Hong Kong’s start-up scene is still a man’s world even if city tops the global ranks for gender diversity, women investors say
- Women entrepreneurs in Hong Kong invest more of their own funds into businesses than other markets, according to a finding by HSBC Private Banking
- Hong Kong had the best gender balance when it comes to having men and women on investment panels, according to the survey
Emily Lam-Ho started backing female entrepreneurs after meeting too many not getting their deserved funding because of a lack of women on investment boards.
“I’ve met a lot of brilliant women all over the world creating, building, leading important businesses, but unfortunately not receiving the funding they should. This is why I wanted to level the playing field,” said Lam-Ho, the chief executive officer of Empact28, which specialises in funding women-led projects globally, and others with a social or environmental impact. “I’ve heard from a lot of female counterparts they have pitched to a room full of men that are investors. There is a big lack of diversity in the investment world.”
“I always question why there are less women in the investment world. Women take up most of our consumer base and are often the main decision makers,” said Lam-Ho, who worked at CLSA for more than five years before venturing out. “Having a room full of men deciding what is better consumed just doesn’t make sense. If you take everything away and look at the numbers, we are half of the consumer.”
Lam-Ho’s experience goes against HSBC Private Banking’s findings on Wednesday that showed Hong Kong with the best gender balance when it comes to having gender diversity in investment panels.
Women entrepreneurs said 81 per cent of the city’s investment panels had men and women, beating all other surveyed markets and way higher than the global average of 67 per cent, according to HSBC’s online survey of 1,202 entrepreneurs, including 604 women, conducted in June and July.