Letters: Diversity is private capital’s nut to crack
[Re: International women’s day , March 9]
Private capital has barriers to entry. Being a woman should not be one of them. Regardless of how you approach it, private capital is a tough industry to crack. Whether you are a founder seeking private equity or venture capital funding for your business – or looking to join one of the many private capital firms supporting growing companies all over the UK – you will come up against some challenges.
It’s highly competitive. The hours can, truthfully, be long and tiring. You might not ‘click’ with the people you’re pitching to, or the hiring managers sat on the other side of the table. The days, weeks, months you spent researching might all be for nothing if you’re blindsided by a question you didn’t anticipate.
But these are challenges that can be mitigated; “barriers to entry” that can be overcome.
Being a woman, however, should not be part of the challenge of breaking into private capital. Yet, female representation across the industry, and the number of female founders supported by it, is still relatively low.
For example, the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association’s (BVCA) 2021 survey on diversity and inclusion – produced alongside Level 20 – found that women account for only 38 per cent of the industry and 10 per cent of senior investment roles.
Despite these findings being stark, progress is being made, through many fantastic initiatives to connect female founders to VCs.
Kerry Baldwin