurturing and being in a female environment where you have that soft support that is out there as well. I was doing a podcast recently with a woman called Brenda Hector from Scale Her Up, and she did a podcast on women enterprise. She asked me what you think you would be doing now if you were still doing your business. I was reflecting on the fact that what would have become of my business if I had to go through the pandemic. I wonder whether I would have adapted or whether I would have sunk. Those are the questions that a lot of women entrepreneurs are actually dealing with right now, post-pandemic—we are not even post-pandemic now—where they are actually rather adapted to the circumstances that we are in. There has to be a real focus on helping the women that maybe their businesses have suffered. A lot of them are involved in things like hair and beauty and art and media, music, textiles, whatever. Those are probably the hardest-hit areas, so there might need to be some targeted supports to keep them going. However, I will end on one thing. I have had an idea for a considerable time. There were an awful lot of disciplines in our colleges that lent themselves to entrepreneurship and self-employment, but they do not get the support on how to set up a business. It is a real failing of the college sector. Music, art, hair, beauty, media, textiles—a lot of things that women enjoy doing—will end up becoming self-employed, usually as a knee-jerk reaction to circumstances rather than anything else. There needs to be some component that helps them to hit the ground running when they graduate. If we give that early support at college level, we will find ourselves with a lot more women-led businesses in the future. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Thank you very much, Ms Martin. I now call on Claire Baker, who will be followed by Emma Harper for around four minutes. First of all, can I recognise Michelle Thomson's efforts in securing this important debate and also very much appreciated her contribution? We are both members of the Economy and Fair Work Committee and I want to recognise and welcome the attention that my committee is giving to equality in business and in the workplace. It is not just for the women members in this committee to speak about this, but it is the most gender balanced that the Economy and Fair Work Committee has ever been and I hope that that will be reflected in our work. Women's role in the economy has been marginalised for too long. Caroline Currie from Women's Enterprise Scotland, who has campaigned for a women's business centre, described at committee last week, have a similar model in Canada and the US has led to them having the highest percentage of women-owned businesses. In the US, 40 per cent of women-owned businesses are women-owned, which is at least double the figure that we have in the UK. The number of women-led employer businesses in Scotland has declined from 20.6 per cent in 2017 to just 14 per cent in 2019, and that is the latest data. The statistic of 14 per cent of women-led businesses is, however, at odds with data that suggests that 51 per cent of new start-ups are women-led. Pam Goethl. An intervention does the member believe that we should be collecting more data, that there is a big gap in data. You have said that in 2017 that there is nothing after that. Thank you. I recognise that it was a point that Pam Goethl made in the debate and that it is something that I will come to later and I will amplify the comments that she made. I think that we have agreement in the chamber for that. The majority of women who are newly self-employed and the increase in the numbers that are becoming self-employed is unprecedented. Historically, women have made up just over a quarter of self-employed, but since 2008 downturn 58 per cent of the newly self-employed have been female. For a growing proportion of women, self-employment does not appear to be a choice, a point that other members have made, but it is a necessity that is driven by factors such as public sector job losses, the upgrading of the female retirement age or a need to accommodate caring responsibilities. One-fifth of women said that they entered self-employment because of a lack of other employment opportunities. The commitment of £50 million across the lifetime of this Parliament to support women into entrepreneurship is welcome, but we need to see a smart approach to this investment that works to reverse the declining trend of growth-orientated women-led employer businesses. We need to see progress on the National Women's Business Centre, which can build on the work by Women Enterprise Scotland in launching the Digital Women's Business Centre in 2020, which has proved a great resource for sharing knowledge and expertise and encouraging more women to start up and grow their businesses. There is a growing recognition that women's business support needs to be specific, underlined by figures showing that men are twice as likely to start a business on women and that pre-pandemic only 21 per cent of Scotland's SMEs were majority-led by women. The characteristics of those businesses are also different, with women-led businesses more likely to be younger sole traders operating from home, working in the service sector and with a lower average turnover and employment. We need a policy response that supports women to grow and expand their businesses that values their contribution to the economy and society. So, when I have highlighted a number of challenges faced by women, they include discrimination, difficulty with access to procurement, access to finance, access to sales training and access to scaling up support. In particular, access to finance for start-ups or growth, that the one-size-fits-all approach does not work for many women. Women are more reluctant to take on loans and risk debt, particularly if they need to take time away from their employment to start a business. That points to the need for a more tailored advice and support routes for gender-based interventions that recognise and value women-led businesses, sectors that are often devalued and overlooked when we are supporting growth sectors and promoting growth strategies for women. Research from the British Bank found—sorry, there are lots of those quotes that are shocking to everybody when you hear them in the chamber—British Business Bank found that female founders received us one pence and every £1 of venture capital. That means that men are receiving 99 times more venture capital than women across the UK. We need to see specific action to address difficulties in accessing financial support for women and action on the lack of gender-disaggregated data. The Scottish Government has said that it will look at that, but we need to see progress on how information is better captured and published. Finally, the Government's strategy for economic transformation recognises some of those issues, but it talks about addressing them in broad terms. It highlights the gender gap in the total rate of early-stage entrepreneurial activity, but it goes on to state that the intention is to increase new businesses in all sizes and sectors rather than point to focused action. Where the document indicates targets to focus and improve access to support for underrepresented groups, including women, it states that an early priority will be to deliver our commitment to review how we support women into entrepreneurship. I would like to see more ambition here. The forthcoming delivery plans are critical to progress. In closing, I would like to seek assurances from the minister that delivery plans will address the need to grow women-owned businesses across all sectors. I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate and congratulate Michelle Thomson on securing it. For setting out so clearly the issues and the challenges that women face in business, it has also been really good to hear everybody else's contribution so far. I am going to focus my contribution this evening on welcoming the positive steps that have been made to support women in business and to congratulate some of the fantastic inspirational women in business across the South Scotland region. The business landscape is changing in Scotland. Covid-19 pandemic aside, we are seeing that attitudes towards traditional ways of doing business are changing. There is evidence to suggest that women are playing a large role in shaping the future of business. Research suggests that the statistic illustrates this very powerfully. If the level of female ownership of businesses in Scotland matched the level of male ownership, the size of our economy would increase by 5 per cent. To put that into context, it equates to £7.6 billion. That is £7.6 billion if we had more women in our economy contributing. Enabling more women into business is not just good for women, it will make us all more prosperous. Scotland is making a huge progress in achieving that objective already. Recently, Pricewaterhouse Cooper released its women in work report. There is good news from that. The report says that it ranks Scotland as one of the best places in the UK for workplace gender equality. One reason is that Scotland's gender pay gap is at an all-time low. Last year, full-time employees were 5.7 per cent, but that is significant lower than across the UK as a whole, where the gender pay gap is at 8.6 per cent. However, the pay gap for all employees, regardless of gender and including part-time work, is much bigger at 15 per cent, but it is declining, and it is lower in Scotland than in other parts of the UK. That is largely down to the close partnership working between the Scottish Government, private business and third sector, such as through the Scottish Government's women and enterprise framework and fund. That is welcome, and I ask the minister for a commitment that initiatives like that will continue to be available to help women excel and to tackle the barriers that face women in business. Across the Freeson Galloway, there are inspirational women who are excelling in business, particularly small business. DNG has been identified as a female entrepreneurship hotspot in a new analysis from the Federation of Small Businesses, the FSB. Official figures show that around 1 in 10, 10.4 per cent of working-age women in the Freeson Galloway are self-employed, the second-highest rate in the country, only behind Murray. Sandra Parterson, Srinrar-based business owner, Women's Enterprise Scotland ambassador, and the FSB member said, is great to see my part of the country high on the women in business league table. Across the region, we have the DNG women and dairy network, open to women involved in dairy and the wider agricultural sector. The network promotes discussion, learning and engagement, and nurturing. It is a bit of a spin-off from the extremely successful women in agriculture, which is supported by Scottish Government funding. DNG also boasts Rhone's dairy, and that is managed and led by Ailet and Tracy Rhone. They have gone from strength to strength, providing milk from the dairy herds, employing local workers, and the creation of the udder bar. An alternative to booze, serving delicious milkshakes at the local agricultural events and the Royal Highland Show pre-pandemic. The ethical dairy produces sought-after cheeses and ice cream, and it is managed by an excellent role model, Wilma Finlay. So much business diversity is being seen across Dumfrieson Galloway, and even in other parts of my South Scotland region, Hazel Smith at Retweed in Eyemouth is an award-winning social enterprise. There are so many more. Joanna Heard from the Galloway soup company, she started out from a farmer's market stall, but now has a successful cafe and shop in Delbeaty. We've got so many. Fiona McElray, Lorraine Galloway of Wigtown, Wigwams, Lyn Atkinson at the White House Gallery, Suzanne Thorpe of the Star restaurant in Twynham. There's a fair wean of fantastic and inspirational women in business across the region, and I want to thank them all for being role models to other women and for their contributing to our contribution to our economy and our contribution to our country. I thank Michelle Thomson for bringing this debate tonight. My own background was 20 years in the finance sector, and what kind of stuck me when Michelle was talking was obviously the lack of women that used to come forward looking for finance at that time, and I think things have probably changed, but nowhere near enough. I wanted to talk a little bit about women's enterprise Scotland that the motion refers to, and as we know, it's a research-led community interest company that champions women-led and women-owned business. It advocates for better evidence-based policy, making them believe that delivering expert business support will enable women to fulfil their aspirations and unlock 8.8 billion economic potential to boost their economy that we've heard before. Wes works with calibration with local, national and international partners towards the vision of gender equal, diverse and inclusive business systems, which will allow innovation and productivity to thrive. Wes was created as a voice for women-owned businesses in Scotland, and to promote policy and best practice which enables women to successfully start up, which is a big challenge, and to grow their own business. If Scotland is to be as successful as possible, the simple fact is that we need more women-owned businesses in Scotland. Wes research showed that women-owned businesses already contribute 8.8 billion into the economy that we've talked about. They also create over 230,000 jobs in local communities throughout Scotland, yet women-owned businesses are just 20 per cent of the business space in Scotland. That's 80 per cent men. That's not right under any measure at all. The ambition of Wes is a quote that we believe that we can encourage more women and girls to try out their business ideas, the provision of a needs-based support co-designed by women-owned businesses and experts in gender techniques. We have an ambition to double the numbers of women-owned businesses, boost the economy by 8.8 billion, create a further 200,000 jobs and, ultimately, consign the gender gap in the face of the history. I want to discuss the initiative, which is the ambition for Scotland to become a global leader in terms of women's entrepreneurship. Caroline Currie recently became an entrepreneur in residence at Greenmarket University in East Lothian. Caroline believes that the women's business centre at the QMU intends to launch could help to unlock the £8 billion activity that I mentioned and provide a model that could be exported globally. The centre is expected to be the first of its kind in the UK that focuses on women. Caroline Currie reckons that it could help address barriers that prevent women from maximising potential they have to become successful business builders. She said in a quote that this could be an economic game changer for Scotland. Ms Currie is also chief executive for Women's Enterprise Scotland, an organisation that she helped to found. She then went on and said, this is not about creating more women entrepreneurs, it is about that extra £8 billion that could go into the economy, but it is also about the innovation that happens in a diverse landscape. If we do not have a diverse ecosystem, we are significantly restricting the capacity to innovate. Ms Currie also held senior roles at Royal Bank of Scotland before becoming the chief operating officer at Wies in 2015. She stated that the activity of the centre will be informed by consultation with local women-owned businesses, as well as staff, students at the university. That will ensure that the needs of women are placed at the heart of the service design of the business centre. The research, also undertaken by Wies, highlighted a range of challenges facing women, including access to funding and to specific growth resources. Around a third of respondents had experienced impressions of discrimination. Networking opportunities, and I think that Gillian Martin mentioned that before, can be hard to come by for women. The centre will be housed in the innovation hub that is expected to open at QMU in 2025. The centre could be one of the initiatives that could benefit from my £50 million commitment from the SNP to support women's enterprise. Technology entrepreneur Anna Stewart has been commissioned by the finance secretary Kate Forbes to the short-term review of how best to target that support and help more women realising their business ambitions. I want to work closely with Carling, QMU and women and business owners in Eastland and Scotland to give us that economic boost that should be achievable. Mullen-Dotter Custi is 24, and she has talked about many times about having her own business at some stage. Her ambition shouldn't be limited by unbuilt disadvantages. I am sure that she will own her business one day. I want to close with a quote and it's from Kamala Harris. Dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourself amazed that others may not simply because they've never seen it before. We need to ensure that more women have that opportunity and can see themselves owning a business. I call on the minister to respond to the debate for up to seven minutes, please, minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It's great to be here in responding to this very important debate that Michelle Thomson has raised and known Michelle as I do for a number of years. It's no surprise that she's brought this debate in a real commitment to advancing this agenda, which is very well understood. Reflecting on some of the contributions that have taken place during what I thought was an excellent debate and some very valuable input from members across the chamber, Michelle Thomson highlighted the importance of culture. That's a very important aspect of the issue that needs to be taken into account. The very real barriers that women's starting businesses face, in particular around under capitalisation, is a point that was raised by many members in something that I want to address in my remarks as I proceed. It sets on very ambitious targets for the number of employees that she would like to see working in women-owned businesses. It's great to set those ambitions and something that we can all work together towards. It also highlighted the importance of data, something that many members across the chamber have raised and something else that I've come to talk to in my remarks. I collect themes and raise the very important issue around confidence in women's business and the lack of confidence in preventing them from progressing in their business careers. I also thankfully highlighted many of the actions that the Scottish Government is taking to address and make progress on the issue of more women in business. I want to talk to you in a bit more detail. Pam Gossel talked about her personal experience in businesses and the challenges that that threw up. Again, the need for investment and targeted support. Gillian Martin, likewise, talked about her personal experience in business. I have often reflected on what my business would have looked like if it had to survive through the last couple years of Covid, which has been hugely challenging times. It has been highlighted by Gillian and other members, particularly for women-owned businesses in specific sectors. I commend Gillian for her leadership of the cross-party group over the past six years and the great work that she has done in that regard. Her idea on calling support for business start-ups, certainly in the national strategy, we identify doing more with further higher education and the school system to support those who want to start up businesses. We are targeting that specifically on courses where students and women in particular are more likely to be starting up businesses. That is a very good idea and we will take a look at it. Claire Baker highlighted again the challenges around investment and access to venture capital, whether there are some frankly unbelievably bad statistics that she raised that really require to be addressed again in my remarks. I had a meeting with a woman who has run a very successful international exporting business and highlighted that very issue to me that the trouble she has had in attracting investment capital has been a significant drag on the business and highlighted some statistics in that regard that are hugely troubling and concerning. Emma Harper highlighted the examples of women in business in the south of Scotland. It is always a pleasure to visit the south of Scotland with Emma and two around businesses in the region. Next time I go, perhaps we can try to organise a tour of some of those excellent women-owned businesses that she highlighted and also the point that the statistics show. For some reason, it would be really good to dig a bit deeper into that, that the south of Scotland has highlighted some significant higher numbers of women in business in the south of Scotland than elsewhere across the country. Thank the minister for taking an intervention. I am just wondering if he prefers cheese, beer or ice cream. Why there has to be a choice? I do not know, minister, but minister. As Emma Harper knows, when I go in my business tours, I cram a lot of visits since I think we will find room for all three in a tour of the south of Scotland. Last but not least, Paul McClennan commented on the great work of women in enterprise Scotland and much else that is happening to advance the agenda and his commitment to work to take that agenda forward, which is hugely welcome, because at the end of the day men need to have a deep understanding of the challenges that women face in business if we are to address those issues and seek a resolution that works for not just women in business but for the whole of Scotland's economy, which has been highlighted by many members. In 2014, the Scottish Government, working with partners across the public, private and third sector, launched the women in enterprise framework and the action plan, which was refreshed in 2017. The Scottish Government has funded partner organisations to deliver programmes supporting the framework key themes, including women enterprise Scotland's ambassador programme, investing in women's accelerator and the programme for growth that is delivered by business women in Scotland. This year, additional funding was delivered by the Scottish technology ecosystem fund to project supporting women in Scotland's tech sector. I think that goes to one of the points that Claire Baker raised about supporting women across all sectors in the economy. Some progress has been made, but there is clearly an awful lot more that needs to be done. That is why the Government committed that funding of £50 million over the cost of this Parliament to support more women to restart, grow and sustain thriving businesses. Of course, to help to shape that approach, Cabinet Secretary Kate Forbes has asked Anna Stewart, founder of iDesign Group, to undertake a whole system review into the women's enterprise ecosystem in Scotland. We look forward very much to this review and its recommendations, which will form part of our wider work to transform Scotland's economy. I set out in the national strategy with its very clear focus on making sure that we tackle inequality across all aspects of our economy. Very clearly, the issue of poor rate of women start-up in businesses is absolutely a key part of that. Doing so will require a radical transformation in the way in which we deliver results and ensure that new approaches and infrastructure that we build, such as the network of tech skillar hubs that will be designed to be inclusive and work for everyone from the outset. The issue of investment has been raised many times through the cost of this debate. Pioneer organisations such as investing women's angels have invested more than £2 million in 20 companies with more than 90 per cent of funds going to female-founded businesses since the first investment in 2015. They have recently announced a ground-breaking collaboration with the Scottish National Investment Bank to develop a new fund focused exclusively on women and minority founders based in Scotland. That fund would make Scotland one of the very few European nations with a bespoke seed investment fund that is focused on stimulating the growth of female-led companies. Shifting that needle on investment requires a shift in mindset from the investment sector itself. Some courage to see Scottish angel groups, including equity gap and Scottish equity partners, demonstrating their commitment to advancing female entrepreneurship and access to finance by signing the investing in women codes and increasing the diversity of the finance sector and encouraging more women to become active investors, especially those of themselves. Achieving success in business will play a part in removing the barriers that women face. That is why the Ecosystem Fund has supported mint ventures in raising awareness and understanding of investment among women. The issue of data has been raised as something that requires attention. Members who have read with interest the national strategy for economic transformation in their company and evidence paper will recognise that there are data points in there, but clearly we all recognise that more needs to be done in that regard. An issue that was identified by Anna Stewart in her review and the Scottish Government is currently trialling commercial data packages that offer real-time access to business information and the business support partnership that I met with recently is also looking at improving access to data. Work is on going in that regard. Before I finish, I want to congratulate Women's Enterprise Scotland on their 10th anniversary for the past decade. They have been at the forefront of the drive to close the gender gap in enterprise participation here in Scotland and, indeed, on the international stage. We value their voices as a partner and a critical friend, and they have never waived in championing the needs of women in the business world. As a Government, we are determined to lead on closing the gender gap in business start-up and growth, not just because we know what makes clear economic sense but also because we know that it is absolutely the right thing to do. Let me be absolutely clear that it is simply unacceptable that in 2022 women should continue to face barriers to their participation in business and economy, where everyone is supported and empowered to seize opportunities and fully achieve their potential. It is absolutely vital to Scotland's future.