New Research by Mastercard Shows Strong Entrepreneurial Spirit Among Women in the UK With Gen Z Leading the Charge

Gen Z and millennial women in the UK are more likely than previous generations to want to start their own business, according to research commissioned by Mastercard ahead of International Women’s Day 2025.

63% of Gen Z^[1] women in the UK and 58% of millennia^l[2] women have considered running their own business compared with 37% of Gen X^[3] and 24% of Baby Boomers^[4], the data shows.

Asked about their motivations, 67% of millennials and 57% of Gen Z cited the desire to earn more money as the top reason. Other motivations that scored highly for young women include the need to achieve a better work-life balance (47% of millennial women) and wanting to pursue their passion (32% of Gen Z women).

Gen Z women are most likely to want to start a business in cosmetics or beauty (19%) and childcare (15%), while millennial women favour online selling (18%) and food and drink (14%).

However, there are still barriers in place for existing and would-be female entrepreneurs. Women who have already founded a business are more likely than men to say that it’s hard to balance caring for dependents with work (36% vs. 25%), that they struggle to switch off from work on holiday (47% vs. 41%), and that they don’t have a good work-life balance (36% vs. 14%).

Across the UK, women are also less likely than men to say they feel confident with general business-related skills – particularly financial decision making (27% vs. 40%), networking (22% vs. 33%) and public speaking (23% vs. 32%).

This sentiment extends into running their own business. Risk of failure (31%) and lack of confidence (30%) are the most cited barriers for women when it comes to setting up their own business (vs 21% of men).

To improve their confidence, younger women are more likely to want a support network such as a mentor (23% of Gen Z and 25% of millennials vs. 19% Gen X and 16% Baby Boomers). Gen Z women are also twice as likely to want a business partner than Gen X (28% vs. 14%).

Payal Dalal, Executive Vice President, Global Programmes, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, said: “It is interesting and encouraging to see so many Gen Z and millennial women in the UK wanting to start their own business. It is good for women, good for business, and good for the UK economy. We know that starting your own business is one of the hardest things you can do and it is important that we understand where the challenges lie and address them through tailored and accessible initiatives. This is how our Strive programme was born and it has already helped more than 500,000 female entrepreneurs in the UK.”