Putting women in a position to lead (and make businesses more money)

"We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women's voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored."

-  Sheryl Sandberg

For the majority of my career, I found myself the only female at the table.  It had to do with the segments I have chosen to delve in. As an Israeli women I was active in Economic Cooperation with the Arab World in the 90s and early 2000s.  Later on, I emerged in the finance sector and Private Equity disruptive funds where there are fewer female actors.  More recently, as I was invited to join YPO, I was the only female member of my forum. I just got used to this phenomenon. Being the sole female voice around the table. However, I did not consider myself a ‘female’ voice, rather an equal member of the group.  

As I reflect back, there were plenty of invitations to join female leadership groups such as International Women’s forum  which bring together ‘women leaders across every professional sector in support of each other and the common mission of advancing women’s leadership and championing equality worldwide’ and  Forum Dvora which  ‘promotes the equal representation of women in key decision-making positions in the fields of national security and foreign policy.’

Why do women in leadership positions have to distinguish themselves from the rest of the population?  Why are they in need of these support platforms?   

There is a reason. For there exists an (unconscious) bias against female decisions makers.

Particularly, in the investing world as female founders raise funds for start ups .  Did you know only 7.2% of the total venture capital goes to female led start ups?  ‘One of the reasons for this disparity is investors unconscious bias,’  claims Patricia Montesinos, whom leads Beat Funding Bias Initiative (BFBI) in Switzerland.

According to GEM Women’s Entrepreneurship report, entitled Challenging Bias and Stereotypes.  report 2022/23, nearly one in every three entrepreneurs running established businesses is a woman.

For start-up activity, there are .80 women for every 1 man. Globally, women were more likely than men to be solopreneurs (1.47 women solopreneurs for every 1 man). These were among the findings presented in the new GEM 2022/2023.

Diversity is key to success in board rooms and corporate executive team. This has also been the driver for ESG criteria which highlights also gender inclusion in the company and decision makers.

The FE + MALE thank tank developed unique approach to tackle the challenges female entrepreneurs face, including the unconscious bias towards women founders of start ups.

Investors are actually reducing their returns when not investing in female led start ups or unconsciously choosing to invest in male led start ups.  The Harvard Business Review   (HBR) highlights the fact male and female entrepreneurs get asked different questions which affects the amount of funding they raise.

Males get asked ‘promotional’ questions about the potential for gains. Females usually get asked ‘prevention’ queries about the potential for losses.  This unconscious bias leads to female led start ups to receive only 7.2% of venture capital.

HBR article continues to offer a solution, which states that if entrepreneurs change how they response to ‘preventive’ questions, they may be able to raise more funds.  So entrepreneurs have to be aware of this bias and so do investors as they may be shooting themselves in their own feet.

This topic will be discussed in the Swiss Innovation Forum in Basel on Nov 30th at an expert panel led by Patricia Montesinos where I shall be an expert speaker.   

This invitation to the forum made me think as well about my own contributions to this dilemma. How can I as director of a disruptive Israel hi tech fund, be more conscious to have female led start ups in the portfolio company.

It made me reflect on how I can be part of the solution and not the problem.  It takes leaders from all angles to change this unconscious bias. One way is speaking about it and raising awareness with other fund directors and investors.

Another way is Mentoring -   I mentor younger people whenever possible. Yet, next time I shall choose a female mentee.

Panels – when organizing panels for events and conferences, make sure there are female voices included.

Women led funds – did you know there are funds specifically designed for women led enterprises. Check out  Glass Half funded to learn about some of them such as Owl Capital, Fika Fund, Portfolio, Re Think Imapact, and SOGAL, Astia, Chloe Capital and more.

Amirim Impact Fund is another beacon of light when it comes to investing in companies with gender equality in the leadership of the company.  This is one of their criteria before a company enters the portfolio.

Let us look at our own ecosystems and see how we can change this bias in our  surroundings in the immediate. For it will mean not only higher returns for investments, more importantly, inclusive economies and stabler world. 

Be among those whom are finding solutions to transfer capital towards sustainable finance and not the ones finding excuses.