At WinPE, we are constantly pushing the boundaries to look for solutions – for example, Building a diverse board, bringing diversity at the CxO level and encouraging an informed approach towards D&I at portfolio companies is a step forward in integrating diversity into investment portfolios.

Shruti on paternity leave policies – “If men are taking equal paternity leave then you’ve changed the conversation because anyone you hire could have a baby at any point and take time off. So there are things that firms can do that are quite intentional – in that way they can even out the imbalance between the working life of a man and the working life of a woman.”

You can’t grow up in this society and be a thinking person and not have unconscious associations with women, with people of colour and you know it has to be acknowledged – its beyond doubt that unconscious bias is a thing and we tend to gravitate towards folks that are like us

Our industry knows the meritocracy part, it is kind of more natural. I love that panels like this with conversations that intentionality is becoming more and more front of mind, which is great, so there’s room for both. Along with the intentionality and the meritocracy, we also need accountability

Let me start by saying, yes, let’s acknowledge progress because that’s important. We often sound so pessimistic about this but you know what progress is happening and it may not be showing up in the numbers but its definitely showing up in this panel …. This is indicative of the kind of change that will make a difference

For me diversity, it’s not just about gender, it’s socioeconomic, it’s also sexual orientation, it’s about a lot of things

So we were started in 1997 by a Cuban American with the idea and understanding that if you are not doing business in an echo chamber you are going to get to better decisions on behalf your investors and you know we live that principle everyday

At a global level, women form only 2.4% of founding partners with control of the firm’s investment decisions. 2.3% of PEVC funding goes to women led businesses, these numbers are abysmal!

At WinPE, we are constantly thinking about how to be forward leaning and bring in intentionality without giving in to reservations or diluting meritocracy

This business is however considered one of apprenticeship and the industry, by and large, continues to prefer hiring early and growing from within. Lateral hiring at senior levels has not yet found success

There is always 2 sides to this debate and we have often heard even some women founders in our portfolio often turn around and say you know what we don’t want to be a part of a panel on only women because that’s the only place you always put us in and we want to be seen as a founder, we want to be seen as a leader. We don’t necessarily just want to be always tagged as a woman founder

I want to build a team that is diverse and can relate to all the diversity of our clients. Not all of our clients are homogeneous in the way that they all graduated from the same type of school, all grew up in the same parts of the world, all speak the same languages, come from the same socio-economic backgrounds. So we want to be relatable, we want to build great relationships and to connect with our clients and so I want to have a diverse team that can relate to the clients and that’s to me is what diversity is and why it’s good business (to have a diverse team)

If you’ve had decades of intentional exclusion it has to be balanced out now with intentional inclusion.

When we think about gender and gender balance in private equity, we’re not saying oh we’re only going to support women-led funds because that is going to solve the problem around the lack of women in the industry. What we would like to see is that every private equity firm has gender balance within their firm. That is the ultimate goal!

Having women in leadership is a critical requirement to having increased diversity

across levels and decision-making structures. It is a critical requirement to unblock the flow of capital to women led businesses.