Business Chat – Bridging the Gap for Women Entrepreneurs

In this episode of Business Chat, BTA Editor, Greg Stewart, sits down with Karabo Makete and Kerryn Campion from Aion’s Ventures, a venture capital and investment company, to explore the persistent challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in securing business funding.

With August being the official Women’s month in South Africa, the chat deals with legacy issues in terms of building women led businesses and the need to bring business skills and entrepreneurial training to younger women.

Despite progress in policies and initiatives, women remain significantly underrepresented in funding allocations. The discussion delves into the importance of grassroots empowerment, the need for investment-ready businesses, and the role of confidence in pitching ideas.

We also bring exciting news of the launch of the Aions and Business Tech Africa Pitch for Progress business challenge that will be launched in women’s month, where we will be looking for the next women run business that will qualify for Aions business support and funding.

Join us as we uncover the barriers and opportunities in the landscape of female-led business funding.

Listen here:

Key Quotes:

Kerryn Campion:

“Women are traditionally risk-averse. So where a male counterpart will go out and get a loan for a business or put up collateral for a business, a woman won’t necessarily do that.”

“We said to ourselves, well, let’s rather be a part of the solution and not moan about the problem. And so really, Aions was born from a place of how do we create sustainable job opportunities?”

Karabo Makete:

“If we can teach women to be involved in entrepreneurship from a young age, they’ll grow with that confidence within themselves.”

“Women are still so far behind and still so far left out of the funding that is usually dispersed or given to companies.”