--- title: The untapped growth potential of female entrepreneurship date: 2026-03-18T09:00:00+01:00 author: Merlijn van Dijk canonical_url: "https://www.bom.nl/en/articles/de-onbenutte-groeikracht-van-vrouwelijk-ondernemerschap" section: Articles --- # The untapped growth potential of female entrepreneurship Impact story Entrepreneurship plays an indispensable role in accelerating the major transitions of our time. However, not every entrepreneur has equal access to capital. The female entrepreneurship that does exist is still far from being fully utilized. As a result, the Netherlands misses out on billions of euros in economic potential each year. This also presents a clear task for the Brabant Development Agency (BOM). ![Ontwerp zonder titel 6](https://d3d5gk1jdgmand.cloudfront.net/resized/_900x600_crop_center-center_none_ns/136743/Ontwerp-zonder-titel-6.webp) Figures from the Netherlands show that access to financing remains unevenly distributed. In 2025, Code-V published the first national baseline measurement of gender distribution in entrepreneurial financing. Code-V is a national alliance of public and private financiers working towards equal access to capital. BOM was one of the first 64 signatories of Code-V at its launch in December 2023. The alliance has since grown to more than 120 financiers by the end of 2025. Systematically collecting and sharing gender-disaggregated financing data is a crucial first step in making the financing gap visible and in addressing its underlying causes in a targeted way. ### Unequal access to capital In 2024, affiliated financiers, including BOM, provided €28.1 billion in capital. Of this, €3.86 billion went to female entrepreneurs, approximately 14 percent of the total. This contrasts with the fact that women make up around 38 percent of the entrepreneurial population. For a portion of financing applications, gender is not recorded, meaning the actual gap is likely even larger. Within BOM’s portfolio, around 11 percent of founders are women. This percentage has increased slightly but steadily in recent years. In management teams, there was an upward trend until 2024, but last year the share of women in management positions declined again, from 18 to 15 percent. For BOM, this is a reason to examine in more detail where this decline originates. BOM is doing so because inequality is not only a matter of representation. According to Code-V, closing the financing gap could generate up to €139 billion in additional economic value for the Netherlands annually. This points to significant untapped growth potential in the economy. ### A sourcing issue Notably, the gap does not primarily arise during the evaluation of applications, as shown by Code-V’s data. Women submit funding applications less frequently and request smaller amounts on average, while their applications are relatively often approved. > As investors, we need to ask ourselves whether we are looking in the right places and whether we are sufficiently connected to female entrepreneurs ###### Fransesca Rivello Brabant Development Agency (BOM) According to Francesca Rivello, Investment Manager at BOM, financiers should avoid automatically placing the responsibility for the problem on female entrepreneurs. “The fact that women apply for financing less often does not mean the problem lies with them. It is also a sourcing issue. As investors, we need to ask ourselves whether we are looking in the right places and whether we are sufficiently connected to female entrepreneurs.” According to her, this requires a more active role from investors within the ecosystem. By broadening the search for new propositions and being actively present in networks where female entrepreneurs are active, the inflow of companies can become more diverse. “And a broader deal flow increases the likelihood of finding strong companies and innovative technologies,” says Rivello. ### Taking a more conscious approach to investment decisions Within BOM, attention to this topic has grown in recent years. In addition to sourcing, BOM is also taking a critical look at the investment process itself. “The initial screening of propositions can sometimes happen quickly,” says Rivello. “That’s why it is important to sometimes take an extra moment of reflection when evaluating a female founder. Why are we saying no in this case? And could unconscious bias be playing a role?” > We are deliberately building a team with diverse backgrounds and perspectives and are proud of our international female colleagues. That mix helps to sharpen investment considerations and to better support entrepreneurs ###### Marc Jansen Brabant Development Agency (BOM) ## Learn more ![Francesca Rivello 25](https://d3d5gk1jdgmand.cloudfront.net/resized/employees/_500x500_crop_center-center_none_ns/130296/Francesca-Rivello-25.webp) ### Francesca Rivello Investment Manager - [ Phone ](tel:+31641266784) - [ Email ](mailto:frivello@bom.nl) - [ Chat via Teams ](https://teams.microsoft.com/l/chat/0/0?users=frivello@bom.nl) ![Marc Jansen 25](https://d3d5gk1jdgmand.cloudfront.net/resized/employees/_500x500_crop_center-center_none_ns/130432/Marc-Jansen-25.webp) ### Marc Jansen Managing Director Investments and member MT - [ Phone ](tel:+31652633676) - [ Email ](mailto:mjansen@bom.nl) - [ Chat via Teams ](https://teams.microsoft.com/l/chat/0/0?users=mjansen@bom.nl) Within its investment process, BOM works with diverse and international teams that assess founder teams as objectively as possible. According to Marc Jansen, Managing Director Investments at BOM, a mix of perspectives leads to better investment decisions. “We are deliberately building a team with diverse backgrounds and perspectives and are proud of our international female colleagues,” he says. “That mix helps to sharpen investment considerations and to better support entrepreneurs.” ### Role models in the ecosystem In addition to financing, visibility plays an important role in strengthening female entrepreneurship. Role models demonstrate that growth and innovation are not tied to a specific entrepreneurial profile. Such examples are already visible in Brabant. At Orbisk, for instance, Anastasia Dellis has been at the helm since the summer of 2025. Orbisk uses AI technology to drastically reduce food waste in professional kitchens. ### Female investors were essential Fiber Foods has two female founders, Inez van Oord and Ineke Aquarius. The company develops sustainable, plant-based ingredients derived from dried jackfruit, thereby contributing to a fairer and more future-proof food system. > It is no coincidence that our first two angel investors, and many of the investors who followed, were women. They brought a different kind of support: a high level of trust and often practical recognition of operational challenges, access to other networks, and relationships based on full transparency ###### Ineke Aquarius Fiber Foods Female investors were essential for Fiber Foods. “It is no coincidence that our first two angel investors, and many of the investors who followed, were women,” says Aquarius. “They brought a different kind of support: a high level of trust and often practical recognition of operational challenges, access to other networks, and relationships based on full transparency.” At the same time, the combination with male investors also offers clear added value, Aquarius emphasizes. “Their presence can provide additional visibility and status, and helps validate our potential in other, more traditionally male-dominated investment circles. Male investors sometimes speak a different language, with an emphasis on ambition and scale, which helps ensure our opportunities are also recognized within those networks.” ### More barriers According to Aquarius, this effect is even more pronounced in certain sectors. In industries such as the food and meat supply chain, female founders sometimes face more barriers in practice. In these contexts, the role of investors can extend beyond financing alone. “It helps us enormously that investors such as BOM and Peakbridge, who are well-versed in our industry, actively support our positioning within the sector,” says Aquarius. According to her, this combination of different perspectives is precisely what makes it powerful. “It ultimately strengthens our chances of success and illustrates why it is important for financiers not only to look at who the founder is, but also at who is part of the broader network and what role that diversity can play.” ### Different qualities in leadership The importance of different perspectives was also highlighted in a keynote by Eline van Beest, Operating Partner at Thuja Capital, during LEVEL UP 2025. She spoke about the balance between different leadership qualities. According to Van Beest, successful teams embody both decisiveness and reflection. She described this as a combination of masculine and feminine energy—qualities that, in her view, are present in every individual. > Strong teams combine different qualities. That combination enables companies to better cope with setbacks and to learn more quickly ###### Francesca Rivello Brabant Development Agency (BOM) The goal is masculine. Determining which direction to take in order to achieve that goal effectively is feminine, Van Beest said. While drive and decisiveness are needed to push forward, care, collaboration, and asking questions help to avoid blind spots and make more sustainable choices. For Rivello, this perspective aligns closely with how investors evaluate entrepreneurial teams. “Strong teams combine different qualities. That combination enables companies to better cope with setbacks and to learn more quickly.” ### Raising awareness within BOM Rivello is currently developing an internal workshop for the investment team, focusing on how BOM evaluates entrepreneurial teams and which qualities are given the most weight. In doing so, she draws on Van Beest’s perspective. The workshop is intended to support more critical reflection on investment decisions and potential blind spots. At the same time, BOM aims to better understand where the largest gap arises: at the stage when female entrepreneurs enter the pipeline, or later in the investment process. By explicitly examining both questions and more actively supporting female entrepreneurs, the organization aims to gradually contribute to a financing environment in which more entrepreneurs have the opportunity to grow their businesses. ![260316 BOM VROUWEN HR 001](https://d3d5gk1jdgmand.cloudfront.net/resized/_891xAUTO_crop_center-center_none_ns/136707/260316_BOM_VROUWEN_HR_001_2026-03-17-095657_dwkz.webp) ![Collage vrouwen BOM](https://d3d5gk1jdgmand.cloudfront.net/resized/_891xAUTO_crop_center-center_none_ns/136708/Collage-vrouwen-BOM_2026-03-17-095707_sbiz.webp)