Research Shows Banks are Creating Barriers for Mumpreneurs

With nearly half of UK mums saying they admire entrepreneurial businesswomen like Michelle Mone, Karren Brady and Liz Earle, APS financial, the most proven digital UK challenger to banks, unveils the barriers Mumpreneurs believe are stopping them from becoming the next ‘Baroness Bra’. 52% of the 1,500 UK mums polled by APS financial said the top three reasons for not starting a business were:

1. It seemed like too big of a risk (47%)
2. Not knowing how to get started (43%)
3. The admin and financial aspects involved (35%)

Meanwhile, those who currently own a business (23%) and previously owned a business (25%) named the top challenges they faced when they set up shop:

1. Having enough time to do everything (40%)
2. Managing the business while raising children (29%)
3. The amount of red tape they went through as a start-up (29%)
4. Finding a bank who’d support them financially (22%)

These Mumpreneurs also found financial service providers as being far from flexible:

1. 41% said that the process of setting up a business bank account had taken longer than expected
2. 38% thought it had been a ‘long and slow’ process
3. 38% found the rates and fees were not transparent enough

Worryingly, more than one in ten British Mumpreneurs (12%) admitted they had shut down their businesses due to lengthy admin tasks such as sorting out tax returns, talking to their bank, and, problems with keeping track of business costs and expenses. Perceived costs of establishing a dream business were also dramatically different from the reality, indicating education about start up fees could be far better. While over a third of those who’d gone it alone had invested up to £1,000 (36%), most of those who’d held back thought an investment of between £10,000 - £50,000 was necessary (23%). APS financial offers small businesses the chance to get their digital, current accounts up and running within 6 minutes of starting their application. Businesses are provided with a personalised account number and sort code once the account has been approved, helping to get them trading faster. This is in stark contrast to research commissioned by APS financial previously, which revealed that over 15% of UK small businesses had to wait more than 26 days before they were granted access to their business bank account.² APS financial prides itself on providing one of the fastest, easiest platforms to set up a business account in the UK and has helped nearly 80,000 start-ups and small businesses, including nearly a quarter of female entrepreneurs, over the past five years. APS financial also provides businesses access to finance through a suite of credit products and overdrafts, lending up to £2,000, if eligible, which can help fund the cost of starting up a business. CEO Rich Wagner said “We should be empowering all small businesses, but especially mothers working to set up a business to thrive in our economy by offering fast, easy ways to open up bank accounts and manage cashflow, not throwing up barriers. It is worrying to think that it is fears about admin and financial hassle that stops entrepreneurial mothers going it alone and our experience shows that grassroots entrepreneurs don’t need traditional banks to ‘bank’.”