FWB Joins Latest Pathways Pledge Cohort to Advance Women’s Entrepreneurship

FWB is proud to join the sixth cohort of the Pathways Pledge, an initiative created by Pathways Forward in response to the Scottish Government-commissioned Pathways: A New Approach for Women in Entrepreneurship report. The pledge aims to dramatically increase women’s participation in the entrepreneurial economy.

Alongside cohort members Burness Paull, Investing Women Angels, and Cazenove Capital, FWB has made two pledges to drive meaningful change for women in business. This cohort brings the total number of signatories to 36, representing a wide range of sectors and industries.

FWB’s pledges are rooted in our long-standing commitment to gender equality and inclusive leadership. As a female-founded firm, we’ve championed women in leadership for over 30 years — including co-founding the Executive Women in Leadership Programme with the University of Edinburgh Business School.

Jamie Brown, Director at FWB, said:

“Promoting women in leadership and supporting women entrepreneurs has been part of the fabric of FWB for over 30 years, not least because we are female-founded ourselves. Our Co-Founder Judy Wagner was indeed part of the Scottish Government Commission’s Women in Enterprise Review, which led to the genesis of the Pathways Report itself.

We are proud to make these pledges as part of our ongoing commitment to increasing gender equality. We are in an extremely privileged position with regards to the advice that we provide our clients, our access to diverse talent and the impact that we can have, and these pledges hope to improve our ability to do that.

Our first pledge will be the establishment of a future leader’s network of women across Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, with a series of events held in each city with a panel of speakers. The second will be the introduction of a client-specific diversity review that we will offer all of our clients at the conclusion of a process to recommend improvements in ensuring EDI is at the heart of their hiring policies. This complimentary service will be a tangible way to measure the advice we provide on gender diversity and the impact on organisations.

We are excited to be part of this and look forward to measuring our future impact.”

Pathways founder Ana Stewart, Scotland’s Chief Entrepreneur and partner at investment firm Eos, commented:

“We are excited to welcome our latest cohort and follow their progress over the next twelve months. It’s great to see so many organisations collaborating to drive impact and to shift the dial for women in business.”

FWB looks forward to contributing to the Pathways community and supporting the broader ecosystem through initiatives like the Female Founders Growth Summit, which recently welcomed 300 founders and investors from across the UK.

Read the full press release here.