By Jackie Waring

A two-day celebration of female entrepreneurship begins this morning at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh when Investing Women stages its inaugural Ambition & Growth Conference.

As Scotland’s only female angel investment group, Investing Women is bringing together successful women who are high net-worth individuals, established entrepreneurs and others who have worked in senior, well-remunerated positions in the public and private sectors.

It is fitting our first conference extends through to International Women’s Day tomorrow and, by then, we will know the winner of our £18,000 AccelerateHer pitching competition after the result is announced this evening at a Scottish Government hosted dinner in Edinburgh Castle.

We are delighted keynote speaker Susan Preston has travelled from her Seattle base and the 200-plus delegates at the Standard Life-sponsored event will learn a great deal from the founder of the world’s first female angel group. Susan Preston has done much to advance the participation of female investors and to promote their own unique skill-set they bring to the boardroom. In the past 10 years the once handful of women-focussed investor groups in the United States has grown to more than 30.

But here in Scotland we have some way to go if we are to emulate the level of female angel investment enjoyed in the US, where one angel investor in four is a woman. In Scotland the female representation amongst our estimated 1,200 angel investors is nearer one in 20 but it is Investing Women’s aim to challenge that status quo over the coming years.

Having more women angels in Scotland is an opportunity for business, the economy and for women. Recent research on the impact of angel investment showed that, for every £1 invested, £14 in turnover has been generated into the Scottish economy, equating to £1.3 billion. Given that £44m was invested in Scotland last year, if we were to equal US levels of female investors, the additional investment could be worth £140m a year to the economy. To get anywhere near male parity it will take time and hard work but we must strive to close that gap over the next five years.

There is often some mystery surrounding angel investment and this could be a factor in deterring more women from joining our ranks. Many are high net-worth individuals but you do not have to be a multi-millionaire. Our central "more-than-the-money" ethos is to provide mentoring and support to new-start and early growth businesses. That is as important as any financial contribution. Indeed, some of our angels have chosen to invest their time and experience in mentoring and sharing their hard-earned experience over their hard-earned cash. This is invaluable to less experienced entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs on our education programmes, Pitch Practice and A Day With The Angels, have benefitted from Scottish Government support and, in the past 20 months, we have reached out to 1,000 emerging entrepreneurs and potential angels. These days feature a mix of angels and entrepreneurs sharing real-life experience to provide mutual learning. This allows people to understand the investment process and to evaluate if angel investment is the right thing for them.

Understanding risk is key for both sides in any angel transaction. Everyone has their own perception of risk and tolerance level. While some will decide it’s not for them, many women find becoming an angel an attractive proposition and discover that their money could be working harder for them, particularly with the Government’s tax incentives mitigating investment risk.

Angel investment is described as “patient money” and no sensible investor is in this for fast returns. Our dynamic is to promote parity over power and our experienced angels are motivated by nourishing and developing the massive bank of female talent that is out there. The quality and huge response rate is demonstrated by the 100-plus entrants in our Chiene + Tait supported AccelerateHer pitch competition.

Scotland has a well-established and respected angel community and founding groups such as Archangels Investors have paved the way for Investing Women and others. We are delighted to take our place in this vibrant and important sector of the Scottish economy and we will work hard to increase female angel representation and support female entrepreneurs in Scotland.

Jackie Waring is chief executive officer of Investing Women Angels.