Why aren't there more woman business angels?

I'll let Sally Goodsell pick this one up. She's the CEO of Finance South East, which is a funding organisation that invests in around 85 new business each year, many of which are owned or part-owned by female entrepreneurs.

Here are edited excerpts from a speech that she made at a recent seminar called Women Investing In Women:

"First a couple of statistics. Of the UK's millionaires under the age of 45, there are more women than men. Within the next ten years, 55 per cent of the world's worth will be concentrated in the hands of women.

"We run a business angel network with around 150 active members and, when I look around the room, I see very few women. In fact, we have only 5 female business angels. This is reflected nationally - 95 per cent of British angels are men. So, why aren't there more women investors? They have the wealth and the motivation, so perhaps women aren't aware of the possibility of becoming a private investor; it is not culturally or traditionally something that women have done."

Sally and her team are starting a series of training programmes for women who are interested in becoming business angels. The expectation is that they'll invest in all sorts of profitable companies, but that they will have a particular empathy for female-orientated products (hmm, sounds a bit like a euphemism for tampons but I am sure that it's meant much more broadly).