The news of a serial female entrepreneur being denied access to London Tech Week has sparked outrage in the community.
Davina Schonle (pictured, left), who is the founder and CEO of Birmingham-based Humanvantage AI, was refused entry to the event for bringing her eight-month-old daughter along.聽
The former CEO of DS Consulting Group took to LinkedIn to share the story, which garnered masses of attention, with over 3,500 reactions and nearly 1,000 comments.聽
She said: 鈥�Hi I hate that I鈥檓 having to write this but today I was refused entry at London Tech Week鈥� because I had my baby with me.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a 3 hour drive one way for me to come to London. At this stage I limit how many hours I am away from my baby girl. This is about new environments for her as much as it is about me. I should be able to build my company with her by my side.
鈥淎s someone passionate about innovation, tech and the future of work, I was excited to attend, connect, have meetings and contribute. In today鈥檚 age shouldn鈥檛 we be more inclusive?
鈥淭his moment was more than inconvenient. It was a clear reminder that as a tech industry, we still have work to do when it comes to inclusion beyond buzzwords.
鈥淧arents are part of this ecosystem. Caregivers are innovators, founders, investors, and leaders. If major events like London Tech Week can鈥檛 make space for, what message does that send about who belongs in tech?聽
鈥淚 don鈥檛 necessarily mean make it kid inclusive event in general, or do I? Doesn’t our future belong to the kids?
鈥淭here are some people doing amazing work to be inclusive like Shaa Wasmund MBE and Vasily Alekseenko, but shouldn鈥檛 these large events be doing more?鈥�
AI summit takes place at House of Lords during London Tech Week
Following the news Debbie Wosskow OBE (pictured, right), co-chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce, commented: 鈥淭his is the whole problem epitomised. If a founder is turned away from a space where she was due to meet suppliers for her own business, what does that say about the potential for female founders to secure investment?聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tired old scenario and a tired old system and doesn鈥檛 do anything to dispel the 鈥榯ech bros鈥� persona. The figures speak for themselves: the biggest success story last year was AI, which more than doubled its investment from 拢1.72bn in 2023 to 拢3.55bn. Women鈥檚 share of this? It was shameful.聽
鈥淭he average deal for male teams in AI was 拢5.3mn compared with just 拢0.8mn for female ones. Tech can鈥檛 pretend to be a forward-thinking community if this is still allowed to happen.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 also why I know that the best way to drive change is from within: to remove the barriers to access for women and actively bring them into the game 鈥� this is everyone鈥檚 responsibility.聽
鈥淎nd let鈥檚 drop the 鈥榙iversity鈥� badge: investing in female founders is a commercial opportunity, plain and simple.鈥�
It is not the first time in recent memory in which Wosskow has spoken up about the treatment of women within the tech sector.
In March, she vented her frustration about the lack of female representation in Project Europe.
鈥淚, and others have done, their due diligence on this important project which has barely any women involved,鈥� she wrote at the time.
鈥淎s co-chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce it鈥檚 my job to call out lack of female representation in VC.鈥�
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