'Ask me anything': the entrepreneurial arena that's helping women-built businesses bloom

Every entrepreneur can reel off sombre statistics about the likeliness of a start-up failing, not least because their family and ex-colleagues probably frequently remind them of the odds. For women entrepreneurs, who secure just 3.5% of UK funding for start-ups, it’s even harder.

But that stat is being challenged by female founders of successful scale-ups who are sharing the secrets that helped them get over the early hurdles, via women-only entrepreneurial business networks.

“In the early stages of a start-up, you’re trying to be a jack of all trades,” says Kate Prince, founder of £10 million-a-year collagen brand Ancient + Brave. “You want to be resourceful but sometimes you hit a dead end, and you don’t have the time