The world of finance is finally moving beyond the white male investor.
We recently shared a blog on Legal & General’s push to get more women investing, a strong move in a category that has struggled to engage this hugely viable, but largely untapped audience.
Not only does this trend seem set to continue on a global scale, more players are emerging who seek to both shatter the glass ceiling for women generally, and specifically to break down barriers for even more under-represented groups, such as women of colour.
BRAVA Investments is the brainchild of Nathalie Molina Niño, the company’s Harlem based CEO. Not only has she long been a supporter for female entrepreneurs, her South American ancestry positions her as an advocate for non-white women who often fight an even harder battle in business, with women of colour currently receiving just 0.2% of venture capital.
The brand seeks to move beyond good intentions to great outcomes, and was created to invest in companies that can prove they are creating a measurable economic benefit for women.
Unlike similar initiatives by financial providers that tend to focus on the gender balance of c-suites, BRAVA do not take into account the gender of the founder of the companies in which they invest. In their own words ‘At BRAVA we are less concerned with creating the next woman billionaire than we are with creating wealth of a billion women.’
Before BRAVA, Nathalie Molina Niño was perhaps best known for her book Leapfrog. The book recognises that women can’t necessarily take the same route to entrepreneurial success as men, as the conditions for each gender aren’t the same. If male entrepreneurs are climbing a mountain, women are doing it in a snowstorm; therefore they require different equipment and a different strategy to reach the summit.
This principle of deviating from the accepted norm in order to drive success sits at the heart of BRAVA. Through understanding the true needs and aspirations of the female investor, BRAVA is able to position itself as a brand that can truly make a difference to a large number of women.
In the sphere of financial services and beyond, brands should consider not only who their new audiences could be, but also the specific strategies required to reach and connect with them.