written by Séverine Kichou, SAP.iO Foundry Paris
Slowly, but surely, glass ceilings around the world are beginning to crack and break. Although it is a slow progress, it is progress. We are not only finally seeing a change in the perception of women in business, but more specifically we are seeing a rise of women entrepreneurs. CEOs, Founders, Managers, and event organizers have begun to shine the spotlight on the underrepresented, which includes women entrepreneurs.
Ensuring all innovators, from all backgrounds are empowered to start-up with SAP, SAP.iO No Boundaries, the first comprehensive inclusive entrepreneurship initiative in the business software industry was created. Since 2019, 50% of the startups we’ve worked with have a female/underrepresented founder or CXO.
The SAP.iO Foundry Paris has supported 38 startups since late 2018. Of these companies, many have women in management positions. We recently had the opportunity to interview some of these female leaders and learn more about their unique experiences, operating in a world that is largely run by men. These entrepreneurs occupy a rare place today, they are part of only 16% of employees in the tech sector and only 8% of tech entrepreneurs.
We asked how they choose their career, their profession? What are their strengths? We found out that what they all have in common is that they dared to explore what they love. Out of desire, curiosity, need or conviction they chose a field in technology. They listened to their inner voice and considered what it is that they really enjoyed. Charlotte Fanneau, Director of Operations at Heuritech said, “I did not choose the job of Director of Operations, but the mission of putting cutting-edge technology at the service of the fashion industry.” All shared the desire to step out of their comfort zone, to learn “on the job”, to explore areas that were unfamiliar or that could not be learned in school. “To become Marketing Manager in a field that I did not know, I found similarities with sports training. I was curious, I trained on my own. I tested, I documented myself to create my own knowledge,” said Manon Pellet Marketing Manager at Hiboo.
They revealed that there are many ways to build your professional path, to each their own but a common thread is self-confidence and confidence earned by their teams that are the founding pillars for choosing a course and earning a position of responsibility. Émilie Gariel, ex-COO at Brennus Analytics, acknowledges, “the main thing is self-confidence. I am convinced that without this confidence, it is difficult for a woman to move forward, in Tech or in business management.” Charlène Lambert, Solution Manager at Evolution Energie stated, “I let myself be guided by what I liked: the sciences.”
Entrepreneur and leadership roles can sometimes be hard won in the face of adversity. To get to this level of responsibility, some overcame the obstacle of their own legitimacy and at one point decided that in order to move forward they had to sit at the decision table.
In the technology field, as in many places, it is common to have to deal with many unconscious external prejudices. Charlotte Fanneau noted, “In my professional interactions outside of the company, I have often been in a meeting and felt through looks and words that I was not taken seriously. It fades very quickly when the interlocutors realize that I have mastered my subject.” Charlène Lambert, adds “in engineering school, the question of gender did not arise. In the professional sphere, sometimes clients question my competence because I am a woman. I must then demonstrate that I know what I am talking about and that I am competent.”
Unconsciously, society expects from women, among other things, gentleness and benevolence. Would this be a compatible trait of an entrepreneur? In her essay ‘We should all be feminists’, author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie observes that when you are a woman, you are not to “get carried away.” Anne-Charlotte Vuccino, Founder and CEO of Yogist, remembers “when you are an entrepreneur and a manager, if you are a little authoritarian or you give direction directly, as men entrepreneurs do, you are looked at as ‘too harsh’ or ‘not soft enough’ or a woman who wants to control everything. Whereas a man in a leadership position who does this will be valued and admired.” In business, however, positions of responsibility inevitably involve states of stress and strict guidelines where firm direction is needed to prosper.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie also notes that women must prove their worth and skills when they want to practice in fields ‘where they are not traditionally expected.’ Émilie Gariel remembers that the startup in which she worked was chosen to accompany the French delegation of startups in China following one of her pitches. She says “if I had been a man, yes, I would perhaps have been less easily spotted, but if I had been a man, I would not have been asked to be so brilliantly spoken. We have to be strong enough because we are much less forgiven for being bad.”
Wangari Muta Maathai biologist, teacher and environmentalist, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2004 affirmed that “the more you assume responsibility, the fewer women there are,” this is still true today in many areas of responsibility, including technology. Changing this conscious or unconscious “social norm” is everyone’s business. Many innovative companies in the tech industry are building the world of tomorrow. That world and this industry needs women. At SAP.iO we believe diversity yields better innovation. It would be a shame to create the future without those who are underrepresented today and miss out on the next big thing, the thing that could quite possibly move the world forward.
A question posed to the group is how they think we can ensure that women entrepreneurs are no longer an exception? As you can imagine, this is a question they hear often, and the answer involves the education of both girls and boys at school, at home, and in society. When recruiting or assigning responsibilities, we should focus on individual capacities and interests rather than on gender. Increasing the number of women entrepreneurs also requires having more role models of women in these roles: images, communications, making it known. If we see images repeatedly, we get used to it, it will become. If we see women going on stage, speaking in public, participating in roundtables, leading companies, repeatedly, then it will become standard and perhaps encourage others to get started on following their dream.
Approximately 20% of women work in tech startups and they can all become role models. Let us invite them to pitch and speak out more often than they currently do. SAP.iO encourages founders of startups to give voice to women as much as possible. Yes, it takes time, it requires asking questions when organizing an event, it requires mindfulness. Little by little we can help to change the perspective of underrepresented entrepreneurs and remember that there are no “small steps” in terms of diversity, that next step could indeed do that next crack in the ceiling.
At SAP.iO we believe diversity yields better innovation and we are proud that 50% of the startups we work with have a female or underrepresented founder/CXO. Learn more and visit https://sap.io/noboundaries/
