That sounds great, right? But it’s not all good news: the female representation within such career paths remains abysmally low.  

At the TOPX Expert meeting on 25th May, 2022, Nazma Iliahibaks, PhD Candidate and TOPX Network Junior Ambassador, welcomed us to these topics by explaining that, although the number of female entrepreneurs has grown in the last years, the amount of capital that they can attract is still limited. When global venture capital funding for female funding reached its all-time high in 2019, that number was only 2.8% of the total funding allocated. In 2020, that number even declined again to 2.3%. 

Carmen van Vilsteren,  Chair of the Life Sciences & Health Top Sector and Director Health of Eindhoven University of Technology, agreed that although there has been progress in female entrepreneurship over the course of her own career, that progress has been slow. She remembered that when she was in high school and first angled towards a specialization in science and technology, she was one of only a few females there. Carmen reflected that her younger self expected that by the 2020s, gender equality would have progressed much further than it has in reality. So, what can we do about it? 

On a personal level, Nazma, Carmen, and Sandra de Vos, the entrepreneurial founder and CEO of Vosfox Medical, all agreed: networking is key for becoming a successful female entrepreneur. Sandra commented that in the past, for example when she combining motherhood and entrepreneurial work, networking activities would often be the first thing that she dropped. “Looking back now, that was a mistake,” Sandra explained. “Networking is an important part of the entrepreneurial job.” Carmen agreed, and also shared that now, as an experienced entrepreneur, she always tries to make time to have a networking talk whenever young female entrepreneurs reach out to her, to support the next generations of female entrepreneurs. 

Barbara Brunnhuber of Mireca & BioPartner Leiden agreed that networking is essential, and explained that the multi-million dollar deal that Mireca recently signed with the US-based, Nasdaq-listed company Graybug Vision would never have happened in the absence of networking. “We searched for four years, trying to match with Venture Capitals via the classical route, but that didn’t bring a deal,” Barbara explained. What did bring that deal eventually was somebody in the network of Mireca’s CSO, who was able to connect Mireca and Graybug Vision. “Keep doing networking, in every form and shape that you can think of,” Barbara advised. “It’s not a waste of time at all; it can be your way of making an impact.” 

Carmen stressed that although networking is essential, organization change is also necessary to give more women seats at the table. She explained how at Eindhoven University, a focus is now put on finding women to fill many new high-level positions for the first 6 months after the opening is posted. “And it works!” Carmen said, “We see many new female professors and postdocs now. This proves that the females are there – but you have to look properly and differently to find them.” Carmen shared that before this policy for applications was installed, she often heard the excuse that there just were not any women available and suitable to fill these leadership positions. When she asked where people had looked for female talent, often the answer was that they had looked within their own networks. “They just didn’t have enough women in their networks,” Carmen explained. “This policy both resulted in new highly talented women getting positions, and also showed that these females are there!” 

Sandra agreed that improved visibility is important to ensure that more women attain leadership positions, and to stimulate female entrepreneurship. Likewise, she explained that it is important to not remove yourself from the playing field. “Just go for it,” she said. Reflecting on when she was working towards getting funded by venture capital firms, Sandra explained, “They just wanted a good plan, and good data, and a story told with a lot of confidence. Send your story with a lot of confidence – even if you don’t have it, doesn’t matter, fake it ‘til you make it. So be confident, and know your stuff, know your story, present with energy.” Sandra also emphasized that this confidence is essential at the birth of a start-up. “If you have an idea and you’d like to do it, just start. Don’t worry about if you’re good enough. Just start. Go ahead and every day do the things that scare you, and don’t doubt.”

But once you have that great idea, what next? Barbara shared her top three tips for building a successful business as a female entrepreneur: 

1) Embrace the “Smart Octopus” way of doing business. This idea came to Barbara while watching a nature documentary, in which a small, but smart male octopus out-competed the more muscular males in mating. It’s the same in business, Barbara explained. “You don’t always need to be the one making the big headlines. Lean, mean, and smart businesses can also make it.”

2) Always be partnering: In business, it’s not true that you always need to jealously guard your own interests.  It’s also important to think about what is beneficial for the other party with whom you are negotiating. “Don’t try to negotiate the last bit out,” Barbara advised. “Make sure that both sides are healthy and both survive, because you will need to work together for years. And you don’t want a nasty taste left over from negotiations.”

3) Nature inclusive management: Remember that real life happens alongside company life. When Barbara was asked to be CEO of Mireca, she worried that her impending maternity could be a problem. But, thanks to nature inclusive management, it worked out just fine. Sandra agreed, and explained that when she was combining motherhood and entrepreneurship, she simply made sure to make a “pregnancy plan” in which she made agreements and milestones that took into account both what was necessary for the success of her business, and what was possible and realistic for her.