Inspiring Inclusion for #IWD2024 — Metta Blog Series (4/5)
The fourth in our 5 part #IWD24 blog series | Featuring Magda Cheang
In order to celebrate International Women’s Day 2024, we sat down with five inspiring women in the industry to discuss what this year’s IWD theme of #InspireInclusion means to them. We also chatted about who inspires them, the barriers facing women in business today, and what they hope the future will look like in terms of gender diversity within the workplace.
The 8th March marks International Women’s Day, a globally recognised day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women all over the world. International Women’s Day has occurred for over 100 years, with the very first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over 1 million people.
For the fourth instalment of our 5 part series, we’re chatting to Magda Cheang, Founder of Jobs for Planet, a climate-tech and sustainability search and selection firm.
Connect with Magda-
- Jobs for Planet website
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Q: Hi Magda! Tell us a little about yourself, and your background?
A: I’m a self-confessed global citizen as I’ve lived in a number of different countries that are quite different — Singapore, Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom. Outside of work I enjoy hiking, stand-up paddle boarding and running after my rescue border collie-shepherd.
I have 14 years of experience in talent acquisition, diversity & inclusion and executive search. Initially I started my career in law and sought to become a solicitor or work for NGOs but quickly transitioned to organisational consulting and executive search for start-ups as I preferred the fast-paced nature of the technology industry. I’ve worked at companies like Meta (Facebook), Zoom and smaller tech start-ups building their leadership and sales and marketing teams.
I’m Founder of Jobs for Planet, a climate-tech and sustainability search and selection firm where I connect excellent talent to start-ups that are mission and impact driven. I’m passionate about finding talent, helping people find meaningful careers, and increasing representation at leadership level.
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Q: International Women’s Day marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality, and this year’s theme is #inspireinclusion. How do you think we can aim to Inspire Inclusion in the workplace today?
A: We need to actually reframe this question, in my opinion. It’s not about “inspiring” inclusion, as a one-off, inspirational event, but actually creating a consistent and open environment and a systematic approach where inclusion is the baseline so women can be authentically themselves, work to their full potential and have a seat at the table and a voice that is not only heard — but taken seriously, especially at the board room or senior executive level.
For me, one way to create opportunities for allyship, support and sponsorship by men. In male dominated industries, having the support of men is essential to have inclusion in the workplace. This should be a collective effort that includes men, something that is only done “by women for women”. Whether it’s having equal parental leave for both parents (regardless of gender) or male bosses supporting their female employees through promotion and leadership training and development- we should not be looking at this in a vacuum.
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Q: Where do you think your industry is right now in terms of a standpoint on equality, and what more needs to be done immediately?
A: Even though women-led climate-tech start-ups with strong social and environmental missions often yield better financial returns, the main barriers are generally 3 fold — a) securing funding or adequate funding, b) accessing strong mentorship and c) access to networking opportunities. The data is shocking, according to Pitchbook — that in the U.S only 21 of out 319 climate tech funding rounds in the U.S went to women, around 6.6% of deals, down from 2022 which was 8.8% female-founded. On a global level it was 58 funding deals compared to 826 rounds awarded to make founders in climate-tech. The disparity is really huge, especially given that women are more likely to be negatively affected by climate change, especially in the Global South as they tend to live in rural areas and are affected by droughts and other negative impacts of climate change.
It’s clear to me that in order to help with climate change mitigation and adaptation, an increase in funding to women-led start-ups would be an immediate step to improve equality. Without enough women-led climate-start ups, we are already reducing the number of women- founders, leaders and future decision makers. We could also be missing out on some very innovative solutions created by people who are on the ground, understanding the impacts of climate change directly. If we start with better funding of women-led climate-start ups, then a significant increase in equality will follow.
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Q: Based on your own experience, how can we encourage more women to pursue entrepreneurship or senior leadership roles in their career? What is the most important message you would want to give them?
A: In my experience, we need to have great role models, but also sponsors and mentors. Becoming an entrepreneur can be an isolating experience and you are facing obstacles on a constant basis, having a mentor that is experienced and able to brainstorm or problem solve with you makes an immense difference. Mentors also provide highly valuable support and also professional introductions, which can help to grow the company. If you have a mentor that inspires you and provides valuable feedback at the start of your entrepreneurial journey as a woman, you will be able to build faster and learn lessons early on. Long term, if more women become entrepreneurs, they will become employers and can help increase gender diversity in their own companies and build the next generation of leaders.
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Q: What do you think are three traits that brilliant and inspiring women leaders possess?
A: I would say that these are the three that come to mind. Firstly, emotional intelligence and the ability to truly collaborate well with others, which is a benefit when dealing with topics around technology and climate-change as there are often a variety of stakeholders involved in this type of work. Second, resilience, which is a trait that is very important when scaling a start-up and dealing with an urgent issue like mitigating climate-change! The third would be mission-driven and purpose-driven, which drive women forwards and make them exceptional leaders.
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Q: What do you hope the future will look like in terms of diversity within the workplace?
A: My hope is that we will have representation at all levels and with all kinds of diversity, not just gender diversity. Whether it’s neurodivergence, disability or LGBTQ individuals thriving in all organizations. After all, companies should be as diverse as the people that they service, and climate change affects all of us. Having diverse perspectives of those in the forefront and on the ground will also ensure the products or services created are exceptional and are based on a variety of perspectives and inputs. In short, better diversity is good for business, good for everyone and good for us and our adaptation to climate-change.
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Read the other blogs in this series here -
Jia Afsar | Design and Strategic Advisor
My Morinder | Worldfavor
Sarah Moneypenny | SustainAbility
Andrea Sommer | Hive Founders
For more information about Metta and the work we do, head to our website. Check out our podcast Metta Talks to hear the latest about startups, innovation, and sustainability. The team is also on LinkedIn — reach out to us!
#IWD2024 #InspireInclusion
