I have shared several articles recently and again this week expounding on the challenges women entrepreneurs are having gaining access to the capital they need to grow their businesses. In fact, women received less than 3% of all venture capital funding to-date in 2019. As Candida Brush of Babson College explains in this article: “ The network is a big problem. The VC industry is very small and concentrated in the coasts. When there is a woman partner in a VC firm, it is far more likely to invest in women businesses.”
So one would think that getting a few women into Venture Capital Circles might be the answer, but I don’t think it is going to create change fast enough. This past week, I had coffee with a very senior business woman who also happens to be an angel investor in a pooled fund. She said that she struggles to get men to listen to her in investment meetings. This woman is no wall flower. She commands a presence wherever she goes. So if she is having trouble getting attention in investment discussions, I doubt she is alone. I bet that other women who are in the minority in investment circles will experience the same thing.
This got me to thinking that if I want my voice heard through the dollars I invest, I need to think carefully about where I invest my dollars. Just looking at whether there are women on the board or present in the investment decisions may be insufficient.
I am coming to believe that there is a growing need for women-only investment opportunities. Women only can invest. Women-owned businesses only can receive the investment dollars. The following article explains this in more detail: