Hilda N. Liswani is a sustainability leader with a focus on inclusive innovation. She has more than 10 years of experience working with policymakers, venture capitalists, corporations, and academics to develop, communicate, and implement sustainability strategies. Notable organizations include EPFL, the EU, the Mastercard Foundation, and Siemens. Through her organization WeBloom, she is passionate about diversity and inclusion to transform tech ecosystems around the world. She has been awarded the Queen's Young Leaders Award and honored as a Forbes 30 under 30. And as a Global Shaper for the World Economic Forum, she is part of a community of change makers. She believes that innovation can only reach its full potential if it involves everyone.
Numerous sustainability problems cannot be solved because many solutions are developed by women. But they only receive 1% VC investment.
Hilda, you are the Executive Director of WeBloom, a non-profit organization based in Zurich. What is your vision for this organization and how did WeBloom come about?
Our vision at WeBloom is pretty bold and ambitious. We want to transform global tech ecosystems around the world and make them more inclusive. We want them to reflect the society they claim to serve. All these products and services from tech companies designed to help us, the consumers. We want them to reflect society as a whole.
The reason WeBloom was created is because in the processes of tech development, tech investment, in all the different areas of the tech industry, there's just not enough inclusion of women and men or cultural minorities. And that's a really critical problem because tech impacts all of our lives.
What specific activities do you offer as part of WeBloom?
We support female founders who develop cool tech solutions but don't get the right support because of their gender. And also young women who want to get into the tech industry but unfortunately don't have the opportunity.
And then on the other side, we also work with actors who are driving these circumstances, like venture capital and tech companies. We help them integrate inclusive strategies into their business so that they develop better products and create a work culture that reflects an inclusive and diverse society.
Currently, only 20% of women are represented in Big Tech companies.
Currently, only 20% of women are represented in Big Tech companies.
In Europe, women receive only 1% of venture capital funding, in Silicon Valley it's 2%, in Africa the proportion is slightly higher. Why is this share so incredibly low?
Currently, the VC industry is a very male-dominated industry. Imagine 90% of VC investors are male. Their job is to find founders to invest in and make money from. But they have networks that are all male.
The other reason is that male VC investors have gained a one-dimensional image of what a successful founder looks like. So there is the stereotype of a successful investor as a white male. Venture capitalists have already formed an idea of what success looks like, and unfortunately, women or people of color just don't fit that stereotype. Studies have shown that with the same pitch made by a man and a woman, the man received more positive responses than the woman. With the same pitch, with the same pitch deck, the same information.
So yes, there is a connection between diversity, inclusion and sustainability that is obvious to some people but less so to others.
The relationship between diversity and sustainability? These seem like two very different issues, but they are connected: Most sustainability solutions are actually developed by women. On the investor side, among retail investors, women tend to be more interested in supporting sustainability projects. So they are the main drivers of sustainability. And, most sustainability startups are founded by women. If women develop most sustainability solutions and at the same time do not have access to the right funding, this means that many sustainability solutions do not come to market
What do you think are the consequences of not addressing these issues?
According to McKinsey, we will lose 26% of GDP if we don't integrate all women into the economy. And at the end of last year, the Linnean Report was published: a series of studies found that many female executives are currently leaving their jobs because they cannot reconcile them with their values.
And on a human level? If women are not able to participate, what does that mean for our society? What does that mean for the younger generation? How are women perceived on a daily basis? How do they experience their daily lives? So there are consequences on both the macro and micro levels.
When it comes to sustainability,
everyone should be able to participate
and succeed.
When it comes to sustainability,
everyone should be able to participate
and succeed.
Hilda is an award-winning social innovator and sustainability advocate. A Namibian with diplomat parents, she first lived in South Africa, Ethiopia, later in the United Kingdom and now in Zurich, Switzerland. Her passion for inclusive innovation has led her to work with organizations such as the European Union, Mastercard Foundation, Siemens and EPFL in developing and implementing their sustainability strategies. Awarded Forbes 30 Under 30 and Swiss Digital Shaper 2021 & 2022, she leads WeBloom, an organization that uses diversity and inclusion to transform the tech industry.
