Young adults more likely to start a business than older generations
Gen Z and millennial women in the UK are more likely than previous generations to want to start their own business, according to research commissioned by Mastercard ahead of International Women’s Day 2025.
63% of Gen Z women in the UK and 58% of millennial women have considered running their own business compared with 37% of Gen X and 24% of Baby Boomers, the data shows.
Asked about their motivations, 67% of millennials and 57% of Gen Z cited the desire to earn more money as the top reason. Other motivations that scored highly for young women include the need to achieve a better work-life balance (47% of millennial women) and wanting to pursue their passion (32% of Gen Z women).
Gen Z women are most likely to want to start a business in cosmetics or beauty (19%) and childcare (15%), while millennial women favour online selling (18%) and food and drink (14%).
However, there are still barriers in place for existing and would-be female entrepreneurs. Women who have already founded a business are more likely than men to say that it’s hard to balance caring for dependents with work (36% vs. 25%), that they struggle to switch off from work on holiday (47% vs. 41%), and that they don’t have a good work-life balance (36% vs. 14%).
Across the UK, women are also less likely than men to say they feel confident with general business-related skills – particularly financial decision making (27% vs. 40%), networking (22% vs. 33%) and public speaking (23% vs. 32%).
This sentiment extends into running their own business. Risk of failure (31%) and lack of confidence (30%) are the most cited barriers for women when it comes to setting up their own business (vs. 21% of men).
To improve their confidence, younger women are more likely to want a support network such as a mentor (23% of Gen Z and 25% of millennials vs. 19% Gen X and 16% Baby Boomers). Gen Z women are also twice as likely to want a business partner than Gen X (28% vs. 14%).
Payal Dalal, executive vice president, Global Programmes, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, said: “It is interesting and encouraging to see so many Gen Z and millennial women in the UK wanting to start their own business. It is good for women, good for business, and good for the UK economy. We know that starting your own business is one of the hardest things you can do and it is important that we understand where the challenges lie and address them through tailored and accessible initiatives. This is how our Mastercard Strive programme was born and it has already helped more than 500,000 female entrepreneurs in the UK.”
Case study: Zara Street, 33, is a young female founder from the UK. She started her business, Keep it Bright, when she was just 15 – running it from her bedroom in her hometown of Manchester. It started as a hobby and a way for her to spread positive, uplifting messages to others through clothing, jewellery and art. Despite initial challenges around funding and a lack of mentorship, her business has gone from strength to strength, with Zara winning awards for her work, as well as having her designs worn by several A-list celebrities including Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Ed Sheeran.
Zara Street, founder of Keep it Bright, said:“I grew up with very little and knew from a young age that I wanted to be my own boss and start my own business – to turn my passion for creativity and positive thinking into something others can benefit from.
“Funding was one of my biggest challenges when I first started my business 18 years ago. I would have to make something and sell it to have money to make the next thing, which was a slow process.
“I would have been very grateful for more opportunities for mentorship and business advice. Before social media there were very few entrepreneurs who looked like me that I was aware of. More advice, support and access to role models or other entrepreneurs would make a huge difference to continue to inspire younger generations to start their own businesses.”
Zara benefited from support from Mastercard’s Strive programme in the UK which has reached more than one million small UK businesses, more than half of which are led by women. Businesses supported by Strive in the UK reported increased expectations for business growth (65%), increased capacity to adapt new digital tools (68%) and increased productivity (66%).