Sexism in African investment

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2020

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why do female entrepreneurs in Africa not get the investment capital they need? When women are navigating the male dominated finance and start-up scene in Africa, sexism can be a daily occurence. Efe Ukala is the founder of Impact Her - an organisation to help female entrepreneurs in Africa get access to finance. She says at one meeting she went to she was the only woman in the room and when one man joined them he went round the table to introduce himself to everyone except her. Mélanie Keita is the co-founder and CEO of Melanin Capital, a financial advisory firm that connects social impact entrepreneurs in Africa with investors. She tells Tamasin Ford that on a number of occasions she has set up meetings with potential investors only for them to hit on her. Manka Angwafo, the founder and CEO of agribusiness company, Grassland Cameroon, says women just aren't listened to on the continent. And Tokunboh Ishmael is the co-founder and MD of Alithea Capital, a private equity fund management firm based in Nigeria which has set up a fund aimed at proactively seeking out female founders and diverse management teams to invest in their businesses. (Picture credit: Getty creative)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Tamerson Ford. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. Funding for African start-ups is thriving.
0:10.2	Great news, right? But only if they're led by men.
0:14.4	I attended this meeting and those gentlemen, very nice gentleman, walks around. I'm the only woman in the room.
0:21.7	And he walks around to shake every single person in the room to say hello. And he skips me and continues
0:27.1	shaking hands. Sexism and misogyny are still huge barriers for female entrepreneurs across Africa.
0:34.4	Men are not only at least 20 times more likely to receive investment capital than women.
0:40.9	Most venture funds are also run by men.
0:43.9	You don't have many female fund managers like myself who are in the decision-making seat,
0:50.5	but they're not the key men, as that phrase is termed, which says a lot.
0:56.8	We find out why. That's all in Business Daily from the BBC.
1:03.6	Misogyny, sexism, harassment. Every woman will have experienced one of these at some point in their lives.
1:11.5	But when navigating the male-dominated finance and start-up scene in Africa, sexism can be a daily occurrence.
1:19.9	I went to an LP meeting in Lagos, Nigeria. So there's a limited partner meeting.
1:25.4	And those gentlemen, very nice gentleman walks around.
1:28.2	I'm the only woman in the room.
1:29.6	We're about 12.
1:31.0	And he walks around to shake every single person in the room to say, hello, hello.
1:35.3	My name is blah, blah, blah.
1:36.7	It's great to meet you.
1:38.3	And he skips me and continues shaking hands with the other men in the room.
1:45.6	So, I mean, that struck me as very odd.
1:49.1	FAU-Cala is the founder of Impact Her,
	...

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