New Partnership with Harper Macleod

We're excited to announced a new strategic partnership with Harper Macleod, one of Scotland's leading full-service law firms, to deliver practical, targeted support to women-led businesses across Scotland.

As part of the partnership, Harper Macleod becomes the Founding Strategic Partner of the Women's Business Centre, the free digital platform launched by WES in 2020 to support women from the pre-start-up and start-up stage of their business journey through to growth. 

The partnership will see Harper Macleod provide direct legal expertise to WES members, with a particular focus on three critical growth stages:

• raising investment,

• planning an exit or succession,

• and employee strategies.

The firm will support the WES community through a range of communications, events and roundtables, bringing specialist legal knowledge directly to the women who need it most.

Harper Macleod’s Corporate team brings an all-female entrepreneurial team to the partnership.

Amy Mackenzie, Partner in the Corporate team at Harper Macleod, said:

"Supporting businesses of all types at every stage of their lifecycle is central to what we do at Harper Macleod. That includes early stage founders, scaling companies and those seeking investment in highly competitive markets. We have particular expertise in working with women-led businesses and understand the additional structural challenges they can face when seeking investment in what has traditionally been a male-dominated environment. By recognising these barriers and providing clear, commercial advice, we help women founders and investors navigate the process with confidence."

 Carolyn Currie MBE, CEO of Women’s Enterprise Scotland, said:

"Women-led businesses in Scotland are ambitious, investable and ready to scale — but too often they hit barriers when it comes to legal and financial complexity. This partnership with Harper Macleod puts the vital expertise directly in front of women business owners when they need it most.”

Our recent research revealed that experiences of discrimination by women business owners have doubled from 34% in 2016 to 68% in 2025. Data from the recent longitudinal Small Business Survey[1] shows women-led employer businesses have dropped from 20% to just 16% in a single year.  Women-led businesses receive just 1.3% in equity investment.

Carolyn Currie concluded;

“We are delighted to have formed this partnership with Harper Macleod. It is a significant milestone in our mission to create a robust ecosystem of support for female founders and entrepreneurs at every stage of their business journey.”

[1] Longitudinal Small Business Survey 2024: SME employers (businesses with 1 to 249 employees), UK Government Department for Business & Trade (September 2025)