Anu Bhardwaj Founder of Women INVESTING in Women: building a global community of engaged champions for advancing the status of women and girls.

A few weeks ago we posted the first half of our Interview with Anu Bhardwaj.

Anu is founder of Women INVESTING in Women DIGITAL and will be a keynote speaker at Connect2Capital this year. Read below to learn more about her career and the obstacles she has faced along the way. We all know the road to success is anything but easy!

Where do you see Women Investing in Women Digital in the next five years?
First and foremost, we will be a global community of engaged champions for advancing the status of women and girls. At the moment, our global audience is 95 percent millennials and 60 percent male, while the fastest-growing demographic is girls between the ages of 13 and 17 on their mobile phones. We anticipate these numbers will drastically change as we launch our Global Private Equity Roundtables, our World Women Report and TheStateofWomen.com. We envision strategic partnerships with various stakeholders who are committed to our core objectives and who are in a position to act both locally and globally. We have spent almost a decade working on the groundwork, ready to scale and disrupt traditional media focused on women and girls in a profound way through our various networks and long-term relationships across the globe. We plan to have an office in Stockholm, Sweden in the near future as our European headquarters, while remaining bicoastal in the United States in Los Angeles and New York City. Success in five years would be having a digital footprint across various forms of media (podcast, video, online) in key target markets where we are highly valued by our customers, partners and investors.

What challenges have you faced along the way?
From the outset, our team has been global, and to a large extent we have connected virtually. We are super lean in our operations and have maximized our collective strengths as we have scaled internationally now to four continents through our various Women Investing in Women Summits and Women in Private Equity Roundtables in Stockholm, Singapore, Johannesburg, Ankara, Vienna, Scottsdale, San Diego, New York and Muscat. There was no shortage of interest—or, for that matter, content—from accomplished women influencers and thought leaders. However, keeping these communities connected and engaged was critical. We have relied on social media (for the most, part private and public groups on Facebook) to stay connected. We curate a newsfeed now—@WomenInvesting on Facebook—which has over 1 million followers since we launched 18 months ago. We have also recorded more than 100 podcasts for our "Women Investing in Women and Girls" radio show on iTunes, which we have started to upload onto our new site. We have three other shows in the pipeline; "Be The Change," "Voice for The Voiceless" and "Women MOVING Millions;" as well as a few more in stealth mode. All podcasts will be featured on The State of Women Radio Network, the first and only global internet radio network produced and broadcasted by and for millennial women and girls. We hope to stay connected with our global community of champions for women and girls through The State of Women Radio Network, the World Women Report, our various social media channels, and most importantly through www.thestateofwomen.com. We are scaling and growing rapidly and will need more people to join our team in the very near future. We hope to seek venture capital and growth capital from strategic investors who will help us get there faster as we continue to enter new markets. Keeping us all connected will be our biggest challenge and greatest opportunity along our collective journey.

What is your main goal for Women Investing in Women Digital?
Our main goal for Women Investing in Women Digital is to be a global voice and authority on the state of women. There has been so much coverage on women's entrepreneurship and initiatives focused on women investing over the past decade. On many levels, we are moving the needle—but at a relatively slow pace. On March 8, 2017, Women Investing in Women Digital will be officially launching our first edition of the World Women Report and our new digital platform www.thestateofwomen.com. Our team has been working diligently on various frameworks for tracking various stakeholders focused on the economic advancement and engagement of women worldwide.

For further questions please contact:
Alexandra Björk
alexandra.bjork@connect2capital.org
+ 46 739 41 47 61

Read more and register here

Connect2Capital is the venue that offers growth companies, investors and other actors in funding the ideal place to meet in an efficient and inspiring way. The forum is featuring emerging technology companies across various streams such as ICT, Industry, Life Sciences Technology and more. Gothenburg is located in an exciting region at the center of northern European regional growth and development by connecting Oslo and Copenhagen in the heart of western Sweden.

During two days we facilitate growth by providing matchmaking and pre-booked meetings. The program contains a wide range of keynotes discussing present trends and success stories, and for the third year in a row we're teaming up with Startup Grind to bring you a truly relevant event.