Prevailing attitudes to business success – particularly before the 2008 Global Financial Crisis – were centred around conforming to the dominant normative work culture, which was white, male and Anglo-centric. Given the cornucopia of viewpoints, needs and wants in this world, such business practises are anachronistic and seriously dated.
Here are some thoughts with respect to amplifying your journey as a female entrepreneur By Omar Majid of Salonica Group, an independent investment bank headquartered in London.
Unique perspective
Female entrepreneurs need to bring to the fore their own unique lived experience. This can manifest itself into creating products and providing services that are tailored to the female experience. For far too long, the specific needs of minority groups and others have been overlooked and/or designed and sold by majority groups. For instance, a recent article highlighted some of the problems at companies selling women’s sanitation products, which were run by all male teams. The time is ripe for under-represented groups to shake up the status quo, which can be achieved through channelling your own unique experience.
Extending this point further, stay true to your vision and form. You cannot be all things to everyone, so define your target market and stay focused.
Fundraising
Female led and minority-led start-ups often fold due to a lack of funding. There are certainly systemic issues which means that female-led start-ups will receive less funding than their white male counterparts. However, irrespective of these systemic issues, plan your fundraise strategy carefully in order to increase your chances of success – create a working capital and growth capital requirement plan over an 18 to 24 month period, and be willing to go to market several times.
‘Imposter Syndrome’
Female entrepreneurs are more likely to suffer from imposter syndrome and a lack of belief and confidence as compared to their male counterparts. Psychological readiness is a key component to success in all walks of life, and entrepreneurship is no different. Acknowledge if you are suffering from imposter syndrome, and actively try to overcome this through exercises – such as separating feelings from fact, visualising success and rewarding yourself when goals are achieved. This will help re-affirm the fact that you deserve to be where you are and build confidence.
Mentorship
Don’t hesitate to ask someone you know, trust and admire to become your mentor. A mentor can guide you through difficult periods and help you think through ideas. Male entrepreneurs tend to find it easy to reach out and ask for favours and help from their community / mentors. You need to learn to leverage your network in a way that helps you accelerate your growth.
Key learnings
Entrepreneurship is difficult. Popular media portrays the chimera of the successful entrepreneur – the tech start up founder who has now happily retired living their best life. However such entrepreneurs and firms but are a minority – the fact remains that failure rates are extremely high. Running a business is not easy and in order to succeed, one must learn from failures – pretty swiftly – and persevere. Failure and learning are iterative processes, and need to be embraced.
