NATWEST has teamed up with the company behind Facebook and Instagram to offer training and support to female business owners.

The UK's biggest business bank has partnered with Meta to create a new campaign which runs until May 19  and gives 50 female entrepreneurs the chance to win Meta advertising credits, one-to-one digital mentorship and support to build a creative advertising campaign, as well as NatWest coaching and peer-to-peer sessions.

Winners will be announced in June and judges will be looking for ways that the women go above and beyond to achieve in business.

This news of support comes as NatWest and Getty Images launch a virtual gallery of pioneering female business owners from across the UK. The Female Focus collection is an attempt to challenge the narrow view of women in business.

This is the second year of the project and the photos exhibited are of 30 competition winners from across the UK, including a martial arts business owner, a farmer and a construction company entrepreneur.

NatWest and Meta's partnership builds on both companies' strong track records on supporting women in business, with NatWest ringfencing £2 billion for investment in female businesses, teaching 56,000 16-18-year-old girls entrepreneurial skills in 2021 and aiming for half of its accelerator hub spaces to go to women.

Meta launched #SheMeansBusiness six years ago as a long-term commitment to support women’s economic empowerment. To date, the programme has supported more than 1.5 million women around the world in 33 markets.

NatWest Group's head of enterprise Julie Baker said: “More women than ever are starting up businesses and we must harness this potential.

"The latest Rose Review progress report showed that women are starting more businesses than ever: last year 140,000 new businesses were founded by women compared to 56,000 in 2019.

"Supporting women to build their companies is a key next step and it’s great news that NatWest and Meta have partnered to offer all-female entrepreneurs tuition and networking, and a lucky fifty women business owners an even bigger boost to their companies.

“We know that the images of women in business used by the media leaves much to be desired. That’s why Getty Images and NatWest’s project to smash stereotypes by exhibiting pictures of women in different industries is so refreshing. Get inspired and give the metaverse gallery a visit.”