Blockchain offers an entry point for women entrepreneurs
Summary
He spoke with FFAs head of venture sourcing, Hope Ditlhakanyane, and (now former) head of engineering, Nzwisisa Chidembo, about blockchain investments and venture building and how the space can potentially be leveraged to level the gender playing field in tech.Despite the current turbulence in crypto markets, Hope is bullish on blockchain tech, providing an unprecedented means for women and other financially marginalised groups to participate more actively in global economic affairs.In finding her way into the crypto space, however, the challenge has been keeping up with all the changes in a sector that sees numerous new coins and Web3 projects launch and gain apparent traction every day at a dizzying pace. She often asks herself, Im at work; how do I keep up?Getting into the Blockchain as an EntrepreneurMeanwhile, Nzwi is taking learnings from his time at Founders Factory Africa and moving on to start up his own company, which will guide investors into the world of cryptocurrency including tracking coins going from mentor and venture-building partner to entrepreneur. Her experience in the space has since accelerated as shes settled into her work as an institutional venture capitalist and started to back female tech entrepreneurs in her personal capacity as an angel investor. But I am excited that there has been encouraging progress around this in the blockchain space.New Web3 projects all over Africa and the rest of the world are providing new entree pathways for women founders to enter the tech space, as well as making sure there is gender diversity in the talent pools serving companies of the future, she adds. This sector is simply too exciting.Day-to-day, Hope is having conversations with her network around what she perceives to be one of the most significant barriers to entrepreneurial success the lack of access to information, pricing intelligence, and technical know-how.