My advice on fostering inclusion, in line with this year’s International Women’s Day theme, is centered on the importance of creating an inclusive workspace for women. Establishing such an environment is essential for the success of your business. Companies that embrace diversity not only capture a larger market share but also gain a competitive edge when accessing new markets. A diverse sales force is better equipped to understand and respond to the needs and preferences of buyers. People want to see themselves represented at the companies they buy from. Ultimately, diverse and inclusive views contribute to better decision-making, and drive a high-performance culture.
At Quill, we take pride in our commitment to diversity, with 90% of our executive team and over 85% of our overall team being women-identifying. I truly credit our success to the strength of our diverse team. However, despite women constituting 60% of college graduates, only 3% hold leadership positions worldwide. This glaring disparity underscores the need for continued efforts to address this imbalance – we have a long way to go!
An area that I’d like to see drastically improve for women in the innovation space is fundraising. While navigating the fundraising process is challenging for everyone, women face a constant uphill battle. In 2020, billions of dollars of global venture capital were invested in tech startups, and female founders received just 2.3 per cent of that. It isn’t getting better – according to Pitchbook, all-women teams received 1.9 per cent of available venture capital funding in 2022, and when you break it down further, women of colour received 0.39 per cent. It is imperative that as an ecosystem, we go above and beyond to uplift women founders, connect them with funders, and encourage more women to actively participate in the venture capitalist space.
Fatima Zaidi
CEO and Founder of Quill & CoHost
Fatima Zaidi is the CEO and Founder of Quill & CoHost. Quill is an award-winning content marketing agency, specializing in branded podcast content for leading global brands including Interac, PWC, Microsoft and Expedia. CoHost, a podcast growth and analytics tool used by customers like Heart & Stroke, TD, and Interac.
