40% of small and medium-sized businesses in Africa are owned by women. But expanding those businesses is tough: in 2022, single female founders and exclusively-female founding teams received only around 2.4% of investments that went to startups in Africa. Pauline Koelbl is out to change that, and narrow the extreme gender gap.
Born in Rwanda, Pauline faced the challenges of life as a young refugee, yet managed to secure not one, but two Fulbright scholarships. Now she leads ShEquity, an impact investing fund addressing the gender funding gap in Africa. Discover how she’s shaping the future for women-owned businesses in Africa in this follow-up episode.
ShEquity’s Founder & Managing Partner, Pauline is a gender-lens/impact investor and a leading innovation expert in developing & emerging economies with over 20 years of experience in international affairs and venture philanthropy. ShEquity provides smart investment to impactful and scalable African female-led and owned businesses. Pauline also has 11+ years of experience catalyzing innovation and supporting SMES/startups across Africa. Her passion lies in innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic empowerment of youth and women.
A double Fulbright Scholar and Fellow, Pauline holds an Executive Education in Innovation for Economic Development from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government; a Master’s Degree (MA) in Poverty and Development, Institute of Development Studies (IDS) from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in International Studies (Honors) from the University of Arizona (UoA), USA. In 2022, Pauline was recognized as one of 100 Leaders building ‘Meaningful Business’, combining profit and purpose to help achieve the UN Global Goals.
