More than 250 women entrepreneurs, business leaders and ambitious professionals will gather in Edinburgh this week to highlight the barriers they face in growing businesses.
This year’s Women on Top Summit is organised by egg, the platform founded by Kylie Reid that connects, champions and empowers women in business.
Women-led start-ups account for 54% of all new businesses in 2025 – a milestone shift – but 61% of those ventures still fail to progress beyond the start-up stage.
Despite outpacing male-led firms on turnover growth (29% versus 24%), women-led businesses still receive just 2.8% of equity investment and typically exit for 25% less than their male counterparts.
The day-long programme at the Assembly Rooms on Wednesday will feature talks and workshops.
The summit features women who’ve overcome these challenges to build successful businesses. Rachel Harris, named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 and winner of Accountancy Personality of the Year 2023, has built a £2 million accountancy practice whilst redefining what it means to be an accountant.
Pippa Murray transformed a kitchen blender experiment during marathon training into Pip & Nut, now stocked in over 7,000 stores with annual revenues exceeding £10 million.
Olivia Jenkins will share how she turned a lockdown Instagram side hustle into thriving jewellery brand D.Louise worth over £6 million in two years. The brand is named after her late mother and is now backed by Steve Hewitt, former CEO of Gymshark.
Marie Owen has spent nearly two decades building LS Productions into a global agency, producing campaigns featuring everyone from Harry Styles to SZA and Cristiano Ronaldo for brands including Netflix, Adidas and Ralph Lauren.
Lauren Currie from UPFRONT, whose mission is revolutionising confidence and visibility for 10 million women, joins Gilly Bain from multi-award-winning YOURGB, and leadership coach Jo Macsween, former MD of world-leading haggis brand Macsween.
“In Scotland, we’re seeing encouraging signs – women are starting more businesses and growing them faster than ever before,” says Kylie Reid, Founder of egg and organiser of the summit.
“But the statistics also show we still have brilliant women facing discrimination and struggling to access the funding and support they need.
“This summit is about addressing those gaps by creating the connections, confidence and visibility that can transform careers and businesses.”
Attendees will also be offered free childcare as part of making the summit as accessible and empowering as possible.
The summit is backed by Royal Bank of Scotland, FreeAgent, Niksen Property, Melville Independent, Orb Group and YOUR GB.
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