two years ago I did something a little
bit terrifying and exciting I quit my
safe stable corporate job and I decided
to launch my own startup the company
that I launched is an online print and
stationary platform that funds education
projects for women and girls across the
developing world today we work with some
of Australia’s biggest corporates and
we’ve funded over 70,000 days of
education for women and girls across
Africa and Asia things are going pretty
well and I haven’t once regretted
throwing in that corporate job
in saying this however my journey in the
startup world has not always been easy I
happen to possess a certain
characteristic which is quite rare in
this industry I’m a woman you see three
out of four startups in Australia are
founded by men and only 4% of our
high-growth technology startups are
founded by women as you can see from
this recent gathering sometimes spotting
another female face at a networking
event can be a little bit like a game of
where’s wooly or in this case a game of
where’s mama
so sexism is a really big problem in the
startup world and it’s especially true
when it comes to raising investment
during one of my very first pictures to
investors one of the executives pulled
me aside and complimented me on my sexy
voice before giving me his business card
and ushering me out of the room it was
pretty gross and thankfully situations
like this are more rare but there is
still an unconscious gender bias at play
and it’s a powerful thing this
unconscious bias because the vast
majority of investors are men and only
4% of all venture capital goes to female
led startups
so you might be wondering if there is a
reason for this I mean success is
supposed to be based on merit right
maybe men have had some awesome business
ideas maybe they’ve had some really cool
business plans well in 2014 a study led
by Harvard and Wharton professors
presented the same video investment
pitch deck to 500 investors only they
edited the sound of the founders voice
to either a female tone or a male tone
the pictures with the male tone were 68
percent more likely to receive
investment with investors claiming they
were more fact-based more persuasive
more logical than the female features
let me just remind you we’re talking
about the exact same word for word
identical pictures here something does
not add up and it’s that unconscious
gender bias at play but you want to hear
something really crazy startups founded
by women actually more successful than
those founded by men according to a
recent study women led tech startups
achieved a 35% high return on investment
and 12% higher revenues then those
founded by men when they received
funding just this week and Australian
venture capital firm announced that
although female led startups make up
just 15% of their portfolio they
contribute to over 43 percent of its
value women are also more likely than
men to start companies in order to have
a positive impact on the world and
they’re less likely to take harmful
actions such as moving that company into
state or cutting back staff for
eliminating benefits so women have a
much harder time getting investment but
when they do they perform much better
ladies and gentlemen if we really want
to change the world why are we investing
in women I’m so intrigued by this weird
juxtaposition when I first discovered it
that I started to wonder how it might
apply outside of the startup world as
well I mean what kind of increased
returns my society see if we invested
more money in women for example people
often ask me why our company only funds
education for women and girls and not
for boys and men you might be wondering
it’s yourself aside from me incredible
inequality that girls face the answer is
simple it’s a better impact investment
funding education for girls transforms
not just their life but also their
families the communities and even their
nations an educated girl will live
longer she’ll get married later and
she’ll have fewer and healthier children
she’ll also earn more a 2012 UN report
found that women invest 90 percent of
their earnings back into their families
whereas for men it’s only around 30 to
40 percent when women rise we all rise
when we invest in women the world
changes for the better okay I know I
giving you some heavy facts and probably
thinking great I don’t have a spare one
to ten million dollars to invest in
awesome female that’s data I hear too
but there are ways we can invest in you
know the compassion the courage and the
whip-smart brains of women every time
you open your wallet you invest I want
to challenge you to think about how you
spend your money choose to buy from
great female led startups and small
businesses choose to buy from companies
that champion pay equality and diversity
and choose to donate to charities that
work to empower women and girls and
there
is actually a way you can directly
invest in some awesome female led
startups without needing a big fat
venture capital fund at your disposal I
want to introduce you to rose in roses
case a $30 investment through a
microfinance loan enabled a purchase of
30 kilos of seed as well as agricultural
workshops Rosen started a small farming
business turning that initial investment
into one hundred and fifty kilos of
produce which she then sold her local
market and also used to feed her family
a 2011 report found that if female
farmers in the developing world had
equal access to resources as men there
would be a hundred and fifty million
fewer hungry people in the world small
investments in women can up to a really
big impact so it’s never been more
important to invest in women if we want
economies to grow if we want to
eliminate poverty we have to overcome
this unconscious gender bias that
persists across so many areas of society
and it’s especially important when it
comes to startups because it’s startups
that are creating and shaping our future
it’s technology and innovation that
determine our tomorrow it’s time for the
startup world to put diversity first if
women don’t get equal access to
investment if they don’t get equal
opportunity to build big successful
companies then our future will continue
to be predominantly imagined by men just
half our population I think we can all
agree that that equates to limited
returns for everybody ladies and
gentlemen if we really want to change
the world if we want to see what’s
actually possible if you want to think
bigger and do better let’s invest in women