2023-08-16 17:41:18
Amid the rows of entrepreneurs hunched over their computers, Charlotte Bellet walks purposefully. On the patio of Station F, an incubator for promising young companies, the CEO (for chief executive officer, either CEO or CEO of a company) of aHRtemis, a start-up created to optimize recruitment using artificial intelligence, heads straight for a meeting room reserved for our interview. A young man is already installed there. With three knocks on the door window, she made her colleague understand that his videoconference call should be cut short and the place freed up. “I booked it for an hourshe justifies herself to us. You always have to make your place, everywhere. »
In this temple of entrepreneurship launched by Xavier Niel in 2017, the sentence pronounced by the young entrepreneur resonates particularly. Of the 625,745 companies created in France in 2022, 33.5% were created by women. This figure from a study by Infogreffe plummets to 10% when it comes to a young shoot in the innovation sector. In the FrenchTech120, a sort of CAC 40 start-up version, 23% of young companies have no women in key positions. Among the most promising start-ups (combined in the Next 40 index), only 9% of core executive positions are held by women. None are headed by a woman.
A sector far from parity
It is in this predominantly male universe that Charlotte Bellet has chosen to make her mark, « sans [se] ask questions “. Sitting in an armchair in the meeting room, chest forward, elbows resting on her knees, the entrepreneur exudes an impression of mastery. “I show that it is possible”, she replies simply when the difficulty of being a woman in this environment is mentioned. She does not remember any sexist or inappropriate remarks in her career in preparatory class or engineering school. After a few minutes, however, she notices a difference in tone adopted between her and her partner: “He, we question him on how to develop the company, how to take it higher. To me, people ask me how I managed to get there. »
Every tech entrepreneur has a similar example. A year ago, Inès Multrier co-founded, with three associates, Nelson, software to help companies transition to electric vehicles. A graduate of Polytechnique and HEC, the young woman is in charge of the technical development of the software. “When I meet outsiders, they still ask me if I’m the one handling sales, she regrets. VSas if a woman in the middle of three men could not be in charge of the technological aspect. »
Same refrain in the mouth of Mathilde Nême, at the head of Omena, a help application for menopausal women. “Almost systematically, my associates and I are asked if we have enough ambition to carry out our project. Is this question systematically asked of male entrepreneurs? I do not think so. I’m even sure not. »
A problem from training
Identical situations, Sarah Tahlaiti can cite hundreds. Director of operations for Willa, an incubator specially dedicated to women, this ex-lawyer now supports women entrepreneurs. “Or entrepreneursshe corrects. The debate is not yet closed. »
In January 2023, Willa launched a campaign on its networks which points out the delay of the French language on the subject. Conjugated in the feminine, the expressions “a genius for innovation”, “a business prodigy”, “a pioneer in her field” are invariably underlined in red by word processing software.
“It’s a way of showing that there is still a vision of the male entrepreneur that is very presentadvances Sarah Tahlai. Today’s parents need to encourage little girls to imagine themselves as entrepreneurs. » “There is a filter that is created in high school. The girls go to the courses where they are represented, observes Inès Multrier. There is a form of self-censorship in not choosing certain paths where one imagines that there are only men. It’s a vicious circle. »
Changer son image
Sarah Tahlaiti evokes an “imposter syndrome” which appears from the first years of higher education. A feeling shared by a large number of entrepreneurs. The ex-lawyer details “a discourse of legitimacy that must be built in order to exist in the eyes of employees, customers or investors”. Charlotte Bellet, for example, learned to stop apologizing, to “no longer being nice” in front of investors. “I got muscularsays the entrepreneur. Now, I assume the blanks in my presentations, I no longer seek to fill them at all costs. »
For her part, Mathilde Nême has chosen to begin her interventions with figures. “I’m very factual, so that you can’t blame me for making plans on the comet and being emotional”, complements the CEO. According to her, the problem comes above all from the investors. “Teams of analysts (responsible for finding and auditing promising young companies for investment funds, editor’s note) are often mixed, she observes. But the management committees, where the decisions to invest or not are finally made, are still the preserve of men. » Among the 30 most active personal investors in 2022 in France, there are only three women.
According to a barometer published in 2023 by the Boston Consulting Group and the collective of entrepreneurs Sista, of the 13.6 billion euros of investments made in start-ups in 2022, 2% were received by founders. If we add the mixed teams (including at least one founder), this figure climbs with difficulty to 14%.
The higher the investments, the less they go to start-ups led by women. Among the 48 fundraisers of more than 50 million euros in France in 2022, none concerned a start-up whose founding team is made up entirely of women. “Investors entrust their money to people who are like them, analysis Mathilde Nême. Many still have biases and consider that women are more prone to depression or burnout. »
Investment quotas for more equity
To remedy these inequalities in the face of investors, Parliament voted in 2021 the Rixain law, supposed to complete the Copé-Zimmermann law, promulgated ten years earlier. This new legislative text notably provides for objectives of diversity in the support of budding businesses. The public bank Bpifrance, the main provider of aid to start-ups in France, must now ensure that at least 30% of its project selection committees are made up of women. A threshold of 40% from 2027 was added by the senators.
But these quotas have their limits, according to Sarah Tahlaiti. “Women can also have biases towards other women, explains Willa’s director of operations. It would only shift the problem. » In response, it also advocates the application of quotas, but financial, applicable to Bpifrance or private investment funds. “There should be an obligation to invest a specific percentage of its funds each year in start-ups led by women”, she recommends.
For its part, the Sista collective has set up a charter for investors to commit to achieving parity in investments by 2050. Axeleo Capital, Daphni or Founders Future, three of the funds of most active investment on the French market, have already signed the text. When we talk about these positive discrimination initiatives, Charlotte Bellet is mixed. “If I base all my success on that, it’s devaluing for my real skills, assures the head of the company. I don’t make it my fight. I run my business like anyone else. »
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In Europe, unequal situations but no champion of parity
In other European countriestech ecosystems are not much more advantageous than in France for women.
According to figures from the barometer of the Boston Consulting Group and the Sista collective, Sweden offers the most favorable breeding ground for women who want to start their business. In contrast, fundraising for start-ups created by female entrepreneurs only accounted for 1% of investments in the sector in 2022.
Conversely, UKwhile the percentage of start-ups launched by women remains low (only 11%), investments are more and more frequent towards these young companies. Investment funds solely focused on companies with a female management team have emerged. In 2022, 22% of the value of investments in Great Britain was destined for start-ups co-founded by women.
Faced with this observation, the Sista collective recalls that “These start-ups are shaping the world of tomorrow and that shouldn’t happen without 50% of the population. »
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