Opinion article for Jornal Económico: Diversidade e empreendedorismo: o que há para melhorar
Jorge Simões, Alumnus of the Lisbon MBA Católica | Nova and Director the Digital Factory, Digital Global Unit at EDP wrote an article for Jornal Económico sharing his hopes for the Portuguese start-up ecosystem and his belief in the catalytic effect that diversity has on innovation, the absence of “which can be limiting for long-term sustainability.”
According to Jorge Simões, several studies focused on our startup ecosystem show a relatively low level of diversity in some dimensions, which can be limiting for its long-term sustainability. Jorge highlights the dimension where this lack of diversity is most glaring: the imbalance between genders. The founding teams of national startups are overwhelmingly male-dominated (94.9%). By comparison, at European level, the average is 82.8%, which, being slightly more positive, should not make the European Union proud either.
But the climate seems to be changing: Portuguese Women in Tech and The Code Girls are two examples of communities dedicated to this cause. Another good news is that there is no shortage of good role models: Daniela Braga (DefinedCrowd), Cristina Fonseca (Talkdesk) and Sofia Pessanha (Unbabel) are inspiring examples of founders who have led their startups to remarkable successes.
Read the full article in Portuguese here.
Source: Jornal Económico