International Women’s Day 2026: Open Doors Week for Women Founders

Every year, International Women’s Day invites us to pause and ask what progress really looks like.

This year’s theme, Give to Gain, feels especially relevant for women founders. Because while ambition and ideas are never in short supply, access still too often is.

At Virgin StartUp, we work alongside women founders every day, supporting them through the questions, decisions and moments that matter.

We see first-hand how access to the right advice and mentorship can build confidence and drive action at the right moments in their founder journey.

That’s why, for International Women’s Day 2026, we’re launching Open Doors: Women Founders Week.

Why Open Doors?

Women founders don’t lack capability or ambition. They face barriers to access.

Access to the right conversation at the right moment — whether that’s advice on funding, a second opinion on a decision, or reassurance that you’re asking the right questions — can shape the future of a business.

Virgin StartUp’s Community exists to make those moments easier to reach. Open Doors takes it one step further.

It’s about opening up doors for women founders to ask questions, share challenges and move forward with confidence, supported by people who want to help hold those doors open.

What’s happening during Open Doors: Women Founders Week?

Running from 2nd - 6th March 2026, Open Doors is designed to support women founders in the UK at every stage, from aspiring founders to those scaling established businesses.

Across the week, we’ll be opening up:

Ask the Business Advisors

Drop-ins with Start Up Loan Business Advisors, offering quick, practical guidance on funding, planning and next steps. These sessions are open to anyone who joins the Open Doors women founders space within our Community.

Ask Me Anything Sessions

Group mentoring sessions hosted by senior leaders and experts creating space for open conversation and shared learning. Participants can submit questions in advance to keep discussions meaningful.

Premium Mentoring with Virgin Leaders

For founders looking to go deeper, we’re opening up a limited number of 1:1 mentoring sessions with Virgin leaders and mentors. These sessions are application-only, allocated via a random selection process, and available to Premium Community members.

We’re offering a two-week free Premium trial as a part of Open Doors, so women founders can explore this level of support at no cost. This free trial is no longer available, after the end of the Open Doors campaign.

Funding and Founder Resources

Alongside the conversations, we’ll be hosting a funding webinar with the Start Up Loans team and an email and SMS marketing workshop with Mailchimp.

Plus, we’ll be sharing practical founder resources to support learning beyond the week itself.

Our commitment to women founders Open Doors builds on Virgin StartUp’s 50:50 funding pledge, which commits us to ensuring equal access to funding for women founders.

Open Doors is about extending that commitment and making support easier to reach.

Who Open Doors is for

If you’re a woman founder (or thinking about starting a business) Open Doors is for you.

You don’t need a perfect pitch. You don’t need to have everything figured out. You just need space to ask the questions that matter.

And while women founders are at the centre of this week, allyship matters too. Open Doors brings together advisors, leaders and mentors from across the Virgin family and beyond. People committed to sharing expertise and supporting progress.

Join us for Open Doors

International Women’s Day is about more than celebration. It’s about recognising that barriers still exist and taking action. Open Doors: Women Founders Week is our way of turning commitment into practice by opening access, sharing expertise and backing women founders to move forward.

You can take part by joining the Virgin StartUp Community and accessing the Open Doors women founders space.

Because when doors are open, more women founders can walk through them.