Girls Just Wanna Have Funds

Seed capital fund SheEO has one goal in mind: to create a new model for female entrepreneurs and a better world in the process. Yvonne van Dongen caught up with the Kiwi women who’ve benefitted from the revolutionary fund

“Everything is broken, what a great time to be alive.” The catch-cry of serial entrepreneur and SheEO founder Vicki Saunders not only captures the zeitgeist of the #MeToo movement, the Women’s March and the recognition of the disparity between women and men, but also signals change is afoot. Vicki is determined women will drive that change. As the founder of women-led seed capital fund, SheEO, the Canadian entrepreneur was in New Zealand to start our own branch of her successful alternative investment model. In fact, New Zealand is the first country outside North America to establish SheEO. NEXT helped promote the World Women gathering where participants first heard about SheEO and we were there when it became a reality last year.

SheEO operates on the principal of radical generosity. Five hundred women contribute $1100 each to establish a perpetual funding pool. It’s not an investment in the traditional sense of the word. There is no return for investors (called activators) other than knowing they have aided another woman to grow their business. The fund offers interest-free loans for up to five women-led businesses to be repaid over a five-year period.

This assistance is vital since women receive a mere 4% of venture capital funding, says businesswoman Theresa Gattung, who led the establishment of SheEO in New Zealand after meeting Vicki in 2016 in San Francisco.

And, Theresa adds, less than 1% of corporate purchases are made at women-led businesses and less than 19% of business news mentions ventures by women. All around the world, it is always more difficult for women-led businesses to sell into companies and to raise finance. SheEO assistance means women will no longer have to wait for permission from men.