“Courage is the only thing you need to succeed”
24 January 2025
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What do we need to do to overcome the gender imbalance in startups and investment? This video gives answers from businesswomen, investors, startup leaders and supporters from the EIT Community.
Filmed at the INNOVEIT Conference and SLUSH 2024 in Helsinki
At the INNOVEIT Conference, women shared their experiences, strategies and stories with an audience of almost 300 participants. The conference took place one day before SLUSH opened its doors as one of THE European events that bring together startups and investors.
Several key encouragements may have come just in time: “Courage is the only thing you need to succeed”, said Monika Liikamaa, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of fintech company Enfuce. Inga Grieger, Managing Director & Business Development Manager at BMW i Ventures encouraged the audience: “Don’t be too shy to ask for help!”
INNOVEIT Conference revisited – LinkedIn article series
The EIT Community’s INNOVEIT Conference showcased ideas, opportunities and the power of women entrepreneurs to drive meaningful change.
The event provided a platform for speakers and panellists to address gender balance in startups and investment. Conversations highlighted the need for systemic change and personal evolution, encouraging women to seize opportunities, shift narratives and lead with confidence. Inspiring talks and dynamic panel discussions shed light on how increasing the number of women investors and founders could profoundly impact gender equality across industries.
A series of articles on LinkedIn summarises the conference. You can find all articles in the Industry Insights Newsletter from EIT Manufacturing or each article below.
At SLUSH, everybody enjoyed the buzz of the EIT Community booth and the conversations with people from a range initiatives and Knowledge and Innovation Communities. See the list below for more information!
Background
The EIT Community fosters women entrepreneurship, because it makes sense to leverage women’s potential. Women make up 51% of the world’s population, but only 2% of venture capital goes to women-led startups, 5% of venture capital goes to startups with mixed leadership teams and only 13% of investors are women.
Through programmes and initiatives, the EIT Community shows that this can change: In startups or scaleups which are supported by the EIT Community, 27% of CEOs or owners are women, and 25% of created startups are led or owned by women.
As Europe’s largest innovation network uniting diverse nationalities, ages, abilities and genders, the EIT Community believes in the power of diversity and gender equality. Learn more about our programmes: https://eit.europa.eu/library/eit-gender-equality-factsheet
For more inspiration from the conference, watch the recording!
Pioneering women: driving innovation and investment in Europe
Recording from the INNOVEIT Conference, 19 November 2024, Helsinki