Last week, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce network and Women’s Enterprise Scotland launched a major new partnership aimed at creating an environment where women-led businesses can start up and more women run businesses can grow. The Women’s Business Mentoring partnership has been backed by some of Scotland’s most iconic women entrepreneurs such as Marie Macklin CBE of Macklin Partnerships, Poonam Gupta OBE of PG Paper, Petra Wetzel of WEST Brewery, and Jeanette Forbes of PCL Group. This exciting and innovative programme will match Scotland’s exceptionally talented female business leaders with the next wave of new women-led businesses to deliver a lasting boost to an underdeveloped resource, and will assist in developing a diverse and inclusive business community where everyone can prosper.

Chambers of Commerce in Scotland have long been associated with a wide range of effective business mentoring initiatives and this one is hitting the ground at the right time. Why do I say this? Quite simply we need to boost our economy. There is plenty of scope to grow Scotland’s businesses in terms of their number and scale, and this is particularly true of women-led businesses. There is an abundance of untapped talent and we aim to unlock it.

Research shows that if levels of female entrepreneurial activity in the UK increased to match those of our male colleagues, the UK economy could be boosted by over £180 billion by 2025. In Scotland alone, the economic impact could be as much as £7.6 billion. To put that into context, that level of growth would come very close to mitigating the estimated £8 billion economic impact of Brexit in Scotland. Research also shows that by creating and supporting diverse and mixed gender boards and teams, those companies grow faster with increased profitability.

Scotland is fortunate to have a range of highly influential female and male business leaders, many of whom are keen to share their experience, particularly focussing on new and growing businesses. The Chambers of Commerce have already proven the benefit and value of connecting B2B Business Mentoring. This partnership will enable us to work with more businesses who have that ambition and vision. We will be joined by even more of our successful women business leaders all of whom simply want to give back to Scotland – what a powerful driver.

Liz Cameron is chief executive of Scottish Chambers of Commerce