Peggy Poon is passionate about building a more inclusive society. She is the founder of Time to Raise and currently head of operations at EQT Foundation. Her mission is to create a fairer startup ecosystem and push impact solutions forward.
“When I worked in the information and communications technology sector during my time as a consultant the statistics were discouraging. Of all the eight million ICT specialists in Europe, only 17% are women, so there is a need to change this.”
Helping entrepreneurs connect and succeed
I started my career in the tech sector as a consultant in digital transformation projects for multinational companies for five and a half years. Back then I was running several initiatives such as Women@IBM and Womengineer to welcome more women to the tech sector.
I was also active in the start-up ecosystem in my free time. Helping other entrepreneurs to connect and succeed was my hobby. One day, I decided to take a leave of absence at the company I worked for back then (IBM) and I went to Hong Kong to explore the ecosystem in Asia. I was active at events every day, and I was connecting Chinese investors with the Nordics start-up ecosystem.
When I came back to Sweden, I got the opportunity to build up Microsoft’s new start-up strategy in Sweden (and later expanded to the Nordics). Almost two years later, I exited to set up my passion project, Time to Raise (more on that later!).
I recently joined the EQT Foundation working with building up their impact-first investments and grants structure, as well as onboarding EQT employees across the globe to our pro-bono investment teams and setting up a structure for our operations to grow, together with EQT.
I’m also a mentor in the Tech Nordics Advocate programme, where I guide female entrepreneurs in their journeys, depending on what stage they are at. The last start-up I supported was in their fundraising stage, so I supported them in building their material and preparing for their fundraising.
Time to Raise
Time to Raise is a programme to support female entrepreneurs in their fundraising journey. The programme structure is built together with some of the strongest venture capital firms, a family office (a company that handles investment management and wealth management), and a legal firm that supports start-up founders in the fundamentals of raising capital. Aside from receiving training in fundraising, the female entrepreneurs also get connected with potential investors.
The goal of the project is to maximise the chances for start-ups with high potential to get funding, and to break the pattern where only 8% of the Nordics’ venture capital goes to start-ups with at least one woman in the team.
So many start-ups are run by extremely talented women
In every application period the number of applications has exceeded our expectations. There are so many impressive start-ups out there run by extremely talented women. Some of our start-ups have already managed to secure funding through connections via our programme!
We don’t promise anything and make it clear that people should join our programme to get better at fundraising and to be more prepared when they start reaching out to investors — getting funding should just be considered as a plus.
The investors who connected to our start-ups got very excited and a number of our connections have led to actual investments.
International Girls in ICT Day
28th April, International Girls in ICT Day, is an important day and I am highly supportive of making the tech industry more equal and diverse in all dimensions (gender, ethnicity, backgrounds etc.). I come from a tech background myself and although I have transitioned to the financial service sector, I still follow the latest trends in tech every day.
When I worked in the information and communications technology sector during my time as a consultant the statistics were discouraging. Of all the eight million ICT specialists in Europe, only 17% are women, so there is a need to change this. I am supportive of this day and all initiatives that highlight talents and attract a more diverse set of professionals to the sector.
Breaking down social and economic inequality
I am very much looking forward to continuing towards the vision of the EQT Foundation. Breaking down social and economic inequality is my primary mission in life so I am grateful to have joined an organisation that puts impact first, supporting entrepreneurs and organisations to make a cleaner and inclusive tomorrow.
EQT Foundation has an excellent structure and as its second employee, I am highly motivated to continue building the organisation together with the head of the foundation.
