A major summit for Scotland’s women in business is to return to Glasgow after a sell—out first event.
The 2025 Scottish Growth Summit – organised by three female entrepreneurs from the west of Scotland – will be held on 23 April at The Studio, Glasgow.
The event is designed for female business owners who are ready to grow and scale their businesses and will be packed with inspirational speakers, expert-led workshops, insightful panel discussions, and interactive expert pod sessions for business owners across Scotland.
The team behind the Scottish Growth Summit are Laura Maginess, creator of one of Scotland’s largest all-female communities, The Glasglow Girls Club; growth strategy expert and Director of Clarity Consultants Heather Offord; and founder of Star Consultancy, Clare Baillie, who together have decades of combined business expertise focused around supporting female entrepreneurs.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report*, compiled last year by the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Strathclyde, found that, for the first time, women are starting and running new businesses at virtually the same rate as men in Scotland.
However, the research also noted that a panel of experts judged the context for entrepreneurship in Scotland to be generally mediocre, with the level of support for women’s entrepreneurship evaluated as less than satisfactory, scoring under three out of ten.
Organiser Heather Offord, Director of Clarity Consultants, said: “Women in Scotland are starting as many businesses as men these days which is fantastic to hear……but the landscape for females in business, and the support available, still needs to drastically improve. Women are brilliant at joining forces to help and encourage each other and that’s what this event is designed to achieve, but we also want to use our voices to create lasting change so that female entrepreneurs are given the best possible chance to succeed.
“Having more thriving female entrepreneurs and women-led businesses not only benefits the owners, customers, suppliers and partners of that business, but also massively boosts the wider Scottish economy.”
The Scottish Growth Summit has been designed for women at all stages of business, from startups to established ventures, and the event promises actionable insights for every participant and has an aim to support women in business with a growth mindset and actionable takeaways to implement into their businesses and careers right away.
The event will be hosted by Claire Nelson, Managing Director of Netball Super League, who is a global industry award winning leader recognised as one of the most impactful and influential women in UK women’s sport. Joining Claire is keynote speaker and founder of the Thriving Survivors charity, Ashley Scotland.
Key features of the event include talks, workshops, mini panel sessions, expert pods, networking opportunities and lots more.
Laura Maginess, founder of Glasglow Girls Club which has over 48,000 online members, said: “Last year’s event was a roaring success and it was incredible to have so many female entrepreneurs in one place, encouraging each other, sharing knowledge, and giving one another a huge energy boost. This year we’re building on that even further to create an event that will inspire and educate everyone who comes along to get out there, take action and really make the most of their chance to grow an impactful and successful business.”
Clare Baillie, from Star Consultancy, added: “This is going to be fantastic event that so many women will benefit from…..and The Scottish Growth Summit is also a wider movement, committed to supporting female entrepreneurs in Scotland over the long-term. We very much look forward to taking another step towards that vision on 23 April and can’t wait to see everyone there and feel the energy in the room once again.”
For more information visit https://www.scottishgrowthsummit.co.uk/
