The Funding Gap in Start-up Investing | Temie Giwa-Tubosun | TED

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

If I asked you to guess which country in the world

如果請各位猜猜看，

世界上哪個國家

has the highest number of female entrepreneurs,

有最多女性企業家，

which country would you guess?

各位會猜哪個國家？

Don't worry. I'll tell you.

別擔心，我會告訴大家。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Uganda, yup, in Africa.

烏干達，沒錯，

在非洲。

39.6 of all Ugandans

創立、擁有，且經營自己事業的

who start, own and operate their own businesses are women.

烏干達人當中，有 39.6%

是女性。

Ugandan women are clearly formidable, but they are not alone.

很顯然，烏干達女性相當傑出，

但她們並不孤單。

The second and third country

全世界女性企業家排名榜上 第二和第三名的國家，

on that list of world female entrepreneurs,

according to MasterCard, were Botswana and Ghana.

根據萬事達卡的資料，

是波紮那和迦納。

Yup, Africa.

沒錯，非洲。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

So what's keeping these amazing businesses from dominating global stock exchange?

那麼，是什麼原因讓這些出色的企業

無法稱霸全球股票交易市場？

Why are you not seeing people like me, yours truly,

為什麼各位沒有看見 像我這樣的人，鄙人，

listing our companies every day,

每天將我們的企業登記上市，

dominating Nasdaq and London Stock Exchange?

主宰那斯達克和倫敦證券交易所？

Let me tell you what I think.

讓我告訴各位我的想法。

I love the hero's journey.

我愛死了英雄的旅程。

I can often be found on Reddit late into the night,

通常，深夜在 Reddit 上 都可以找到我，

after I've put the children to bed,

我把孩子送上床之後，

arguing about many fantastical worlds.

我就會上去爭論許多奇幻世界的事。

And I'm always secretly delighted

且我通常都暗自竊喜，

that the people on the other side of the screen

在螢幕另一端的人

could never guess that the fierce figure arguing about Middle Earth canon

永遠猜不到

這個狂熱份子，爭論著中土世界教條

and the ways of the Basilisk Isles in Sothoryos

以及索斯羅斯蛇蜥群島風俗，

is an African mom of two

竟是兩個孩子的非裔媽媽， 在奈及利亞拉哥斯經營新創公司。

who runs a startup out of Lagos, Nigeria.

I was born in a small town in Nigeria.

我在奈及利亞的一個小鎮出生。

In 2001, my parents moved to the United States,

2001 年，

我父母搬到美國，

where I grew up, got educated, got married and decided to start a family.

我在美國長大、接受教育、

結婚，並決定成家。

It was the difficult birth of my son that started me on my own hero's journey.

我兒子的難產，

讓我踏上了我自己的英雄旅程。

You see, while I was on bed rest,

當我躺在床上休息時，我發現

I found out that 556 women

在撒哈拉以南非洲，每天

bleed to death every single day across sub-Saharan Africa.

有五百五十六名女性會因出血致死。

And to my astonishment, if you could just move blood to these hospitals,

讓我吃驚的是，只要能把血液

送到這些醫院，

you could save four out of five women.

五名女性當中就有四名可以得救。

I decided as a woman who had sat on that hospital bed seven years ago,

我決定，

既然我自己七年前就是 曾躺在那病床上不知道

wondering whether she was going to survive childbirth,

自己是否能從難產中活下來的女性，

that I had a duty to do something about this.

我有責任應該要為此做點什麼。

I moved back home to Nigeria and started my own company.

我搬回奈及利亞， 創立了我自己的企業。

You see, Africa has the resources.

要知道，非洲是有資源的。

We have the blood, the oxygen, the PPE that we need to save lives.

我們有血液、有氧氣、 有個人防護裝備，

拯救人命需要的我們都有。

But we don't always have it at the right place, at the right time.

但在需要這些東西的時間、 地點卻不見得能取得。

So that's what we decided to solve.

這就是我們決定解決的問題。

We built technology with over 200,000 lines of code

我們用超過二十萬行的 程式碼打造了一項技術，

that matches supply to demand,

讓供應與需求能配對起來，

and we closed the loop by delivering it to the last mile.

我們也用最後一哩的方式來收尾。

In 2016, when this company started,

2016 年這間公司成立時，

we had one single desk at a coworking space.

我們在共同工作空間裡 只有一張桌子。

And now, as I speak, we operate across Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia.

此時此刻，我們的業務已經

遍及肯亞、奈及利亞，及衣索比亞。

We can deliver as far as Maiduguri, Borno State, home to the Chibok girls.

我們最遠可運送至達邁杜古里，

位在博爾諾州， 是奇博克女學生的家鄉。

But no part of this journey was easy.

這趟旅程一點都不容易， 事實上，還差點無法啟程。

In fact, it almost did not start.

Because while I recognized the size of the problem,

因為，當我知道問題有多大的時候，

I knew people like me did not start big businesses.

我也很清楚像我這樣的人 無法創造大事業。

There was no playbook.

沒有劇本可參考。

There was no model for me to follow.

沒有可以讓我依循的範例。

And I knew that to solve this problem,

且我知道，要解決這個問題，

we would need access to a significant amount of resources,

我們必須要能取得大量的資源，

from venture capital, from philanthropy and other critical points of growth.

從創業投資，從慈善事業，

以及其他成長的臨界點。

But there was no model

但沒有範例，因為像我這樣的人

because people like me had not received the critical resources they needed

沒有得到讓企業能夠

to grow and scale their own enterprise.

成長及擴大所需要的關鍵資源。

So does this mean women cannot be heroes?

這表示女性無法當英雄嗎？

Does it mean that we cannot be heroes of our own journey?

這表示我們無法成為 我們自己旅程中的英雄嗎？

No, in fact, women like me routinely start their own companies.

不，事實上，像我這樣的女性，

常常在創立自己的公司。

In Nigeria, we have [Abimbola Adebakin]

在奈及利亞，

我們有艾比莉克絲‧艾比波拉，

who is building the supply chain to get medicine to the last mile.

她建造供應鏈， 把藥品送到最後一哩路。

我們有比莉克絲‧艾比歐拉，

We have Bilikiss Abiola, who is protecting the natural world

她保護大自然，

做法是把垃圾變成現金。

by turning trash to cash.

And in Peru, Sully Siucho Diaz is building wealth for families

在秘魯，蘇莉‧西維裘‧迪亞茲

在為家庭建立財富，

by helping them make better mortgage decisions.

做法是協助他們做更好的抵押決策。

Yet we're not seen as founders that can scale and build large businesses.

然而我們不被視為

是可以擴大、打造 大型事業的創辦人。

A few years ago, we needed resources at LifeBank,

幾年前，

我們「生命銀行」需要資源，

and I went to pitch LifeBank to an investor.

我去向一位投資者推銷生命銀行。

I was very excited,

我很興奮，

and I told him about all the amazing things we would do.

我告訴他我們要做哪些很棒的事情。

And he said to me, "I just can't see you building something that scales."

而他對我說：

「我無法想像你能建造 那種規模的事業。」

To my face.

當我的面說耶。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Like any normal person, I was taken aback by his lack of faith,

和任何正常人一樣，

我對他的缺乏信念感到很吃驚，

but I didn't let that stop me.

但我沒有讓這件事阻止我。

I felt like I was duty bound to build the change,

我覺得我責無旁貸，

我希望看到世界有什麼改變、 創新，就要由我來做。

the innovation that I wanted to see in the world.

And although he was right,

雖然他是對的，

I don’t look like the classic hero.

我看起來不像典型的英雄。

But, like Frodo, the journey chose me.

但，

和佛羅多一樣，旅程選中了我。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

(Applause)

（掌聲）

So I didn't let that stop me.

所以，我沒有讓那件事阻止我。 我去打造了很棒的事業。

I went out there and built a great business.

And here are a few points.

以下是幾個重點。

Since inception, we've doubled revenue year on year.

從創立以來，我們的年收入翻倍。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

We’ve built technology that can predict oxygen demand,

我們已經建立了一種技術， 可以預測氧氣需求，

and we use blockchain to track our blood system.

且我們用區塊鏈 來追蹤我們的血液系統。

These innovations are novel even by global standards.

就算用全球的標準來看， 這些創新仍然算是新穎。

We have rescued over 40,000 people.

我們已經救助了超過四萬人。

Our journey is by no means complete.

我們的旅程絕對還沒完成。 但等著看我們會如何成功。

But watch us pull it off.

Truth is, heroes are often not guys in a cape.

事實是，英雄通常不是 披著披風的那些傢伙。

And my story suggests that we must look to the unexpected places

根據我的故事，

我們必須要留意從那些未預期的地方

when we are looking for entrepreneurs and leaders.

尋找企業家和領導者。

Data suggests that if you hold any kind of bias against a group,

資料指出，

如果你對一個族群有任何偏見，

you're most likely to discriminate

你很有可能會歧視

against the people who most need to be heard.

最需要被聽見的一群人。

And it is these people who often have the solution

而通常這些人能夠解決

to the world's most pressing challenges.

世界上最迫切的難題。

It is critical that we do the work to listen to every voice

很重要的是，我們要 努力聆聽每一種聲音，

and to break down the silos that keep most of us back

打破壁壘，避免它讓我們裏足不前，

and keep us from starting.

不願踏出第一步。

It is time to close the funding gap between female-led startup,

讓我們來縮短女性主導之 新創公司的資金差異，

Black female-led startup world over.

全世界由黑人女性領導的新創公司。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Because while you may not see us, we are here, and there are millions of us.

因為，你可能沒有看見我們，

但我們在這裡，

有數百萬個像我們這樣的人。

So if you are an investor,

所以，如果你是投資者，

I want to invite you to join your peers,

我想邀請你，加入你的同儕，

and when you are looking for founders to back,

當你在尋找要贊助哪些創辦人時，

look to the unexpected.

去未預期的地方尋找。

And if you are in this room,

如果你在這間房間裡，

and you think you may want to go on your own hero's quest,

你認為你可能會想要踏上 你自己的英雄旅程，

I'm here to tell you to do it.

我在此告訴你，去做吧！

And if they don't believe you, show them!

如果他們不相信你，做給他們看！

The world needs the most unique voice.

世界需要最獨特的聲音。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）