The future is female and the present is fertile ground for progressive change; women-led startups in SDG implementation is worth our dedicated, coordinated attention
Low investment flow and poor investment readiness impede the participation of women entrepreneurs in the technology field, thus, in advancing the STI framework for local Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) implementation. Only 2% of funded startups are women-led. If women startups are to fully contribute to the low-carbon transition, it is important to eliminate low investment flow and poor investment readiness as gendered and racialized barriers. Doing so requires strategies that are participatory, inclusive, and creative.
I’m part of a team of advanced practice social
workers that is laser-focused on supporting women-led startups; we particularly
support those working on SDGs 1, 3, and 10 because of their goodness-of-fit
with social welfare issues. If all communities, no matter their background, are
to benefit from and take part in the low-carbon transition, we need to face the
social welfare dimension of that transition; issues of diversity, equity, and
inclusion need to be organizing and developmental principles that are applied
as vital tools for complex problem-solving. Since more than 80% of social work
leaders, educators, and practitioners are women, supporting women entrepreneurs
enables us to also promote a professional social work perspective to the
low-carbon transition.
To support social impact startups, particularly
those that are women-led, we tackle two problems: low investment flow and poor
investment readiness. See our explainer video on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay5zVlq4zQM
Key Factors to Low Investment Flow. Access to investment
dollars is major problem for startups, especially those that are women-led. At least 83% of startups, in general, do not access bank
loans or venture capital, approximately 65% rely on personal and family loans,
and close to 10% use their personal credit cards. Self-financing -- or
bootstrapping -- serves as the principal financing approach for many startups;
unfortunately, it is a viable option only for those already with the financial
means, thereby contributing to a longer runway in building and providing real
value to customers, limiting opportunities for traction, preventing founders
from investing as much as they should in validating the product-market fit of a
prototype and contributes to the emotional strain of building a startup. As for the
issue of social equity, gender and race intersect with placed-based matters to
constrain investment flow to women-led enterprises. Capital markets tend to
concentrate investment in certain places and communities (e.g., established financial centers in
Boston, Chicago, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, New York, Paris, San Francisco,
Shenzhen, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, and Zurich), leading to
ineffective discovery of the full spectrum of startups, especially those led by
women. Men dominate the startup ecosystem, often leading to experiences of
bias, prejudice, and discrimination among women and cultural (e.g. LGBTQ)
minorities that aggravate the stressors and emotional strain of building a
business. Attesting to its scale and importance as a global issue, the UN Women
and its Global Innovation Coalition for Change (GICC) exist to advance gender
equality.
Key
Factors to Poor Investment Readiness.
Investment readiness is an issue for which best practices remain influx. It has
three dimensions: equity aversion (i.e., founders equating equity investment to
a ‘loss of control’ to investors); investability (i.e., founders not meeting
investor requirements) and presentational failings (e.g., poorly considered and
constructed business plan and pitch presentations); furthermore, three dominant
reasons for poor investment readiness include weaknesses in the management
team, flawed or incomplete marketing strategies, and flawed financial
projections. Recent research finds that more than 90% of startups fail, and
that approximately 49% of entrepreneurs report a mental health condition, and
that poor mental health undermines founder performance, often contributing to
substance abuse, team conflict, a toxic company culture, and poor
decision-making, such that 65% of failed startups are due in part to the
effects of poor mental health and less than 50% of startups make it past year
five due to founder burnout. Some investors and founders take mental health
seriously enough to support the Investor’s Pledge , while others include a line
item in their P&L for wellness or self-care.
To address low
investment flow and poor investment readiness effectively, what is needed is a
broad, deep, and durable social movement that brings women-led startups from
the margins to the center. Building and sustaining such
a movement require strategies that are
participatory, inclusive, and creative. As such, our chosen strategy is to use
the arts -- music, singing, poetry, and dance -- to tell stories of how women
entrepreneurs harnessing technology for social good.
Join us at “The Future is
Female: The Music of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” benefit
concert to be held on December 28, 2019. We will simulcast via Facebook and
YouTube to reach our friends far and wide. To ensure as many women groups know
about the event, we designed a Watch Party program and need your help. More
details on the event and Watch Party program can be found at https://thefutureisfemaleconcert.eventbrite.com
Through music, poetry,
comedy, and community-building, we raise awareness of the needs of women-led
startups. We leverage local artistic talent to tell the story of women
changemakers and mobilize support for the investment readiness of women
startups. Through a benefit concert that will be broadcast via
Facebook Live and podcast interviews with key
opinion-makers, we will:
Raise public awareness of the needs of women-led
startups. Artists will perform songs, poetry, and dance that tell the story
of women leaders and innovators in the global movement toward sustainable
development and a low-carbon future;
Mobilize financial support for the investment
readiness of women-led startups. We will use currently available
crowdfunding tools; donors will get an opportunity to nominate women-led
startups for accelerator services from CYPHER X; and
Establish the practical application of the arts in advancing the STI
framework for SDG implementation. We put the ‘A’ in ‘science, technology,
engineering, art, and math’ (STEAM). Event will lead to stakeholder engagement
tools that are art-related.
References
Carrasco, I. (2014), "Gender gap in
innovation: an institutionalist explanation", Management Decision, Vol. 52 No. 2, pp. 410-424. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-07-2012-0533
Chapman, Jake (December 30, 2018). Investors and
entrepreneurs need to address the mental health crisis in startups. Retrieved
from https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/30/investors-and-entrepreneurs-need-to-address-the-mental-health-crisis-in-startup-culture/
Chen, Amy (April
19, 2019). It's Official: Self-care Leads to Long-term Business Success.
Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/331861
Hammond, Jonathan. (June 4, 2018). How do we Bridge the Gender
Diversity Gap in the Startup Space? Retrieved from https://medium.com/startup-grind/how-do-we-bridge-the-gender-diversity-gap-in-the-startup-space-3956c5dd33c
Hanna, Hala & Federal,
Caroline (June 30, 2017). To Fix the Gender Gap, Fix the Digital Divide.
Retrieved from https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/women-and-technology
Herrling, Sheila (n.d.). Women-Led
Startups Aren't Getting Funded, and There's a Very Simple Reason Why. Retrieved
from https://www.inc.com/sheila-herrling/women-led-startups-arent-getting-funded-theres-a-very-simple-reason-why.html
Hwang, V., Desai, S., and Baird, R. (2019) “Access to Capital for
Entrepreneurs: Removing Barriers,” Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation: Kansas
City.
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