By Annie Ye, Head of DBS Asia X

Growth of female entrepreneurs in the start-up space has slowed, with recent studies citing less healthy representation of women business owners in Singapore and a low entrepreneurial activity rate as compared to men. This is due in part to a continued misperception about leadership and a persistently less diverse culture in the business and tech community that needs to be addressed.

The start-up culture has traditionally been prevalently male — women are less represented, less funded and more often judged by their performance rather than their potential in comparison to men. While efforts are being made to equalise the playing field, the gender gap persists. According to data from PitchBook, a venture capitalist database, female founders only obtained 2% of venture capital dollars in 2018.

In addition, our traditional view of a woman’s role at home can often be one of the biggest stumbling blocks to enabling greater inclusion in the business community. Women for the most part are still charged with managing the household and child care . This perpetual burden of establishing a work-life balance, along with a traditional start-up culture that is less diverse and inclusive can be two barriers to encouraging women entrepreneurship.

Pursuing greater inclusion positively impacts the current workforce and entrepreneurial culture by allowing for new ideas and innovation. In addition, having strong female entrepreneur role models encourages a new generation of women to pursue leadership positions in the finance, tech and start-up spaces. This in turn creates a culture of openness to new ideas and innovation that benefits business and society at large.

To reverse the current trends, we need to continue to support women entrepreneurs and induce structural changes that tackle the issues impeding a more inclusive and diverse working environment.

We need to empower more employees to drive their own development journeys. At DBS Asia X (DAX), the community can participate in a variety of programmes and seek the opportunities they want for their career development. We encourage innovative and productive ways of working, such as telecommuting, so that the community can fulfil their personal commitments while at the same time build their careers. For working mothers and fathers, this is not just a “good to have”, but fast becoming a must-have. We respect and empower DAXters to manage the“stakeholders” in their lives — that is part of what inclusive innovation means to us.

Inclusive innovation is also about enabling innovators, regardless of gender. This is evident across the bank, whether it is through DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia, our UNI.CORN management internship programme or DBS Foundation. DBS also supports initiatives such as the Women’s Livelihood Bond which further illustrates our commitment to inclusive innovation beyond our borders at rural environments.

We recognise the diversity of our people as a source of strength. We seek to create an environment that allows for all employees to succeed, bringing together a wide diversity of experiences, knowledge and approaches in driving performance and innovation. Fostering a multi-cultural, multi-generational and gender-inclusive workforce contributes to our organisation’s ability to succeed.

To achieve true diversity and inclusion, both men and women need the freedom to choose their paths and be welcomed as entrepreneurs in business, tech and start-up communities. Inclusion is about enabling all future leaders to make choices not based on perceived duties, obligations or norms, but based on their interests and professional and personal goals.

Annie promotes the passion and culture of innovation at DBS Asia X and across the bank’s ecosystem. She manages the operations of the innovation centre and runs marketing, community and co-creation programmes.