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Rachel Reeves has appointed Alex Depledge, a champion of feminine start-ups, because the UK Treasury’s first entrepreneurship adviser, because the chancellor tries to enhance her authorities’s relationship with high-growth corporations.
Depledge, who has arrange a variety of companies together with the architectural tech firm Resi, will work two days per week on the Treasury, serving to to develop insurance policies to spice up start-ups forward of the Autumn Funds.
Reeves’ allies admit that whereas the Treasury has well-established contacts with large corporations, the Metropolis of London and commerce our bodies, it wants to enhance its hyperlinks with the nation’s smaller however fast-growing companies.
Depledge has additionally spoken about the necessity to discover new sources of funding to assist corporations scale up, telling the Monetary Occasions final yr that this was notably an issue for feminine entrepreneurs.
“Funding is the one factor that issues,” Depledge mentioned. “Girls don’t wrestle to begin a enterprise, they wrestle to develop. We’re not defending the one a part of the UK economic system that has inexperienced shoots.”
A scarcity of entry to finance is without doubt one of the key points being thought of by Reeves forward of her Mansion Home speech within the Metropolis of London subsequent month and in her Funds later within the yr.
The Treasury mentioned Depledge would have a look at “the important thing obstacles confronted by companies searching for to begin up or scale up within the UK”.
Depledge instructed the FT final yr that ladies typically run companies in sectors that don’t naturally entice large funding from personal fairness and enterprise capital.
She launched Reeves forward of her speech to Labour’s celebration convention final September, saying the chancellor was a “wrecking ball” to the glass ceiling after turning into the primary girl to carry the function.
Reeves mentioned on Wednesday: “We’ve an extended record of profitable start-ups, scale-ups and small companies throughout the UK — with the best density of scale-ups among the many seven main industrial nations within the G7.
“Having Alex on the crew will convey invaluable experience.” Reeves’ allies mentioned Depledge could be a degree of contact within the Treasury for entrepreneurs.
The Bradford-born entrepreneur mentioned she could be taking over a job that represented “a groundbreaking transfer that places high-growth companies on the coronary heart of financial considering”.
