Promotion fund planned New women’s network for start-ups

As of: 06/17/2021 1:58 p.m.

Women are a rarity in the boardrooms of young companies. As a study shows, this is also due to the corporate culture. A new network wants to change that. According to a study, women rarely make it to the top of listed start-ups. “The young companies repeat the design flaws of the previous generation: They grow without women,” said Wiebke Ankersen and Christian Berg, heads of the non-profit AllBright Foundation. The German-Swedish organization advocates more women and diversity in management positions. The proportion of women on the executive floor at the ten companies that were founded in the past 15 years and are represented in the DAX index family is 5.4 percent. For the 160 companies in the DAX, MDAX and SDAX, the average is 12.6 percent.

FAQ 06/11/2021

Law for more women on boards Which companies now have to act

In future, women must be given greater consideration when filling board positions.

Men dominate

According to the study, the top young companies, with the exception of the online furniture retailer Home24 and the pharmaceutical company Medios, are almost exclusively made up of men. “The founders often surround themselves with people who are very similar to them and hold on to them,” says the study.

Delivery Hero is the only company in the top stock exchange league that still specifies the “target size zero”. This means that the DAX company has so far been planning the board of directors without women. The company declares that the composition of the management board has proven itself. “Of course, this does not rule out an increase in the proportion of women at this management level.”

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Politicians decide on new quotas

A draft law recently passed by the Bundestag stipulates that in future at least one woman must sit on the board in listed and codetermine companies with more than 2000 employees and more than three board members. This must be taken into account when filling new posts.

According to the draft law, other companies that do not fall under the requirement should justify in future if they plan to run the board without women. If this does not happen, fines are to be threatened.

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New investment network for start-ups

In order to support women in setting up companies, around 60 managers from large corporations and politicians have set up a network of women supporters. With their association encourageventures they want to accompany “female founders from the founding idea to the IPO” if at least one woman belongs to the founding team, explains initiator Ina Schlie.

For this purpose, the establishment of an “all-female growth fund” worth 100 to 200 million euros is planned, from which the support will be provided. Startups run by women have a harder time raising capital. “According to the Female Founders Monitor 2020, only five percent of the female founders’ teams have already received one million euros or more in external capital,” said Alexa Gorman from the software company SAP. “In the case of the founding teams, on the other hand, it is around 30 percent.” In addition to Schlie and Gorman, the network includes, among others, the former Minister of Economic Affairs Brigitte Zypries, the head of freight transport at Deutsche Bahn, Sigrid Nikutta, and Douglas boss Tina Müller