I’m going to hit you with some statistics. About women.

Here’s the first one: Around 50% of the population in the US are women. You probably knew that one. 

Here’s another one. Women-owned businesses. According to the National Association of Women Business Owners, 42% of existing US businesses are owned by women. So, pretty good. Right?

Now, we move on to entrepreneurs. This one’s not so good. Of all the people who start up and run a new business – only 20-25% are women.

So, now we get to - the percentage of venture capital invested in those startup businesses. What percentage of venture capital goes to women startup entrepreneurs? You’re probably picking up on the trend here: downward. We’ve gone from around 50%, to 42 to 25. So, if this downward slide were to continue steadily, you might expect women entrepreneurs only receive 15% of all investment capital in the US. That would be pretty dismal. Wouldn’t it? Given that they make up 25% of the startup population. The actual statistic is 2%.

As extraordinary as it may seem going into the second quarter of the 21st century, women entrepreneurs in the United States receive merely 2% of all venture capital. That’s why, here in New Orleans, Jane Cooper and her colleagues run an investment company called Flamingo Funders.

Flamingo Funders are a group of women investors who invest in women founders. They started in 2022 and so far they’ve invested close to quarter of a million dollars in 6 companies.

Tiffany Langlinais started her business, Freret Napoleon, in 2014. Back then Tiffany was making handmade jewelry out of oyster shells. She went from selling a few, to getting featured in several fashion shows, and soon her jewelry was available in 55 stores across the country. Tiffany figured if she could take her own product and market it successfully, she could probably do the same for other people’s products too.

That’s why today Freret Napoleon is a marketing firm that offers a wide range of services and boasts an impressive list of clients as interesting as Cane River Pecan Company and Piety & Desire Chocolates, and as diverse as Brennans and The Bulldog.

The namesakes of Tiffany's company, Freret and Napoleon, were both men who had an impact on New Orleans. William Freret was mayor of New Orleans in the 1800’s, and Napoleon was… well, without the Louisiana Purchase who knows what the fate of New Orleans may have been?

Throughout the history of New Orleans there have also been a number of significant women, including Marie Laveau, Ruby Bridges, Mahalia Jackson, and in business the colorful Norma Wallace.

Flamingo Funders may well find and fund the next successful woman to come from New Orleans, and Freret Napoleon may well get to represent them. That would be a certain kind of poetic justice.

Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com.

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