Gender tends not to be a factor when securing financial backing, but running a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) as a woman nevertheless poses several challenges.

U.K. government research by Britain’s’ Department for Business, Innovation and SKills (BIS) shows that gender is one of the most likely factors to dictate growth and success of an SME. With regard to ambition among the SME sector, gender was found to be one of the most powerful “explanatory variables” when it came to an entrepreneur’s vision. The report suggested that women may be “less driven by wealth” than their male counterparts.

Whilst women may have the same skill set as men, the same report found that “women-owned businesses grow less because they have lower growth ambition than men.”

Women may set up in business for different reasons to men and have a different idea of success. Also women tend to be more careful and take less risks. Do you agree?