Raise Your Money Game

FemWealth Issue #12

May 30, 2021

Women are risk-averse, women aren't as good at math, women don't like investing, women need more financial education. Every one of those is untrue, with the exception that everybody needs more financial education. - Sallie Krawcheck, Co-founder & CEO of Ellevest & Chair of Ellevate Network

Money is genderless. Yet, women own only 32% of the world’s wealth. Women, in particular those from underrepresented groups, earn significantly less than their male counterparts. Investment and confidence gaps impact women’s financial management and wellbeing.

These are systemic issues rooted in centuries, even millennia-old socioeconomic, political, and cultural dynamics. Things are changing, but way too slow.

Despite generating USD 0.78 in revenue (compared to USD 0.31 for male-run businesses) for every USD 1 investment, women-owned startups raised only 3% of global venture funding. In the FinTech industry, only 1% of total investment went to women-founded startups in the last decade.

It’s time for us women to take an active role in managing our finances, maximizing our earning potential, investing in and shaping financial technologies and markets. Women like you and me can accelerate change and unlock massive potential for ourselves and generations to come.

What is your money mindset and skillset? Are you investing in the financial markets? Are you familiar with state-of-the-art technologies? If you, like me, haven’t thought much about these topics so far, it’s time to raise your money game.

Let’s learn from some of the best:

Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, former Chair and Managing Director of the IMF

If Lehman Brothers had been a bit more Lehman Sisters, we would not have had the degree of tragedy that we had as a result of what happened.

A woman of many firsts, Christine Lagarde, is the first person to lead two of the world’s most important financial institutions: the IMF (2011-2019) and the ECB (since 2019). As Finance Minister of France, she was the first woman to lead a G7 finance ministry. Before that, Lagarde was the first woman chair of the international law firm Baker McKenzie.

There’s another theme to her career: crisis management. Lagarde became Finance Minister of France during the global financial crisis, Head of IMF right before the Eurozone crisis, and President of the ECB a few months before the coronavirus pandemic struck. She is a vocal advocate for bringing more women into economics and political leadership.

🎥 Christine Lagarde on climate, jobs, women and divergence | FT

🎥 ECB President Christine Lagarde on PEPP, EU Aid, Digital Euro: Full Interview

🎧 The ECB Podcast: Fighting biases and empowering women in conversation with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission

Follow Christine Lagarde on Twitter & LinkedIn

Kathryn ("Katie") Haun, General Partner Andreessen Horowitz, former US Federal Prosecutor, Board Member at Coinbase

A successful attorney based in San Francisco, Katie Haun participated in the investigation that led to the dismantling of the Silk Road drug ring. While probing a rogue federal agent, one of her tasks was to examine Bitcoin and blockchain technology.

Seeing the potential of these technologies for criminal investigation, Haun and her team kept a close eye on the fast-growing world of cryptocurrencies. She founded the U.S. government’s first cryptocurrency task force out of the Justice Department. As part of her role, she worked with up-and-coming startups to better understand digital currencies and decentralized systems. In 2017, Coinbase, one of those companies, convinced her to join as an independent board member.

Katie Haun became the first female General Partner of the famed Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz in 2018, where she focuses on crypto. She also teaches at Stanford Business School.

🎧 Katie Haun on the Dark Web, Gangs, Investigating Bitcoin, and The New Magic of “Nifties” (NFTs) in conversation with Tim Ferriss

🎥 3 Common Myths People Have About Crypto

📖 Katie Haun on saying yes to Coinbase and where a16z’s crypto fund is placing its bets now

Follow her on Twitter

Tomilola Adejana, Co-founder and CEO at Bankly

Financial independence is directly proportional to women being able to stand up for themselves, no matter your level of education.

Fintech entrepreneur Tomilola Adejana’s startup Bankly, is on a mission is to digitize the money inflows and outflows for Nigeria’s unbanked (farmers, market traders, and women). In Nigeria alone, over 60 million people lack digital identification, credit, and health insurance.

Bankly offers its clients the opportunity to transform their mobile phones into digital wallets. Operating through an agent network, Bankly digitizes cash, thus enabling its clients to access financial services by using simple feature phones.

One of the fastest-growing startups in Nigeria, Bankly has recently closed a $2M Seed round. The company’s goal is to lift two million Nigerians out of poverty over the next five years by providing access to digital financial services, stimulating economic growth, and improving living standards for millions of citizens.

📖 Why Access is not Inclusion

📖 Nigerian fintech of the unbanked Bankly raises $2M led by Vault

🎥 TRADITIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES EXCLUDE A MAJORITY OF NIGERIANS

Follow her on Twitter

Ximena Aleman, Co-founder & Co-CEO at Prometeo

Ximena Aleman is one of the leading FinTech executives in South America. With a background in journalism and communications, she co-founded Prometeo, in 2018. It grew into Latin America’s largest Open Bank system.

Prometeo’s mission is to create an open and connected financial market in Latin America. Active in México, Colombia, Brazil and 6 more countries of the region, Prometeo provides a single point of access to information, transactions and payments across more than 30 financial institutions and 45 APIs.

📖 Women Are Leading Latin America’s Fintech Revolution

📖 LatAM Women in Fintech: Ximena Aleman From Prometeo

📖 Startup fundraising is the most tangible gender gap. How can we overcome it?

Follow her on Twitter

Kristina Walcker-Mayer, CEO & CPO at Nuri

Before becoming CEO of Nuri (formerly Bitwala) in April, Kristina Walcker-Mayer built a successful career in Product Management in European scale-ups such as N26 and Zalando. Nuri's mission is to empower people to manage and grow their wealth through innovative technologies, including cryptocurrencies.