Sixty percent of venture capital employees in the US may be white males, but the industry is slowly becoming more diverse. The increasing number of prominent leaders from ethnically diverse backgrounds – take the female executive of Indian origin at Accel, Sonali De Rycker, for example – points to the trend. New initiatives encouraging VC firms to become more diverse, such as lobbying group Diversity VC and startup community Your Story, are making a difference.
“A diverse workforce is important on different levels,” says Francesca Warner, co-founder of Diversity VC. “We want the sector to represent the society that it invests into. We think that way the industry will be a better industry.”
The Financial Times spoke to Lillian Li, who has forged a successful career in venture capital – but she was always aware her background could hinder her progress. She was born in China and came to the UK as a child – she was rejected from several private equity jobs before forging a career in VC.
“It was never explicit whether ethnicity was going to be a handicap,” the 30 year-old says. “But I never saw it as an asset because the [industry’s] mindset has been of having a culture where people come from similar backgrounds.”
Read her full story here.
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