Why women are still not able to access funding

Under-researched and under-funded, the women’s health sector lacks female investors. Yet, financial education remains taboo. Tanya Rolfe, co-founder of the educational platform Sophia, says it’s time for a change. 

A non-Asian woman running a venture capital fund in Southeast Asia is not usual. Tanya Rolfe became aware of the gender investment gap when she had to deal with the assumption that women in Asia have no place in finance.

“Why aren’t women able to access funding? Because most of the investors out there are men,” Rolfe says. “There is this flow of capital – from institutional investor down to fund manager down to founder – in an environment predominantly governed by men.

“As investors, we invest in businesses, products and services that we can relate to. Naturally, if you have 96 per cent male investors, there’s going to be very little investment in women’s health.”

Rolfe realised the need for financial education and in January, alongside her co-founders, launched Sophia, a Singapore-based learning platform that aims to increase diversity and inclusion in early-stage investing.

“There is very little financial literacy for anyone anywhere,” the co-founder tells me. “Our services cater to corporates interested in offering our financial courses to their employees, because there is a big need for financial education.

“I think I’ve been in a unique position where I’ve been able to make the connection between the gender health gap and the lack of funding and realise that I can do something about it.”

Research has found that only 17 per cent of women discuss saving, investing and planning for retirement while 50 per cent of women make about half as much money as their male counterparts.

“Women have got more money than ever before, they’re working more than ever before, they’ve got more disposable income than ever before, but they are massively untapped,” Tanya points out. “Because the financial ecosystem is all male-geared, it made sense for us to tap into that.”

Aside from financial education in the workplace, how important is early education?

“Very,” says Rolfe. “However, no one’s teaching you how to run your income and how to budget. Why would you ever think finance is important when no one talks about it? You get the impression that everyone else around you must know it, but in fact, no one does.

“All of your entire wellness starts with finance,” the co-founder insists. “Your financial health and your security and financial independence are extremely important because everything starts with your finances. We often don’t make that connection, but if you manage your money correctly, you can get to do more of the things you love in the long term.”

The gender gap is evident from a young age with boys being more often talked about money and investment than girls. This can however impact women further in life.

Tanya says because of that women are then excluded from the financial sector as adults.

“We need to raise our children to normalise money and normalise chats about money instead of perpetuating this mentality.”

Sophia offers various financial education courses in English that include basic personal money management and wealth building through investment. “Our aim is to engage women in a way they want to learn and engage with it because it’s so important,” Rolfe says.

“We have been busy creating courses, writing curriculum and getting ourselves organised and a few corporates have already reached out to us. We just secured our first two corporate clients and, while we are very much open to having our courses sold to individual women, I think Sophia will have a bigger impact in large corporates and organisations where it can impact so many more women.”

Tanya says that knowing that Sophia is part of a longer-term, sustainable solution that will make a difference in women’s future is what keeps her going. “I would love for Sophia to really conquer and see the number of women investing increase,” she adds.

“We would love to be the place where they can invest and we would love to support female founders in companies that matter to us. Financial concepts are the same all over the world and there is so much to do. This motivates us to push firmly ahead. ‘Where there is chaos or a gap, there is opportunity to change and make a difference.'”

To find out more, visit sophiawomen.com.