Women, technology, and sustainability
Women, tech, sustainability – all buzzwords at the moment. But Noleen Mariappen, Impact Entrepreneur and Advisor, can tell you that the journey for a woman in the tech space is far from all buzz!
For the most part, society expects women to fulfil roles that are caring, nurturing, and supportive of community. When exploring the role of women in the arena of sustainability, to many it seems ‘natural’ that women would take up the mantle of leading the charge on non-profit work. For decades, the part of ‘doing good’ fell squarely on the shoulders of community projects and non-profits. Times have changed, and now there is an increasing move toward businesses being accountable and playing their part in benefiting people and the planet.
It is also being recognised that in order to scale positive impact, we have to be both prepared, and able to allocate the financial resources to achieve the scale needed to be able to make a meaningful difference. Unfortunately, here the non-profit model falls short, and creates an even greater need for us to look toward business and multi-stakeholder approaches to be able to deliver.
It follows that there would also be a natural movement of those who work in the non-profit space toward business with purpose. Mindsets are changing, and while society and the planet faces a significant number of challenges, we are also presented with a plethora of opportunities which allow for us to align profit with purpose.
Women in tech
There has definitely been a significant move toward more women entering in STEM-related learning and career opportunities but even within this scope, there are certain pockets of careers where there is greater balance, while others are a long way off.
Challenges such as lack of role models and mentors, support in progression pathways and a general bias in viewing women as less competent, skilled, credible, and capable are major factors. When I first started working on the plan for our platform – Impactoverse – I approached it with a level of idealism. I wanted to do my part to address the gap and set about trying to find female blockchain developers to work on building the platform.
Reality soon kicked in when I spent months on this quest, putting the launch plan at risk. Where are we at now? We have a predominantly male team, and I work hard to focus on the difference I can make after we launch to address global issues, rather than feeling like I’ve settled. Yes, it still gets to me that the market didn’t allow for me to be able to make the hiring choices I would have liked to, but a part of affecting change is knowing which battles to fight and when you are best placed to fight them.
Funding for women in sustainability tech
We’ve all heard statistics around the inequitable nature of funding for certain categories of founders, but this is amplified when we look at tech startups founded by women, and their ability to access funding.
Women make up only 33% of employees in the tech space, and this puts them at a disadvantage from the outset. Of this, only a small percentage will consider the entrepreneurial route, and with a staggeringly small number of female founders funded in any sector, there is even less opportunity to address the disparities in tech startups. Even fewer women still will step outside of their comfort zone, and explore opportunities as founders in tech, if they don’t already have a background in this space.
While there may be a number of women working within the sustainability space, for us to truly be able to scale impact we need to embrace innovation. Innovation, for the most part, hinges on technology. The limitations and bias that results in less women being active in the space leads to an engendered inequality of opportunity both for women to be involved in driving sustainability-focused innovation through technology, and also gaining access to funding.
I know a number of you may be wondering, ‘What’s all the fuss about? Does it matter who is making the world better?’ There are a couple of key points to raise on this. Firstly, if we don’t address equality, then whatever better version of the world there is, is it better for everyone equally? Secondly, we have to consider who we generally rely on to make things better – to adopt caring and nurturing practices and to bear a responsibility for people (and the planet). Without the intention of stereotyping, undoubtedly, most would think of women to fulfil these roles. This being the case, and if it is indeed true that when women succeed, they take community with them, then it is imperative that women are not just involved in sustainability efforts, but that they take the charge on leading these.
Undeniably, there are obstacles, and we will encounter these every step of the way, but to make the difference we want we have to overcome the challenges that face us, and we have to collectively support each other and fight to be recognised for our efforts.
Sustainability is about people, planet, and profit. Through innovation and profit, we can scale sustainable solutions. We have to step forward and step up. We know what is needed for change in the world, now we need to be brave, go out there, and make it happen!
Talk is easy…what have i done?
I’ve done a lot but not enough! I started working in strategy and operations, looking at project and programme development and focusing heavily on supporting non-profits and community projects. I realised that there was mostly a continuous cycle of firefighting, with limited resource to make the difference that was necessary for any long-term change.
My thinking changed along with my approach, and I started consulting with businesses – developing strategies and plans to
increase profitability while aligning with sustainability outcomes and greater impact. I saw so much opportunity for more to be done by establishing trust and leveraging technology, community, and collaboration, and this is how Impactoverse was born. Alongside Co-Founder Kala Philo, our aim is to bridge the digital divide while facilitating a next generation impact marketing ecosystem that allows for brands, creators, influencers, and supporters to collaborate for impact AND profit.
We make it easy for brands to collaborate with vetted impact initiatives, while simultaneously offering services that enable them to engage in a Web 3 (and beyond) world. Everything that we do supports impact, with transparent and measurable outcomes. We’ve experienced all of the usual challenges – acquiring talent, gaining buy-in, having our idea better received when pitched by men rather than ourselves, and considering how we juggle earning to keep the lights on while we build the dream!
We persevere, mostly bootstrapped, and excited that we’re arriving at a minimum viable product (MVP) launch date soon! (October, here we come!) Our first project will be PetDrops with the Girls School of Austin, and we would love other brands, agencies, non-profits and causes to get in touch to explore the ways in which we can help them build community, grow earnings, and scale impact.
Surround yourself and seek support from trusted advisers like Avery Law that are engrained in the startup ecosystem and specialise in supporting startups to scale, get yourself good advice, make your startup attractive to investors, and you will grow and succeed.
This article originally appeared in the Sept/Oct issue of Startups Magazine. Click here to subscribe.
