Celebrating Female Success in Fintech: A Conversation with Anne Boden
For International Women’s Day (IWD) this year, we had the privilege of speaking with Anne Boden, a trailblazer in the fintech world and a powerful advocate for female entrepreneurs. Boden, who founded Starling Bank a decade ago, stepped down as CEO in June of last year, but her journey is far from over. Recently, she launched her third book, Female Founders’ Playbook: Insights from the Superwomen Who Made It, and released a report from the Women-Led High-Growth Enterprise Taskforce, which she chairs.
The Taskforce and Its Mission
The Women-Led High-Growth Enterprise Taskforce was established 18 months ago with a clear mission: to address the significant funding disparity faced by female-led businesses. According to the taskforce’s report, only 2p of every £1 of equity investment in the UK goes to fully female-founded businesses—a statistic that has remained stagnant for the past decade. Boden highlights a troubling trend even within mixed-gender founding teams, noting that “when they go to female-balanced teams, it’s surprising how much of that equity goes to the male part of the team rather than the female part.”
The taskforce aims to tackle the lack of women-led high-growth enterprises by identifying seven key opportunities for improvement. These include ensuring that “women-led high-growth enterprises” are genuinely led by women, increasing diversity among senior investment professionals, and inspiring girls and women to pursue high-growth entrepreneurship. Boden emphasizes that the report is not just a collection of findings but a call to action for the industry to create a more equitable landscape.
Insights from the Female Founders’ Playbook
Boden’s new book serves as a companion piece to the taskforce’s findings, offering practical insights and advice for aspiring female entrepreneurs. She explains that many founders feel lost when starting their businesses, often lacking access to crucial information and networks. “It’s a playbook for everyone, but it’s told by successful women because things are a little different for us,” she says.
The book features contributions from prominent women in fintech, including June Angelides, Zandra Moore, and Deepali Nangia, who share their experiences and strategies for overcoming the unique challenges faced by women in the industry. Boden notes the importance of creating a supportive community, stating, “You’re either in the in-crowd, or you’re not,” which can alienate those who are new to the entrepreneurial space.
Addressing Funding Disparities
One of the most pressing issues highlighted in the taskforce report is the lack of funding for female entrepreneurs. The report reveals that female-led businesses are less likely to seek funding compared to their male counterparts, and when they do, they often receive smaller amounts. This situation is exacerbated for women from diverse backgrounds, with only 10 female black founders receiving venture capital funding between 2009 and 2019, accounting for a mere 0.02% of total VC funding.
Boden argues that the venture capital world operates without the same accountability mechanisms found in other sectors. “The lots of parts of our society now have rules and regulations that hold people to account. The VC world is not subject to those rules,” she states. To remedy this, the taskforce recommends increasing the number of woman-led high-growth enterprises and improving diversity among senior investment professionals, as female founders tend to receive more investment from female investors.
The Role of Women in Industry 5.0
Boden also emphasizes the potential for women to play a pivotal role in the upcoming ‘Industry 5.0,’ which is poised to revolutionize the way we interact with technology. She points out that in previous industrial revolutions, women were often sidelined once the technology became more complex. “In every previous industrial revolution, women were there at the beginning, but as soon as things got interesting, we were brushed out of the way,” she explains.
With the rise of technologies like artificial intelligence and deep learning, Boden believes that the next phase of industrial evolution offers a unique opportunity for women to engage as equals. “The world going forward is not going to depend on technology skills and coding skills because AI is going to do that. So there’s no reason why in Industry 5.0 women shouldn’t play an equal part,” she asserts.
A Vision for the Future
Boden’s vision extends beyond individual success stories; she envisions a future where women are integral to shaping the technological landscape. She challenges the notion of progress with a single perspective, asking, “Are we going to aim for that with one hand tied behind our back by only having men’s ideas and men’s businesses, or are we going to increase the 2% so women can play an equal part?”
Through her advocacy, writing, and leadership, Anne Boden is not just a figurehead in fintech; she is a catalyst for change, inspiring a new generation of female entrepreneurs to break barriers and redefine success in the industry.