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Brainhouse Managing Principal Selected For the 2022 Cohort of the Global Included VC Fellowship
Stephen Muriithi Managing Principal of Brainhouse Capital Limited has been selected to join the 2022 cohort of the global Included VC fellowship.
Brainhouse Capital is a leading strategy and financial advisory firm across the continent solving complex management problems for small and medium-sized enterprises across a wide range of industries.
The company helps you scale your business operations to become highly profitable.It offers your organization cutting-edge expertise leveraging first-class, strategic and financial insights that help you simplify and structure your processes to become a lean efficient enterprise.
Stephen has been nominated from amongst a pool of 2400+ applicants. The latest cohort includes 75 fellows from 40 countries around the world, who range from 21 to 42 in age; 51% of whom self-identify as female, 24% Black, 28% Asian, 9% have a disability, and 20% are from the LGBTQIA+ community.
Included VC is a nine-month, fully-funded global venture capital Fellowship that enables individuals from backgrounds that are underrepresented in VC to find investment roles in the industry has launched its third Fellowship.
The 13 funds taking part include the established participants, newcomer HV Capital, as well as renewed support from the European Investment Fund (EIF), which took part in the inaugural Fellowship two years ago.
Diversity across VC is currently limited. Only 4.9% of VC partners in the U.S. are female, of whom the majority are still white; 0.2% are LatAm women, and 0.2% are Black women.
Yet VCs recognize the potential of diverse teams 88% of VCs view the lived experiences of underrepresented entrepreneurs as a competitive advantage in identifying problems to be solved and markets to be addressed.
Investment results back this up. A diverse team is more likely to invest in founders who look like them, and startups founded and cofounded by women are significantly better financial investments.
For every dollar of funding, these startups generated 78 cents, while male-founded startups generated less than half that—just 31 cents.
The international consortium of Venture Capital partners and sponsors funding the program include Notion Capital, Mangrove Capital Partners, Creandum, M12 – Microsoft’s Venture Fund, Seedcamp, European Investment Fund (EIF), WSGR, K Fund, Daphni, KAYA VC, HSBC Ventures, HV Capital and Mouro Capital.
The Included VC Fellowship comprises nine modules covering key VC topics. Teaching is delivered via masterclasses, mentoring, deep foundational learning, and investment committee simulations. Fellows are also invited to retreats, to support professional networking.
Fellows benefit from unparalleled access to some of the world’s top investors from the partner funds. Experienced investors, including partners at the participating VC funds, lead the classes, provide mentorship, and coaching.
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Members of Included VC’s Fellowship are entrepreneurial, passionate about technology, and fascinated by the potential for venture capital to drive change on a massive scale.
The fellows demonstrate the broadest definition of diversity: gender, ethnicity, non-typical degrees, intergenerational diversity, disability, neural diversity, and applicants from excluded communities such as refugees and ex-inmates.
According to Nikita Thakrar, Co-founder & CEO of Included VC, says, “Thanks to the support of our 13 global funds, the Included VC Fellowship III will develop and launch the careers of 75 diverse and talented future investors from around the world. Fellows will learn from the best and take part in extensive training – workshops, simulation investment committees, and top-end mentoring, all supported by 50+ investors and an expert team. We hope Fellows deploy their learnings to create long-term positive change; for both the global VC ecosystem and their communities”
Previous Fellows have moved on to work in investment roles in the VC industry, as startup founders, or in startup roles. Previous Fellow, Ana Wolsztajn, is now an Investor & CMO at KAYA VC.
