The woman of colour in a sea of grey suits helping women find funding

With research finding two thirds of black women have been turned down for funding for a business, wanted to offer you an interview with Izzy Obeng. She has gone from one of the only black women in her graduate class at KPMG, to starting Foundervine, an NFP supporting over 5,000 diverse-led ventures to start and scale through training, space, networks and access to capital.

She’s passionate about creating a community for women of colour and Foundervine has been an incredible success, with one of the firms supported going on to have their products stocked at Sainsburys. and Izzy has also been named on the shortlist for Veuve Clicquot’s Bold Future award and research from Veuve found the majority of female entrepreneurs are more cautious (62%) in their business dealings versus 55% of male entrepreneurs) – potentially due to the lack of success they have raising funds.

Izzy has Ghanian heritage and has learned her gender, race and heritage is not a burden, it has given her her voice. Now her focus has shifted onto how differences are a superpower as they enable people to achieve things others can’t dream of. Her mantra is to create a world with no social or economic barriers, and she speaks with FTSE 100 companies as a corporate activist, changing senior level perception towards diversity.