With nearly half of UK mums saying they admire entrepreneurial businesswomen like Michelle Mone, Karren Brady and Liz Earle, APS financial unveils the barriers Mumpreneurs believe are stopping them from becoming the next ‘Baroness Bra’.

Half (52 per cent) of the 1,500 UK mums polled by APS financial say the top three reasons for not starting a business were:

• It seemed like too big of a risk (47 per cent)
• Not knowing how to get started (43 per cent)
• The admin and financial aspects involved (35 per cent)

Meanwhile, those who currently own a business (23 per cent) and previously owned a business (25 per cent) named the top challenges they faced when they set up shop:

• Having enough time to do everything (40 per cent)
• Managing the business while raising children (29 per cent)
• The amount of red tape they went through as a start-up (29 per cent)
• Finding a bank who’d support them financially (22 per cent)

These Mumpreneurs also find financial service providers as being far from flexible:

• Two fifths (41 per cent) say that the process of setting up a business bank account had taken longer than expected
• A third (38 per cent) thought it had been a ‘long and slow’ process
• Another third (38 per cent) find the rates and fees were not transparent enough.

Worryingly, more than one in ten British Mumpreneurs (12 per cent) admit they had shut down their businesses due to lengthy admin tasks such as sorting out tax returns, talking to their bank, and, problems with keeping track of business costs and expenses.

Perceived costs of establishing a dream business were also dramatically different from the reality, indicating education about start up fees could be far better. While more than a third of those who’d gone it alone had invested up to £1,000 (36 per cent), most of those who’d held back thought an investment of between £10,000 – £50,000 was necessary (23 per cent).

APS financial offers small businesses the chance to get their digital, current accounts up and running within 6 minutes of starting their application. Businesses are provided with a personalised account number and sort code once the account has been approved, helping to get them trading faster.

This is in stark contrast to research commissioned by APS financial previously, which reveals that 15 per cent of UK small businesses had to wait more than 26 days before they were granted access to their business bank account.

Related: A mumpreneur’s account of flexible working and its benefits

APS financial prides itself on providing one of the fastest, easiest platforms to set up a business account in the UK and has helped nearly 80,000 start-ups and small businesses, including nearly a quarter of female entrepreneurs, over the past five years.

APS financial also provides businesses access to finance through a suite of credit products and overdrafts, lending up to £2,000, if eligible, which can help fund the cost of starting up a business.

CEO Rich Wagner says, ‘We should be empowering all small businesses, but especially mothers working to set up a business to thrive in our economy by offering fast, easy ways to open up bank accounts and manage cashflow, not throwing up barriers.

‘It is worrying to think that it is fears about admin and financial hassle that stops entrepreneurial mothers going it alone and our experience shows that grassroots entrepreneurs don’t need traditional banks to ‘bank’.’

Also see: Mum’s the word: UK professionals rely on mum for job advice