A guide to unleashing your inner superwoman in the tech startup world.
Disclaimer: This article read is encouraged to both female and male readers.
The startup world — such a thing, such a hectic cosmos. Have an idea? Fight for it. Aim to solve a problem. Always make an impact. Know who you are solving that problem for. Put yourself in the shoes of your users. Empathize with these individuals. Define your journey and learn more about your use cases. Discover. Prototype. Prototype again to validate your idea. Learn. Iterate. Have I said prototype?
Choose your team. Choose technology. Network. Go to events. Try to raise capital. Network. Define your MVP. Define your core features. Prioritise them. Is your idea still not validated? Have you found that your original idea is not working? Pivot. Don’t lose your focus. Remember what problem you were trying to solve. Pitch to investors, pitch to your customers, pitch to the world. What’s the ratio of success when you pitch? Do not give up. Remain resilient. Team dynamics. Find the best partners to work with. What is the failure ratio in the startup world? Does all this sound familiar to you?
My name is Alix Martinez, Head of Design at Founders Factory Africa and have the opportunity to work with an amazing group of founders, teams and business leaders. The startups we work with are incredibly humble, have huge potential and the ability to scale. Brilliant businesses trying to solve real problems in the larger African context. Solutions that can be scaled globally.
All the questions proposed earlier apply to any kind of founder. But, what if you are a female entrepreneur? As a woman, how different is your role in comparison to the male roles? What are the key superpowers you need to accomplish your victories?
To celebrate, International Women’s Day last Friday, we hosted an event at our Founders Factory Africa office in Johannesburg. We invited talented women from across the entrepreneurial space, to discuss what it means to be a female entrepreneur and visionary across the African continent.
For me, (spoiler alert: unpopular thoughts here) International Women’s Day makes me feel sad, as it means that we have not achieved the awaited victory in the long fight for equality we’re aiming for. Also, to understand equality as a whole, there are many more attributes that we (from my point of view) need to be achieved. Apart from gender identity, others like nationality, race & ethnicity, social class… I want to focus on gender today.
I said my feelings are sad, but at the same time, the main feeling is to keep strong and fight the good fight. Of course, there is time and space for celebration. In my case, today, to celebrate the amazing women we have at FFA internally and the founders and team members of the startups we work with to start with.
Unfortunately, the percentage of female founders in startups today is very low. And, tech in general. Things are changing, but there is still room for improvement. A 2019 Women in Technology Leadership Report, published by the Silicon Valley Bank, showed that only 28% of roles are female in tech. With an increase in senior and executive roles during the last few years, we see that the number of female founders is still very low. Considering Briter Bridges’ data: only 13 African startups co-founded by women that raised at least $1 million in total venture capital within the last year. By deduction, that’s a staggering 13.3%.
To be honest and transparent, we have 11% of female founders in our portfolio. We are working hard to change this! This commitment should be part of every business and be included as a set of KPIs to achieve a diverse, richer and excellent team.
The road so far has not and is not easy for women, nothing new under the sun. Funny fact and anecdote is the case of Elizabeth Holmes from Theranos in Silicon Valley, where the rumours say she modulated her voice to be more male-like to inspire larger confidence in front of her audience. To me, this is an example of what a female founder should NOT do to achieve equality.
Even in good faith of action, unconscious bias is something that lives among us. Not only pointing to male here but also female roles in the different organisations, especially in more established and older ones. Of course, I do not want to generalise but my experience is something I’ve to seem more in these cases. With some excellent exceptions too.
The elephant in the room and the truth is that there are usually bigger challenges related to the traditional role of a woman when thinking about our careers and work-life balance. It's not unusual that plans to have a family are usually part of an interview process and, it should never be the case!
The focus and the differences are not about what goals we can or cannot achieve, but in how we achieve them as we bring and contribute with different skill sets. Embrace your differences and be conscious of the impact you can have as part of your team.
As women, we can often thrive for perfection which may translate as not working as fast and as lean as we would like. A lack of confidence and self-doubt can sometimes hold us back.
I’m very lucky to say that FFA is a space where gender equality is not an issue for us internally. The senior leadership is 50/50 divided into male/female roles. There is not a moment for discussion on this — we combine our expertise and professionalism with our own individual strengths/weaknesses and this is what truly makes us a strong team.
African women are and have always been courageous leaders and fighters for centuries. In the past, samples of these were glorious fighters as The Dahomey Amazons or Mino in the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Republic of Benin) between the 17th and 19th centuries. Queen Nzinga Mbande ruled in the 17th century of what we call today Angola, Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa in Ghana in 1900… Just to name a few. Unfortunately, these were the exception and not the rule. Let’s be aware and celebrate all these female queens and warrior roles too!
Let’s celebrate the value that the women of the FFA ecosystem contribute to. Let’s keep on fighting the good fight for equality — in all the aspects of life. Where individuals are considered for their achievements and qualities, not for their circumstances.
I would like to thank ALL my colleagues and notably to the FFA leaders. Special mention to Alina Truhina (FFAs Chief Strategy Officer), Kofo Sanusi (FFAs Chief Operations Officer), Lola Shojobi (FFA’s Director of Talent and Culture) and Lwazi Wali (Head of Venture). Together with the inspiring female founders of some of our businesses like Jaishree Naidoo from EDAI, Zulé Vureen from Locumbase, who shared their views on the theme that informed this article. Thanks also to co-founder Jennifer Okoduwa (Footlocker Co-founder & CMO) and Yaa Prince-Boateng (Chief Operating Officer at KudiGo Inc). Of course team members from the different businesses part of the FFA Family and portfolios like Tanya Sango and Katlego Sekete from Tripplo.
Thank you for your contribution with insightful opinions and your day-to-day hard work, and inspiration. You’re role models in this African startup ecosystem, showing what is possible and yet that another better world is conceivable/feasible.
How can we change the status quo and move forward?
First and foremost — support your fellow females. By showing confidence in aiming and achieving ambitious goals. By having and following inspiring female mentors. By also including men in our conversations. By staying strong in difficult moments and making strides to enforce our rights. Above all, let’s celebrate our differences and be open to complement each other (female/male) — to be stronger together.
Need some inspiration? Here’s some motivation from the FFA team and our female founders! “You can do anything, honestly you can!”. “Be the change maker … Stand up and advocate for yourself. Because, as women founders — we still have a long way to break down. And don’t allow anyone to tell you otherwise”. “Just go for it and be bold. If you know your why and build on that nothing can stop you”.
After 20 years of working with different businesses, in different industries and markets around the world, my own advice would be to “Remain strong, work on your confidence, keep the good fight, stay positive and open-minded, resilience is your friend. Ask for help. Share your knowledge. Every decision and action you take: it matters. There is a place for an equal world.”
Female founders wanted!
If you want to join the FFA ecosystem as a female founder, as a team member at one of our startup, or as part of the FFA team, drop us a line so we can chat about the amazing things we can do together!
