Investors
Clover Lewis reviews the recent The NextWomen Pitch Event and outlines some helpful tips for pitchpreneurs from the experts on the judging panel.
You have a winning product or service, a killer business strategy, an exceptional team… and now you need investment to move your business to realise greater aims. How can you assure that when you have the opportunity to speak to ‘business angels’ and investors your content and delivery stand out enough to have them fund you?
By participating in The NextWomen’s Pitch Event, as either a guest or pitch-entrepreneur, you can get closer to perfecting your pitch monologue and have engaging dialogues with investors who may be in a position to offer capital to support business growth.
The NextWomen LATAM Theme.
As an Internet entrepreneur and investor, Fabrice Grinda has successfully transposed, adapted and invested in business ideas between the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America.
In March of 2006, Fabrice co-founded OLX, Inc. with business partner Alec Oxenford, in the hopes of building the largest free local classified site in the world. Until December 2012, as co-CEO, Fabrice drove the company’s business development, investor relations, M&A and product development efforts. OLX now has over 300 employees and is present in over 90 countries and 50 languages with over 150 million unique visitors per month.
Fabrice is also a prolific angel investor with over 100 active investments in various companies including Viajanet, Peopleperhour, Brightroll, and many others.
The NextWomen Career Theme: Venture Capital.
For this month’s theme, we will be interviewing a number of women from around the globe who have reached the top of the world’s most prestigious and/or male dominated professions. This is the story of Lila Ibrahim, a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
Lila Ibrahim is currently an Operating Partner and Chief of Staff at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and works across the firm’s digital and greentech portfolios, leading KPCB's business development efforts, key partnerships and strategic initiatives for the firm and its portfolio companies..
We are so excited to publish this 12-part series by angel investor
Elizabeth Crowell, which will examine the various fundraising/financing options
for starting and growing a business.
I wrote a provocative post a few months ago, titled "Go ahead and start a business, just use your credit card!" Sarcasm aside, as a business owner and angel investor, I am in the trenches of how businesses are financed and funded and as much I would like to report that as an entrepreneur you can choose to spend 100% of your time the way you wish, the truth is you may well devote significant time and energy to securing capital over the life of your business. And it's no newsflash that capital raising is a tremendously time-consuming aspect of launching and running a business, as many entrepreneurs will gladly complain to you.
But that doesn't mean you should pause in your quest to open your own business. Rather, it means you need to educate yourself about your options and wisely match your needs to market opportunities. Obviously, this is easier said than done, which is why NextWomen has asked me to outline the landscape for funding and financing for new businesses, soup to nuts, in a 12 article series. So if you have thought about starting a business, or already have the game-changing idea spec’d out, it's high time you acquaint yourself with the financing and funding landscape.
Consider this series your map, as you wade into the ever-changing funding territory.
Guest article by Mike Lebus, co-founder of Angel Investment Network. Part of The NextWomen Africa Theme.
Africa has received a lot of interest from VC’s in the last few years as it continues to develop. The ever growing number of accelerators, tech hubs and angel networks appearing across Africa are further proof that entrepreneurship is flourishing in the region. The tech, web, mobile and telecommunications sectors in particular are showing tremendous growth and are attracting a lot of interest from venture capitalists.
Here is a list of 15 venture capital firms (some home-grown and some foreign) looking to take advantage of the opportunities Africa has to offer.
The NextWomen Finance Theme.
Priyanka Gill is an angel investor, lifestyle blogger and journalist based in London.
We are honoured and delighted to publish this guest piece from the Founder of Women's World Banking, the world's first women's microfinance network, which has a portfolio $7 billion, savings of $3.5 billion and serves 26 million clients, 80% of whom are women.
Published as part of this month's theme of Finance.
MIchaela Walsh is an activist, scholar, mentor, educator, and author. She has been a pioneer female manager for Merrill Lynch, the first female partner at Boettcher & Co, and the founding president of Women’s World Banking. She taught at Manhattanville College, served on the Boards of several institutions, and was chairperson of the 59th United Nations DPI/NGO Conference in 2006. She has received numerous awards, including an honor in 2012 from Women’s Funding Network for changing the face of philanthropy.
On the publication of her book, Founding a Movement: Women’s World Banking 1975-1990, which tells an extraordinary story of a grass roots movement that changed countless women's lives, The NextWomen asked Michaela to reflect on the changing times and the book.
Laura Greb, as reporter for The Next Women, visited The
Women 2.0 PITCH NYC 2012 Conference and Competition; it marked a jam-packed day of empowering
speakers who have started and successfully led companies in the tech space. She reports:
Women entrepreneurs are starting to take the industry by storm and as Natalia Oberti Noguera, Founder and CEO of PipelineFellows, stated:
“If you have an opportunity to -- just say YES”
Studies have proven that successful women entrepreneurs start their businesses as a second or third profession. Studies also showed women are assembling into business networks, where members pull together resources and expertise. Time and time again, women have proven to be driven, ruthless, storytellers, cheerleaders, remarkable communicators and mentors.
Guest post by Natalia Martinez.
I recently attended a networking event organized by The NextWomen magazine. The event itself was an “Investment Pitch” evening in which a number of start-up companies had the opportunity to present their business plans to a diverse audience and a real panel of investors.
It was my first time at a The NextWomen event and an experience that I would recommend to any budding female entrepreneur.
I was straight away amazed by the venue itself. The event was sponsored by Orrick and took place at their office in the heart of the City of London. An elegant and sophisticated building with a nice bright conference room all for ourselves.
The event followed a tight agenda, with keynotes from a female entrepreneur and a female investor framing the challenges women face as they strive to bcome successful in business, followed by seven startup pitches. Each presentation lasted for 3 minutes followed by five minutes Q&A from a panel composed of a mixture of non-executive directors, CEOs, entrepreneurs and business angels).
One of The NextWomen contributors is one of the most vocal and visible female angel investors: Joanne Wilson. Her blog, the Gotham Gal, is a great read and we are happy to publish the interviews she conducts with female startups she meets in her daily life. Now it's her turn to be interviewed, here is an interview produced by Business Insider.
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