“When we decided to launch the first edition of InspiringFifty in 2012, we had just met European Commissioner Neelie Kroes (Digital Agenda and Vice-President of the Commission, ed.) with whom we had the opportunity to talk about the importance of female entrepreneurship. At the end of this meeting, thinking about what our contribution could be, we began to grow the idea of this award,” Janneke Niessen, who was one of the founders of InspiringFifty, tells Startupbusiness. Today the award returns to Italy with its third edition, As we have anticipated in this article, in which there are also All the information you need to submit and submit your applications. “We strongly believe in role models and it is precisely on this idea that InspiringFifty was born and developed. We realized that there were some beautiful examples, but especially overseas. We wanted to find European inspiring women – continues Niessen, who is now a founding partner of CapitalT, serial entrepreneur, angel investor, board member and diversity advocate – and so we started to look for them, to involve them, increasingly aware of how having concrete examples is essential to inspire women to pursue careers in tech, entrepreneurship, corporate, in academia, in finance. With InsipiringFifty we want to make these women role models visible, bring them into the spotlight, make them the protagonists of interviews, involve them in events where there is an increasing need for the presence and active participation of women with the right skills”. Over time, the project that Niessen created together with Joelle Frijtersm has grown both in importance and in geographical presence, it has arrived in Italy, in other European countries and also in Canada and South Africa: “There are similarities between Europe, Africa and Canada but also some differences: for example, in South Africa there was nothing before Inspiring Fifty, women didn’t have opportunities to emerge and make themselves known, it was really a completely new project for that country. In Canada, on the other hand, there was already something but in general there was a lack of an opportunity for women to talk about themselves, what they do, their careers. This aspect is fundamental, because if we are not the ones to show what we can do, why should others believe it? In addition, women must express themselves and have the courage to show their skills, because this makes a difference,” says Niessen, who adds: “InspiringFifty is a community whose life does not end with the awarding of awards and events, but continues. The women who participate feel part of a group and want to be together because only together can we learn to be role models, we give the right value to humility but also to the need and desire to be an inspiration to others. Even if there were only one person who perceived the importance of the example, it would already be a success.” In her career, Niessen has initiated and exited two international technology companies, serves on the board of directors of several organizations, and is regularly consulted by the government, all regarding the mix of technology, talent, investment, and diversity. She regularly speaks at international events, appears on podcasts, and writes for several publications such as Fortune MPW, TNW, Wonder Women Tech, Inc, Cambridge, and Jinek.
Fiction and expansion in Asia
As a co-initiator of InspiringFifty, she published The New Girl Code to inspire young girls to pursue careers in tech, she is also a strong advocate for greater diversity in venture capital, and one of the initiators of #Fundright, a self-imposed quota for venture capital investors to improve inclusion in the investment ecosystem. She also emphasizes generational differences: “Young women have grown up with tech but progress is always too slow, we must continue to insist, girls and boys still grow up differently, it is what I define as the difference between ‘pretty’ for girls and ‘smart’ for boys, a difference that should not be there but that also starts from parents; Think, for example, of how many parents buy a computer for their daughters, compared to how many buy one for their sons: it is a problem of perception that must be overcome, it is a cultural issue. Our goal is to make women feel that they are just as important as men in the tech industry. And it’s not just a question of gender but also of general background, of culture, because what happens in tech also happens in other sectors, it happens in the world, culture and education are important as are role models”. The experience of Inspiring Fifty continues to grow, the co-founder anticipates how she is working on a TV series, an international fiction that will be ready no earlier than a couple of years and that was born with the idea of bringing the concept of inspiration and role model to as wide an audience as possible. And then there are the plans for international expansion, after Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa we are looking at Asia: “we have not yet defined precise plans but we are working on it, we must always remember that everything related to InspiringFifty is done on a voluntary basis and therefore must find its times and methods, but the objectives are absolutely clear”.
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