Photo Credit: Sebastiaan ter Burg
Female entrepreneurship is much more than a social issue. Now it is an economic one with a rising generation of ‘mumpreneurs’ going out and challenging the existing gender imbalance of business.
Building confidence
“One of the main problems with female entrepreneurship is that often women find it hard to ask for money even from their relatives and friends. They just don’t feel confident enough. But if you do not ask, how can you receive?” founder of Mums Mean Business Babou Olengha-Aaby asks.
A crowdfunding platform Mums Mean Business marries social and economic causes to bring up a new generation of female entrepreneurs. Multifunctional cushions for pregnant women, ginger juice from Ivory Coast and other female-run projects have already panned out on the platform. And in the next six months this Norwegian-based platform is going global with the aim of engaging the crowd around why female entrepreneurship matters. They also on the hunt to find 100 impact based women owned business to launch their 2.0 platform with in 2015.
The purpose of the platform is to unleash and invest in women’s economic empowerment through entrepreneurship as a catalyst for positive change in the world. We want to make women believe that their idea is worthy to turn into a business plan and can turn a profit. “Women need more than just money. They need access to skills and training (e.g. in marketing, legal, IP advice), access to networks, access markets and much more. We are rethink and redefining crowdfunding so that we can providing them with all these tools. There will be no more excuses not to give it a go,” explains Babou Olengha-Aaby.
Business is a team work
Mums Mean Business aims to build a Mentor and Ambassador programs where every starting mumpreneur gets support from those women who already run successful businesses. Crowdsourcing will happen in real time by encouraging women to contribute with their time and skills to help campaigns to take off the ground.
Founder of Mums Mean Business has no doubts that for running a business you do not need an MBA. What is a must-have though is building a good team. “Don’t be afraid of people who are more intelligent than you. And please don’t do crowdfunding on your own. You will need support. It’s 100 times more demanding than you think but 1000 times more rewarding”
In the next 6 months Mums Mean Business intends to reposition themselves as the world’s first Impact Crowdfunding Platform with the bold aim of raising a 1 billion dollar ‘crowdfunded fund’ for female entrepreneurs on their new platform. Feasible? “Investing in women is a win-win for everybody. It is an investment in all of us – it’s an investment in our common future. It’s about growing and creating value for our local, national and global economies,” says Babou Olengha-Aaby.
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