Open letter in response to #BehindEveryGreatCity ‘Silicon Valley Comes to the UK Trade Mission.’
Dear Mayor Sadiq Khan,
2018 has been an eye-opening year, shifting society’s views on gender equality. From the #MeToo movement to the UK’s first year of mandatory gender pay gap reporting, women all over the world are being seen and heard more than ever before.
The #BehindEveryGreatCity ‘Silicon Valley Comes to the UK Trade Mission’ was a remarkable moment for women in entrepreneurship. However, for women of colour, especially black women, the trade show was another reminder of our invisibility in the world of business. There was not a single black tech entrepreneur in the cohort, hence no representation from people that are currently actively encouraged to explore tech, STEM and entrepreneurship.
You declared during the campaign that, “London’s tech ecosystem is one of the most diverse in the world and the women in tech on this trade mission to Silicon Valley offer further proof that you can grow a successful tech business in London regardless of your gender or background.”
However, the women selected to participate in the Trade Mission did not reflect the true diversity of London’s tech ecosystem. Despite the fact that there are a number of black women who could have participated — such as Louise Broni-Mensah, Founder of Shoobs and Y-Combinator alumni, Sharmadean Reid, Founder of BeautyStack and Wah Nails and Florence Adepoju Founder of MDMFlow to name a few — no black women were included in the Trade Mission.
“It’s disappointing that initiatives that are created to support female founders consistently exclude black female founders despite there being a significant number of black females in the UK ecosystem building amazing start-ups. It is imperative that these opportunities are more inclusive and representative of the UK” — Paris Petgrave, CEO of Rare Seed Capital
Whilst women are often underrepresented when it comes to entrepreneurship, evidence shows that the position is even worse for black women — only 0.2% of black female founders received funding in 2016 according to Project Dianne. As a result, black women and other women of colour are far more likely to be marginalised, and therefore absent, due to the following reasons:
- Lack of capital and access to finance, particularly equity free funding;
- Lack of visible role models and media representation; and
- Lack of social capital e.g. personal connections to VC’s
We recommend for the next Silicon Valley Comes to the UK Trade Mission to:
- Review the application process and ensure forms of unconscious bias and barriers to entry are removed, with the help from organisations like Fearless Futures and Comuzi Lab;
- Promote the call for applications with diverse communities such as YSYS, Janet’s List, Hustle Crew, Girls Talk London, Future Girl Corp , Precious online and Muslamic Makers;
- Run a parallel programme for female founders who are at the early stages of starting up;
- Commission research from organisations like Diversity VC who are studying bias in tech; and
- Work closely with campaigns and programmes which promote female founders of colour in the UK such as #wherearethefaces started by Deborah Okenla and Hatch Enterprise run by Dirk Bischof
We, the undersigned, call upon you to take an intersectional approach that pays respect to the complexity of social inequality and bias when addressing diversity initiatives. Until ALL women are represented, we cannot achieve true gender equality.
“Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance,” Verna Myers
#wherearethefaces #behindeverygreatcity
Signed by
Deborah Okenla — Founder of YSYS
Abadesi Osunsade — Founder of Hustle Crew
Urenna Okonkwo — Founder of Cashmere App
Rachael Corson — Co-Founding Director of Afrocenchix Ltd
Vanessa Sanyauke — Founder of Girls Talk London
Claudine Adeyemi — Lawyer and Founder of Career Ear
Janet Oganah — Founder of Janet’s List
Abi Mohamed — Co-founder of CGVentures
Dayo Akinrinade — Founder of Africlick App
Zoe Jervier — Talent Partner at EQT Ventures
Anushka Sharma — Founder of Naaut
Gaëlle Matondo- Founder of Birds of Afrika
Giselle Frederick — Founder of Zingr.io
Nafisa Bakkar — Co-Founder & CEO at Amaliah
Florence Adepoju — Founder of MDMflow
Yana Binaev-Founder of My Eyes See Diversity
Co-signed by
Dirk Bischof — CEO Hatch Enterprise
Raphael Babalola — Co Founder at Wanderpay
Suki Fuller- CEO and Co-Founder Salaam Ventures | Founder, Miribure | FiftyFiftyPledge
Andy Davis — Board Advisor and EIR
Darren Tenkorang — Founder of TRIM-IT
Amy Lewin — Features Editor at Courier
Jason Touray — Founder & CEO at Black Unicorn
Andy Ayim — Startup Advisor
Jermaine Craig — Founder at Miyi Ltd
Sanmi Ogunmola — Founder at All Shades Covered
Julian Boaitey — Operations at ChipUK
Meagan Bickerstaff — Founder of INKWAVE
Sait Cham — Co-founder at Wanderpy
Chinua Cole — Founder at Dadapp
Stephan Eyeson — Founder at Survey54
Trevor Palmer — MD Rockel Shipping Company
Joycelyn Mate — Cofounder at Afrocenchix
Kike Oniwinde — Founder & CEO of BYP Network
Harry McLaverty — Investor and Board Advisor
Rowan Adams — Associate @ EF
John Spindler — CEO of Capital Enterprise
Wil Benton — Programme Director at Ignite
Mark Martin — Co-Founder of UKBlackTech
Josephine Otuagomah — Founder of The Black Hair Book
Roy Azoulay — Founder & CEO of Serelay
Gary McPherson — Founder at Ingenyus & Technical Director at Pixeloute
Tunji Akintokun MBE — Founder of Ilesha Charitable Trust
Cathy White — Founder and Director of CEW Communications
Paris Petgrave — CEO of Rare Seed Capital
Chris Tottman-Notion VC and #FiftyFiftyPledge
James Governor Co-Founder Redmonk
Aarish Shah Co-Founder Two Brown Boys
Kevin Monserrat- VC Relations and Head of Ecosystem Microsoft Scale-Up
Foluke Akinlose MBE FRSA- Founder and Editor Precious Awards and Precious Online
Luciana Carvalho Se-Founder @Unfold UK