Open letter in response to #BehindEveryGreatCity ‘Silicon Valley Comes to the UK Trade Mission.’

#wherearethefaces

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:

1. Lack of capital and access to finance, particularly equity free funding;
2. Lack of visible role models and media representation; and
3. 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:

1. 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;
2. 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;
3. Run a parallel programme for female founders who are at the early stages of starting up;
4. Commission research from organisations like Diversity VC who are studying bias in tech; and
5. 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