Fintech entrepreneur Suneera Madhani spoke at the Delegates Dining Room at the United Nations, saying, "My journey in female entrepreneurship...it's been lonely."
It was a sobering admission from Madhani, who successfully exited her company Stax Payments in 2023 north of $1 billion, earning her "unicorn" status. The current founder and CEO of Worth AI told the crowd at the Women's Entrepreneurship Day Summit (WEDO2024) on November 15 in New York City that she learned firsthand that it's not easy to be a woman running—or founding—a startup.
"It was really tough for me scaling that business, even though I scaled it to a $1 billion exit," says Madhani, who was recognized by Fortune's "40 Under 40" and was a 2021 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of The Year. "I couldn't get a loan. I couldn't get a line of credit. I couldn't open up a business banking account."
In an effort to help fellow female entrepreneurs, Madhani decided to create resources and support for female entrepreneurs.
"It's a big passion of mine, my podcast called CEO School," said Madhani. "It's a really large community...that's how we're able to support women."
It's still not easy for female entrepreneurs, and WEDO is trying to change that by spotlighting the positive impact its community has made in advancing economic freedom, female dignity, and entrepreneurial empowerment for women around the world.
A small but influential way WEDO does this is by supporting governments, companies, organizations and individuals to use microloans in impoverished countries.
After spending time learning about microcredit in Honduras, WEDO's founder, Wendy Diamond, saw the positive impact they made. With just a $100 microloan as seed money, women were able to boost household income by turning their modest village homes into shops selling everyday sundries such as toothpaste or soft drinks.
"When women are empowered in business, they have self-confidence," Diamond said. "They have dignity."
According to the Grameen Foundation, 98 percent of women worldwide pay their microloans back at a 98 percent rate.
"If we could give these women a hand-up, not a hand-out, we can teach everyone about the importance of choosing women—educating them and enabling them to learn about entrepreneurship," Diamond said. "If we could teach why it's so important to invest in women, we could change the world."
WEDO partners with organizations like Opportunity International to provide microloans to 10,000 impoverished women worldwide. WEDO also funds a program to teach incarcerated women entrepreneurship at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, Connecticut, to help them rebuild their futures and avoid a return to the prison system.
Along with Madhani, supermodel Helena Christensen was honored as a WEDO Pioneer Awardee. She too, spoke of the positive impact of microloans.
"It is a deeply humbling feeling to see women raise each other up," Christensen said. "Every time I'm on a trip with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), I meet refugee women and their children. In Kenya, I saw what an immense difference microloans do to these women."
Author Candace Bushnell, who was also on a panel that day, saw a connection between the small, but growing financial freedom of women the world over to changes in popular culture here at home.
"It used to be that men were the ones who decided who was beautiful," said Bushnell, the author and creator of Sex and the City. "Men decided how women were supposed to look, they chose which women would be actresses and models."
"I feel because of social media, those gatekeepers are gone, which is fantastic," says Bushnell. "Women are able to define what's beautiful to them."
For Diamond, Madhani and thousands of other women striving to break into businesses big and small, there are still plenty of gatekeepers—and more and more helping hands.
"Women's Entrepreneurship Day is every day," Diamond said. "Whoo-hoo!"
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