Pre-Incubators are Part of the Solution for Women Social Entrepreneurs Looking for Investment

Sept. 6, 2011 - PRLog -- Today was the launch of Make a Wave, a unique pre-incubator programme set up to support women social entrepreneurs, helping them to build viable businesses that also create a social impact and attract women-friendly investors.

Why is a pre-incubator important now?

Impact investors are having a hard time finding mature entrepreneurs to support viable proposition that have a social impact but similarly a commercial argument.
With bank lending on the decline, women need to turn to different forms of financial sources, especially the under-tapped equity capital.
However, there is a sometimes a mismatch between the pitches and the investors targeted by social entrepreneurs.
Some of the reasons women social entrepreneurs sometimes fail is the lack of knowledge of the investment industry, unclear business models, lack of confidence and not enough nurtured relationships with investors.
As a result, there is a lack of reliable pipeline of deals.

"Women launch nearly half of all startups, yet they lead only 7 percent of companies backed by equity financing", says Sharon Vosmek, CEO ASTIA.

This is why Ogunte Ltd, a Social Innovation Development company, decided to make a seed stage “mentor-capital” available to social entrepreneurs and particularly women. This programme gives a gendered lens on impact investment and required knowledge and competences to pitch to investment panels, and learn about their language and specific requests.

Servane Mouazan, founder of Ogunte and creator of Make a Wave says: "We want to gather substantial evidence of the elements needed to increase the quality of proposals made to investors. We also want to bust the myths that women social entrepreneurs are not creating substantial business value. And if we have to, we will create our own mutual fund and show that returns – financial and social - are possible, and even substantial, when women social entrepreneurs are involved."

12 women social entrepreneurs have been selected by a jury of women in business, women investors and social innovators, to attend a unique pre-incubation programme, supported by big names of the London impact investment scene, such as Adele Blakebrough, CEO of the Social Business Trust, Sarah Ryan and Simone Brummelhuis (Astia Europe), Daniela Barone Soares (the Impetus Trust), Sally Goodsell (Finance South East group, Incito, the Social Impact Co-Investment Fund), Stephen Rockman from Merism Capital/ Village Capital/Hub Venture Labs,  Victoria Anderson and Andrea Soccorso for Venture Partnership Foundations.
Make a Wave is made of 6 exclusive lunch-time visits and access to women angels and impact investors, from September 2011 to February 2012.

The programme is topped up by a series of teleconferences with global women social innovators, mentors and experts who will offer their insights and feedback to the 12 candidates.

Among the current 12 fellows:
Bernie Morgan; ex Ceo of the CDFA  and now Director of Wizzmoni, Dr Kate Reynolds, Ceo of Learning Plus UK,  Jo Manuel Ceo of The Special Yoga Centre,  Theresa Burton, Ceo of Buzzbnk, the first Social Enterprise LLP...

For more information on Make a Wave, visit http://www.ogunte.com/innovation/make-a-wave-pre-incubator or contact Servane Mouazan from Ogunte Ltd on info@ogunte.com | 07932982379.

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Ogunte is a Social Innovations Development company focused on women-led social ventures. Ogunte Ltd adds value to partnership, investment and commissioning processes by clarifying and assessing social enterprises' proposals, helping them articulate their social impact, and developing strong market places.