Ultimate Finance is taking another step in its mission to back business ambition and keep business moving by becoming a signatory of the government-backed Investing in Women Code. Chief Marketing Officer, Yvonne Balfour, explains what the Code is and why we’ve decided to become a signatory.
Closing the funding gap for women entrepreneurs
The Investing in Women Code was launched in 2019 in response to the Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, which highlighted the stark barriers women face when starting and scaling businesses. One of the most significant challenges identified was access to finance.
Since then, the code has worked in partnership with the Invest in Women Taskforce – driving impact and systemic change to make the UK the best place in the world for female founders – and the Invest in Women Hub – improving access to finance for women as they start, scale and grow their businesses.
Despite this, women-led businesses remain disproportionately underfunded. Closing this gap could add up to £250 billion to the UK economy.
By becoming signatories of the Code, Ultimate Finance is proud to stand alongside a growing number of finance providers committed to making real change in this space.
Together, signatories are working to create a more diverse and inclusive business ecosystem that benefits entrepreneurs, investors, and society as a whole.
What signing the Code means in practice
As a signatory, Ultimate Finance has made three core commitments:
- Leading from the top: as a senior leader, my appointment makes it my duty to champion gender equality in access to finance.
- Changing how we work: we are committed to reviewing and embedding internal practices that improve support for women-led businesses.
- Shining a light on progress: we will be submitting anonymised data to the Department for Business and Trade, helping build a clear picture of the market and track change over time.
This framework ensures that progress is measurable, transparent, and sustainable, encouraging lenders and investors to embed gender equality into their everyday operations.
Why this matters more than ever
Access to finance is a challenge that reaches far beyond individual female entrepreneurs. It’s a systemic issue that limits innovation, growth, and the overall strength of the UK economy. Women make up over half the population, yet continue to face greater barriers to securing investment.
By improving access to finance for women-led businesses, the Code aims to unlock untapped potential, boost economic resilience, and create opportunities that benefit everyone.
How the Code reflects our values
Becoming a signatory to the Investing in Women Code is a natural extension of our values:
- Decency: We believe in always doing the best by people, fostering a culture of fairness and respect in every relationship. The Code reflects this commitment by ensuring female entrepreneurs have equal opportunities to access the funding they need.
- Brilliance: We strive for excellence in everything we do, delivering brilliant service and brilliant results for every client we support. By adopting best practices from the Code, we are raising standards across our industry and helping women-led businesses thrive.
- Enterprise: Entrepreneurial spirit is in our DNA, driving us to champion ambition, embrace innovation, and continually improve the way we work. Signing the Code reflects our ongoing commitment to ensuring every entrepreneur has the chance to succeed, whatever their gender or background.
Backing ambition into the future
We’re proud to be part of a collective effort to transform the financial landscape for female-founded companies.
Head of Relationship Management, Sarah Furze, attended the Female Founders Growth Summit in Edinburgh this September. The event brought female founders together with investors and lenders to accelerate their route to scale-up.
The atmosphere was buzzing, with over 300 attendees sharing practical insights and honest reflections on the challenges and opportunities ahead. From procurement to investor relationships and even the role of AI, the conversations highlighted just how much potential exists if barriers can be removed.
Sarah says, “As signatories to the Code, it’s more important than ever for us to be present in this space. The talent, ambition and resilience of the entrepreneurs in the room was truly inspiring. Yet many face the same barriers when it comes to scaling their business. As lenders, we need to do more to champion them, demystify funding and unlock their growth potential by improving access to debt financing”.
To conclude, our commitment to the Code is part of a bigger promise: to keep backing business ambition wherever we see it. For us, that means taking action to remove barriers, champion underrepresented founders, and support the people behind the UK’s most exciting businesses — no matter their background or starting point.
