Earlier this month, Ocado introduced an all female-founded virtual aisle in collaboration with Buy Women Built, an organisation created to promote women-owned brands.
The online grocery retailer has received backlash online following this, with debates circulating the internet about whether this was a good way to promote women’s brands.
Juliet Barratt, the founder of the Grenade protein bar, has taken to LinkedIn to label the action as “special treatment.”
Juliet Barratt via LinkedIn
This week, CityNews has been asking female-founded businesses in London how they feel about this launch, and whether it is something that they feel their business could benefit from.
London itself holds the highest number of women-led business, with 19.8% of all UK businesses being located in the capital.
Celebrating women is a ‘great thing’
The owners of Salad Days, an independent business running pop-up market days, believe that Ocado’s launch of an all-female aisle is a great way to celebrate female creators.
Daisy and Liv told City News about the “patronising” reactions they received when starting their business.
They believe that if they were men of the same age, they “highly doubt” anyone would have questioned if it was something they were sure they wanted to launch.
They said that they believe that work like Ocado’s should be celebrated.
“If we can create channels or different ways of increasing women’s confidence and celebrating them in business, then that’s a great thing.”
They added: “Women are underrepresented, why shouldn’t they have an opportunity to shine?”
Women-led companies ‘don’t want to be labelled’
‘Dar Leone’: a female-founded design studio in Islington
Isatu Funna, the owner of the London based design studio ‘Dar Leone’, said that despite the “great boost” for new businesses, she would rather not be categorised into a female-only business community.
The designer stated that she likes being with all business people, and is not sure if she wants to be “labelled” in an aisle.
The female founder boost to the economy
In 2019, the Treasury commissioned an independent review, called the Rose Review, into female entrepreneurship in the UK, with an updated version being published in 2023.
According to statistics found from this review, £250 billion of new value could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as UK men.
The percentage of new corporations being founded by women is gradually increasing from 16% in 2018 to 20.5% in 2023, creating a larger female-founded business community.
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Standfirst
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HeadlineLondon businesswomen torn about ‘special treatment’ being given to female-founded brands
Short HeadlineBusinesswomen discuss female-founded separation in shop
StandfirstThe disagreement is fallout from a new initiative to promote women-founded brands.
Earlier this month, Ocado introduced an all female-founded virtual aisle in collaboration with Buy Women Built, an organisation created to promote women-owned brands.
The online grocery retailer has received backlash online following this, with debates circulating the internet about whether this was a good way to promote women’s brands.
Juliet Barratt, the founder of the Grenade protein bar, has taken to LinkedIn to label the action as “special treatment.”
Juliet Barratt via LinkedIn
This week, CityNews has been asking female-founded businesses in London how they feel about this launch, and whether it is something that they feel their business could benefit from.
London itself holds the highest number of women-led business, with 19.8% of all UK businesses being located in the capital.
Celebrating women is a ‘great thing’
The owners of Salad Days, an independent business running pop-up market days, believe that Ocado’s launch of an all-female aisle is a great way to celebrate female creators.
Daisy and Liv told City News about the “patronising” reactions they received when starting their business.
They believe that if they were men of the same age, they “highly doubt” anyone would have questioned if it was something they were sure they wanted to launch.
They said that they believe that work like Ocado’s should be celebrated.
“If we can create channels or different ways of increasing women’s confidence and celebrating them in business, then that’s a great thing.”
They added: “Women are underrepresented, why shouldn’t they have an opportunity to shine?”
Women-led companies ‘don’t want to be labelled’
‘Dar Leone’: a female-founded design studio in Islington
Isatu Funna, the owner of the London based design studio ‘Dar Leone’, said that despite the “great boost” for new businesses, she would rather not be categorised into a female-only business community.
The designer stated that she likes being with all business people, and is not sure if she wants to be “labelled” in an aisle.
The female founder boost to the economy
In 2019, the Treasury commissioned an independent review, called the Rose Review, into female entrepreneurship in the UK, with an updated version being published in 2023.
According to statistics found from this review, £250 billion of new value could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as UK men.
The percentage of new corporations being founded by women is gradually increasing from 16% in 2018 to 20.5% in 2023, creating a larger female-founded business community.
