Ana Stewart’s Pathways Pledge, an independent initiative where companies sign up to specific actions aimed at driving diversity, equal opportunity and female participation in entrepreneurship and business, has launched its seventh cohort – with Glasgow School of Art, Maven Capital Partners, BTO, and Nile joining a Pledge community that now totals over 40 organisations.

Ana Stewart, Chair of Pathways Forward, said: “The seventh cohort launch demonstrates the growing influence and impact of the Pledge initiative. It brings together a diverse group of organisations to collaborate and deliver new, measurable and additive initiatives to existing strategies.  It’s great to see both internal and external facing pledges which will be tracked and monitored over a twelve month period. We’re excited to welcome the latest cohort and look forward to connecting them to our Pledge community.”

Pledges being committed to by the latest cohort include Glasgow School of Art setting up a cross-disciplinary creative network, Maven launching a survey of female founders and leaders, BTO initiating diversity and equality training for all senior leaders within the firm, and Nile will engage in anti-bias training, workshops and hackathons.

Ruth Cochrane, Head of Future Skills at Glasgow School of Art, said: “GSA is joining the Pathways Pledge as part of our Entrepreneurial Campus ambitions.  We want to help reshape how entrepreneurship is understood and accessed within the creative economy, recognising that our diverse community has significant untapped potential.”

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Lorna Kelly, Strategic Development Director at Maven Capital Partners, said: “Maven is committed to supporting diversity in access to finance and the Pathways Pledge closely aligns with our commitment to increase investment opportunities and support women-led businesses.  We aim to strengthen engagement with female founders, help to foster a more inclusive business ecosystem and encourage greater knowledge and confidence in approaching investors.”

In March, analysis by the ScaleUp Institute in partnership with Pathways Forward revealed that while the growth of female founded and co-founded Scottish scaleups is outpacing the UK national average, challenges remain in areas including access to investment, talent, and support.  The research also identified 139 female-founded scaleups in Scotland, businesses generating in excess of £10 million in revenue or £5 million in assets, collectively generating £1.5 billion and employing over 16,000 people.

In addition, Pathways Forward is pleased to be supporting a new Pledge collaboration between Venture Café and Scottish EDGE,  – focusing on the engagement between the investment community and female entrepreneurs Funding That Fits: A Night for Female Founders, Funders, and Investors event will be held at Edinburgh Futures Institute on 28th May.