HSBC Private Banking Steps Up Female Entrepreneurship Support

Editorial Staff

15 November 2019

in Hong Kong is partnering with AllBright, the women’s organisation, to raise awareness over the needs of female entrepreneurs.

This week the bank hosted a “pop-up” event with the group, involving courses on business practices, investor workshops and a day of pitching business ideas. The event focused on helping, coaching and mentoring female entrepreneurs, and giving them access to HSBC’s global network.

A number of entrepreneurs in Hong Kong pitched their business to angel investors, high net worth individuals and business leaders.

“The highly competitive entrepreneurial environment in Hong Kong has produced many successful female entrepreneurs. We believe the event has helped strengthen confidence in the female entrepreneur community, and represents a move in the right direction for the industry and investment landscape in Hong Kong,” Siew Meng Tan, regional head, HSBC Private Banking, Asia-Pacific, said.

HSBC’s recent “She’s the Business” survey showed that while Hong Kong has the highest proportion of gender balanced investor panels compared with other markets at 81 per cent of all panels, 31 per cent of female entrepreneurs in Hong Kong said they have experienced gender bias when securing capital.

Furthermore, women face a long wait for raising capital, averaging 9.7 months, the report said. The report was carried out between June and July this year and drew responses from more than 1,200 entrepreneurs in eight markets. The respondents were a) major shareholders and active decision makers in a privately owned business, and b) those who had secured or are in the process of securing £100,000 capital, excluding self-funding or via friends and family. The research covered mainland China, France, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the UK, the United Arab Emirates, and the US.