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The untold truth about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion : France and Luxembourg perspectiveshttps://www.airmeet.com/e/e03d82d0-c24d-11eb-bb85-e3212a06b8c5

JoyceM'sJoyceM·Jun 28, 2021
Posted in:EventsDiversity, Equity & InclusionVendors & Products
From May 2019 - June 2021 I’ve worked relentlessly in an effort to break into Venture Capital coming from an entrepreneurial background, having worked at an European scale up, spearheading a technology that will later be massively copied across geographies (France, China, the US). I was let go at some point and seeking a brighter career path. I knew the next step would be to move into Venture Capital. Not out of the hype back in 2019. Rather based on my lived entrepreneurship unfair advantage. When I discovered one of the first programs centered around normalizing access to venture capital for non-finance (investment banking, management consulting) profiles. I straightforwardly jumped in. Applied, all confident I’ll be in. I failed to get through twice for two consecutive years. I interviewed with a top tier evergreen fund in Luxembourg. I failed through. Was I dismissed the opportunity to access that circle. Yes. I think I still am in this vulnerable position. Yet I didn’t let this take a toll on me. After taking 400 job application rejections to senior jobs. I made my mind to let that pain go and look at creating my own table. I was left that only option. Writing today I still consider that I have no other viable option. If Venture Capital wasn’t easy to get in from the front door, I considered building that door and the house and furnishing the whole shebang! It’s a journey that’s quite exhilarating, requires time, grit, passion and a deep purpose for doing it. Here’s why, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion discourses are served at a table where the only one talking about it aren’t experiencing what it means to suffer from systemic racism, in daily lives, finding a job opportunity, finding a flat, strolling in a hyped boutique coming from a skin blend, bearing a voice accent, an educational background that’s fairly non-elitist, it gets worse when one’s aspire to create value, wealth launching a venture in a broader sense (a shop, a restaurant, don’t even mentioned tech). Of course, we could argue some are doing it and are successful. Yes, I won’t deny it! It’s great. Yet for a couple who succeed forcefully and fiercely, how many see their ventures (running companies) being disregarded, scrutinized with an ethnicity lens and denied access to capital purely most often by individuals whose aims are nothing close to building wealth? I would understand that the wealth creation path especially in tech is highly guarded and gated, who would like to see it’s empire disrupted by a newcomer, but for a track record, disruption has been part of world economics for ages. Apple does get that by buying out it’s employee venture strengthening its market dominant position. Whiting the French and Luxembourgish tech ecosystem, we accept to talk about Diversity and Inclusion, all of the sudden Equity has disappeared. What truly is Equity? We all have a sense of what that is even for non financials. Yet, in these two ecosystems meant at creating wealth, non-one seems to worry about the fact that equity has been eclipsed out of the conservation. Equity in finance is ownership of assets that may have debts or other liabilities attached to them. Equity is measured for accounting purposes by subtracting liabilities from the value of the assets. The terms can be recouped in “Private Equity”, implied in “stakeholder”, “shareolders”. Equity, typically referred to as shareholders' equity (or owners' equity for privately held companies), represents the amount of money that would be returned to a company’s shareholders if all of the assets were liquidated and all of the company's debt was paid off in the case of liquidation.In France we have traded Equity for Parity or Equal opportunities. I question what equal opportunities are being talked about? Who does Parity apply to? In Luxembourg, DEI has been skipped to talk about Parity, ESG, Impact investing, Patient capital. To whom does this apply to? With some hindsight, the selective vehicles through which one creates equity are venture creation and wealth creation. Many fall into the venture creation pool to later experience that venture creation is meant at the wealthiest in an ecosystem where the decision makers are nothing close to diverse at all, coming from elitist universities and business schools across the globe. Wealth creation goes through often complex mechanisms Venture Capital, Syndications, Private Equity in a broader sense… The same talent pool is being reflected in it.What does that mean for the brave, bold and enduring talented entrepreneurs who aspire to change their lives and that of millions by creating marketable products in tech with a different skin tone, voice tone, non-elitist background, who can’t afford a $25,000 - $400,000 tuition fees at an ivy league university? Or travel to Y Combinator, 500 startups and are located outside of the US, outside of global metropolitan tech hubs (London, Paris, Israel… you name it), lack the back door network to shift their venture from 0 to hero? How can they see their vision come to birth, unfold, develop, grow and mature within Venture Capital ecosystems that are increasingly de-risking their investment, picking stocks from a linear funnel?I still have these questions unanswered and will be happy to read your replies. I aspire to a swift and sweeping change in answering these questions. I therefore started to pen the answer building Audax Alliance a capital enablement platform funneling capital into diverse tech founders from France and Luxembourg. In that line of work, I am launching the first platform edition Audax Alliance Virtual Summit - Sept 18th 2021 bringing together select European & US Funders and Founders from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities to meet and talk about advancing the state of capital allocation to diverse founders in Europe. There’s a need not to eclipse Black & diverse European entrepreneurship with the recent burst of Google Black Founder Fund or Softbank Emergere Accelerator, because they are stock picking, when the prevalent truth about the ecosystem I live in is that we need to first and foremost build domestic equities then turn them into stocks for a global market of venture capitalists without blind spots. If hearing more about that bold perspective is relevant to you. I encourage you to register for Audax Alliance Virtual Summit, bring your Friends & Family network as well. We are inclusive. If you can’t join, yet like what you read, the mission, the vision, the writer's opinion and would like to advise, support, sponsor. Please email me ([email protected]). I’ll reply as always. I’m Jessye Mouangué Bimono you can DM me on LinkedIn.
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