“We Need A More Balanced Entrepreneurial Ecosystem”

It is ironic that I write this article on the day that I conduct an exit interview with two young men who’ve decided to quit the startup ecosystem. They recently married and the hours and risks of being at a startup turned out to be too much for their families. Perhaps I should breathe a sigh of relief that stereotypes are being broken. Unfortunately, the numbers tell a different story.

As a woman-led fund, we always get asked about the lack of women entrepreneurs. The bottom line is that there aren’t enough women participating in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The million dollar question is why? Perhaps it is the biases in deploying money and attracting employees, cultural and family expectations, and lack of role models. Perhaps women just prefer other careers. Perhaps they don’t want to be measured by the fact that the VC world values the biggest as the best? The honest answer is probably a mix of all this.

Statistically, we are nowhere close to gender parity and that needs to change. But as an early stage investor I am tuned to look for growth. Instead of focusing on the tiny numbers, we need to focus on the green shoots we have seen springing up over the last decade. To start, we are invested in phenomenal women founders who have built amazing companies. We have witnessed a woman take her company all the way to listing – a role model we desperately needed. We have seen more women in investing chipping away at biases. We have seen capital allocators ask for a more diverse portfolio. Most importantly, we have seen more  women walking in through the door confidently pitching their ideas. Funding for women led startups grew 8 per cent in 2021 to 11 per cent last year pointing to changes that augur well for women, for investors and for future businesses being built.

And yet we are far from having reached a tipping point. We need to take these positive trends and amplify them. More role models, more funds taking the leap to nurture ambitious entrepreneurs, more networks that are gender balanced, more men standing up to support women in the family who want to be entrepreneurs, more policies that allow men to do this, more women in decision making roles, and more women taking the stage to be visible to other women. We cannot let our gains slide. Having said this I believe there is another critical factor – dreams. Entrepreneurship is about following your dreams and believing in them. If we don’t encourage our girls to dream from an early age, parity will be elusive. This journey starts at home and at school.

The one thing I have learnt on this entrepreneurial journey is the power of saying I can. My hope is that more women will say ‘I can’, too. Until our children see a more balanced entrepreneurial ecosystem, biases will remain.

Ritu Verma, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Ankur Capital

Ritu Verma .

Guest Author Ritu Verma, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Ankur Capital