You Can Not Be, What You Do Not Seek - Babou Olengha

Despite the growing number of female entrepreneurs worldwide, despite the mounting evidence to suggest that investing in diversity is good for business, that investing in women’s economic potential as entrepreneurs, manufacturers, producers and employers pays dividends, despite the increasing number of gender lense venture capitalists and women investors globally, despite all of the above, we are still failing to capitalize on the untapped human and intellectual property that are women entrepreneurs. In this straight-talking and frank talk, Babou Olengha – Aaby offers an explanation as to why. She also explores the idea that maybe, just maybe the solution isn’t funding but something else.

She challenges us to get engaged because it’s no longer good enough to say: “We simply don’t invest in women because we can’t find them, we simply don’t write about women because we can’t find them, we simply don’t have women speakers because we can’t find them, we simply can’t be what we don’t see, because we can’t find them. Babou proposes it’s simply no longer acceptable to find excuses and yet fail to find inspiring examples we can all aspire to amongst the pool of 200,000, 000 million women owned and run businesses worldwide. Because you simply can’t be what you do not seek. Babou Olengha-Aaby is the Founder & CEO of The Next Billion, a for impact driven enterprise on a mission to find ways to invest in and unlock the economic potential of the next billion women entrepreneurs, employers, manufacturers, producers and consumers. Also known as the Third Billion. Congolese born and mother of 3, Babou is a passionate advocate for female entrepreneurship and for greater diversity in business. She is a big believer in the collective power of one and of the crowd to affect positive change in the world. Through her work at The Next Billion, she's conceived and launched initiatives such as Access2, ProfileMe, as well the social media campaign #WinningFacts #WinningEffects. Highlighting the benefits of investing in women. And In 2016, her company launched Globally

Spotted a discovery platform with the aim of raising more visibility for women founded and led ventures globally. Babou is the proud recipient of an Honorary Female Entrepreneurship Ambassador Award, awarded to her at the IV European Congress of Small Business in 2014 in Poland. She is also an enterprise mentor, who champions and advises 'business underdogs' (i.e. SMEs, purpose driven companies, mature entrepreneurs and more precisely female entrepreneurs). She's an experienced keynote speaker and TEDxWomen alumni. Most recently, she joined Forbes as a contributor, where she writes about inspiring companies founded and led by women worldwide. Those largely undiscovered by mainstream media. And why investing in them matters, why female entrepreneurship is no longer just a gender issue but an economic one. Why it's a win-win for all. Find out more at www.thenextbillion.global . This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx