Source: TheDrum
Unilever has committed to increasing the number of female-founded startups it invests in. Right now, just 23% of its investment goes to female-led businesses; by 2023 it wants that to be 50%.
Unilever VP of marketing Aline Santos used a keynote speech at Mobile World Congress to announce its intention to shift the dial.
Much of the FMCG company’s investment into startups comes via its incubator programme Unilever Foundry, which was set up four years ago. Since then it has worked with almost 10,000 startups.
Though Unilever is ahead of the curve in comparison to global statistics, which suggest just 17% of startups are founded by women, Santos is “not happy” with the current ratio.
Unilever commissioned a study into startups in the US, UK, India and Singapore. It highlighted that 46% of founders believe there is a gender bias problem in the industry.
Looking at the experience of women in the community, 61% said there are not enough role models while 42% of female founders said that access to funding has been their biggest barrier; anecdotal evidence suggested they will get a male colleague to present to investors in their place to improve chances of access to capital.
39% of female founders frequently encountered sexism while running their startup, including what they interpreted as inappropriate invitations to late-night meetings.
More than four in 10 believe that no matter how successful their business becomes, gender discrimination will stay the same.
In response, Unilever has partnered with UN Women and 22 other companies on what it has dubbed the ‘Global Innovation Coalition for Change’. First and foremost, this group is pushing for simple acknowledgement that there is an issue and then for companies to be transparent by publishing their own statistics.
