Rethinking Capital: What I Learned About Investment, Women and the System
Women led businesses face an investment culture that has not yet learned how to speak to them.
I used to have what I can only describe as an allergic reaction to the investment world. I assumed it was because either I or my business was not good enough to be in that arena. This year’s Savvitas White Paper, Rethinking Capital, helped me realise that the problem is not women feeling or being “not enough”. It is an investment culture that still has not learned how to speak to us.
https://www.savvitas.com/reports-thought-leadership/savvitas-wbw-rethinking-capital-white-paper-2025
Walking into the House of Lords for Women’s Entrepreneurship Day the same week, I carried that realisation with me. The MP HERoes Autumn Summit brought together founders, MPs, Peers and business leaders from across the UK during Global Entrepreneurship Week. It was a room full of extraordinary women, each with their own story of building, leading and navigating barriers, and it made the insights from the White Paper feel even more urgent.
For years, every time I considered the investment route or found myself in conversation with people from that world, something in me recoiled. I felt misaligned, out of place, and I always blamed myself. I told myself it was because I had not built a big enough business yet, or because I did not speak the right language, or because I simply did not fit the mould.
What the Rethinking Capital White Paper made clear is that the mould itself is the issue, not the women who do not fit it. The paper articulates what so many of us have quietly internalised. That the dominant narratives, assumptions and expectations within the investment ecosystem are built around norms that do not reflect the realities or motivations of most women founders. When the language of capital does not match your experience, of course you feel like the outsider. That feeling is not insecurity. It is information.
I have built my business by bootstrapping, not because of a lack of ambition, but because every time I explored the world of investment, it felt like stepping into someone else’s story. The expectations, the language, the markers of credibility, even the way success was framed, none of it connected with the way I build, lead or make decisions.
For years, I interpreted that disconnect as a personal failing. I thought I was not ready, or my business was not big enough, or I did not think in the right way. But the White Paper shows that this is an experience shared by far too many women to be a coincidence. When you are asked to contort yourself to fit an investment narrative that does not reflect your values, your model or your lived reality, you do not feel inspired. You feel alienated.
And that is exactly what I felt. Not fear. Not lack of confidence. Just a deep sense of misalignment.
What I understand now is that my so-called allergic reaction was actually a signal. A sign that my instincts, my model and my leadership style simply sit outside the traditional investment narrative. And that this is not a weakness. For women like me, investing in resilience, recurring revenue, relationships and community impact is not a lesser strategy. It is a different one.
Franchising and the Female Narrative
This is not just a personal experience. This is something I see across women led businesses in franchising too. The sector is dominated by the same male narrative the White Paper describes. A narrow view of ambition, growth and credibility. A preference for uniformity, rapid scale and performance metrics that often overlook the human foundations of sustainable businesses.
Domestic Angels was built from a different place entirely. We choose the feminine narrative. One that values flexibility, care, community impact and long term sustainability. And we operate that way even when the wider industry pushes businesses like ours to conform.
The irony is that the very models often dismissed as “lifestyle” or “soft” are the ones delivering stronger returns.
What the Ecosystem Is Missing
Because here is what the ecosystem is missing.
Women are already building the kinds of businesses the future needs.
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Businesses that strengthen communities
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Businesses built on trust, repeat revenue and long term value
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Businesses that create employment where it matters most
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Businesses that embed wellbeing into their design
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Businesses that scale sustainably rather than aggressively
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As the White Paper makes clear, across global markets, women led enterprises deliver higher returns on invested capital, greater capital efficiency and stronger long term performance than male led firms.
Source: Savvitas Rethinking Capital White Paper 2025
https://www.savvitas.com/reports-thought-leadership/savvitas-wbw-rethinking-capital-white-paper-2025
And we are doing it despite the system, not because of it.
A Hope for What Comes Next
My hope and expectation is that the momentum we saw at the House of Lords continues to build. That conversations like the MP HERoes Summit help reshape how we think about growth, ambition and capital. That women’s enterprise is not spoken about as a niche category or a diversity initiative, but as a core contributor to economic resilience in the UK.
Women do not need to become more like the system to succeed.
The system needs to become better at recognising the way women already lead.
And for the first time in my career as a business leader, I am looking forward to meeting an investor who speaks to me.
If you would like to learn more about the Domestic Angels franchise and our people-first approach to business growth, you can explore our franchise opportunities here 🌐 : franchise.domestic-angels.com
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👉 Learn more about franchising with Domestic Angels at the British Franchise Association
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