‘I’ve never been more motivated in my life,” declared one female founder after returning to her business just two weeks after she gave birth.
Lottie Whyte, co-founder of MyoMaster, which makes equipment aimed at helping people recover more quickly from sports injuries, experienced a renewed sense of purpose for her business following the birth of her daughter in April.
“There is nothing that makes you wake up early in the morning with a belly full of fire than thinking about the life you want to give to your children. I have never felt more motivated in my entire life. I am so hungry for it because I’m looking down at this little girl’s face,” she said.
The number of female entrepreneurs has been declining. An annual survey of 7,800 businesses employing fewer than 250 people by the Department for Business and Trade found that in 2023 only 15 per cent were owned or led by women, down from 18 per cent in 2022 and 19 per cent in 2021. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of companies registered by women fell in eight of the ten largest cities in the UK. London had a decrease of 47 per cent in female founders and Bristol had a 57 per cent decrease, according to data from Instant Offices.
Among the challenges female founders can face is balancing childcare responsibilities or even thinking they can’t start a family while building their business. Yet many are managing to make it work and The Times spoke to three of them to find out how.
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Whyte, 36, started working on her company while on maternity leave with her first child. She said: “Maternity leave is incredibly monotonous. It can be very boring. For me, it was a way of staying interested or connected to the world in a time that was otherwise quite isolating.”
Early in MyoMaster’s journey, Whyte couldn’t afford to have help and was taking her son to events on her hip. “There was nowhere to breastfeed a baby. I was sitting in the dark in a conference room in the National Exhibition Centre [in Birmingham] because the lights wouldn’t come on, pumping my boobs whilst I was doing a trade show.”
Five years later, and MyoMaster has grown to more than £5 million in revenue, she is now able to pay for a nanny three days a week and pays her mother to mind her children on other days.
“Men that I come across in my industry, who are leading businesses, they either don’t have families or if they do, their wife either works less or they stay at home. They have this ability to walk out the door and give whatever they need to their business without worrying about a single other thing. It’s not quite the same for me, but that’s what a nanny has unlocked for me.
“It’s really important to stress that I didn’t have that for four years. I only have it now because I’ve had four years to grow the business, to make a bit more money. But now I swear to God, everything that is not useful for me, that is not going to either add value to the business or allow me to spend quality time with my children, I basically don’t do it. It sounds really spoilt and indulgent, but it’s not the best use of my time.”
‘I wasn’t expecting to start a business’
Whyte is not the only founder to use a nanny to help her manage. For the first year after becoming co-founder of Botivo, a non-alcoholic aperitif, Imme Ermgassen continued to work at her consultancy job while raising her twins with her husband. She found hiring a nanny was more cost-effective than paying for two nursery places.
“They were 22 months [old] when I joined. It wasn’t part of the plan. I wasn’t expecting to start a business or become a founder. I stumbled upon this product that I just really believed in, and fell in love with,” she says.
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To stay present when she is with her family, Ermgasson, 43, puts her phone in a lockbox from when she comes home until her children go to bed.
The “military preciseness” needed to raise twins has helped Ermgassen be more efficient with her company, which is stocked by the likes of Waitrose, Ocado, and had a collaboration with Ottolenghi. Yet she also admitted to an “overwhelming sense of guilt” about whether she is being a good mother and partner to her husband.
“I could be with my kids all the time but instead I’m working and losing money. But then you are creating different inspirations for your kids and you are showing them different kinds of values,” she said.
‘My third baby is the business’
Michelle Laithwaite, co-founder of Fuel Hub, a meal delivery company based in Warrington, advised female founders to be “ruthless” with their time.
On the day Fuel Hub launched in 2019, she got home from cooking the first 47 meals with her co-founder and husband, James, only to go into labour three weeks early.
Michelle Laithwaite, founder of Fuel Hub, a ready meal business based in Warrington
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Four days later, Laithwaite, 42, was back in Fuel hub’s unit with her son Stanley strapped to her. Stanley suffered from silent reflux and needed to be upright most of the time, so she found the arrangement worked well for keeping him happy. Her first son Alfie, was seven when the business started.
“Adrenaline was the thing that got me through,” Laithwaite said. “I had two things to bring to life: a child and my third baby, which was the business. So it was really tough.”
Stanley spent the first six months of his life coming to work with Laithwaite; now six years old, she said it is “all he’s ever known”.
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Although she sometimes feels she’s missed out on certain moments, she believes the benefits outweigh the sacrifices.
“You shouldn’t apologise for ambition. I think your children won’t resent you for it, they’ll be proud of the example you set,” Laithwaite said.
There are some other benefits the business gives her son. Fuel Hub delivers 15,000 meals a week across the country, including 50 elite sports teams such as Fulham, Chelsea and England Rugby.
“Alfie will be a fully fledged teenager soon,” she said. “You can imagine going to speak to your mates and saying, ‘My mum’s got this premium meal prep company and we deal with the likes of Man United, Man City and Fulham. And Eddie Hearn’s an ambassador.’ For him, it’s pretty cool.”
Her sons have busy schedules, with Alfie having ambitions to become a pilot and Stanley attending football training four nights a week. Laithwaite relies on her family to help with the pressures, but doesn’t hire any help.
“Don’t believe the stuff on Instagram,” Laithwaite said. “Accept that there’s no such thing as a perfect balance, you just need to be fully present in whichever role you’re in at the moment, whether it’s CEO, the mother, the wife, or all at the same time.”
