Delphine Rémy Boutang worked for nearly 14 years at IBM in England and the United States before returning to France in 2013 to start her own business. She created The Bureau
, a digital communications agency. At the same time, she decided to launch Digital Women's Day, which was held for the first time in 2013. This annual event is dedicated to female entrepreneurship and the place of women in the digital world.
You have launched a new edition of Digital Women's Day. What motivated you to launch such an event?
My expertise lies in communications. I believe that communication is education. When I launched Digital Women's Day, I felt there was an urgent need to change attitudes towards the image of women, to educate and to highlight female role models who are entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs in the tech world. When I returned to France, I noticed that there were many events organized on this theme, but still very few female speakers. Today, we can see that attitudes have changed. Many initiatives have been launched to promote women entrepreneurs, but this is still very recent and women are still underrepresented in tech, a sector that represents the future. This needs to change, and digital technology appears to be a historic accelerator of gender parity.
We therefore decided to create a public event, open to all, to show through the broadest possible spectrum of representations that anyone can be an entrepreneur.
We want to show that digital technology and innovation are tools that can be used to create a better world. Beyond this event, we have also created a club, inaugurated by Marlène Schiappa in 2017. Today, it brings together nearly 500 highly influential women from large corporations, startups, and the media. Through this club, we organize meetings once a month. We can't change the world in a day, so we want to build a sustainable network marked by daily actions.
JFD is not just an event, it's also a networking club, an influential network because we need to exchange ideas and network among women. We also created the Margaret Foundation, launched in 2018, which helps young girls embrace careers through training in new digital professions. This year, as a major new feature of this edition, we published a manifesto for an inclusive digital world. Every year, JFD launches projects and concrete actions that are carried out in parallel with the event.
The second part will take place in Dakar. Why did you choose to export the event to Africa?
Today, we have decided to open our network of influential women to Africa. We want to focus on internationalization to build bridges between Europe and the African continent.
Why Africa? Because the digital revolution is sweeping across the continent. I think that today, we need to change the narrative about Africa. We want to highlight the fact that, in addition to being the continent that champions female entrepreneurship, Africa has many women entrepreneurs who are actively participating in the growth of their countries. We must represent them and draw inspiration from them.
Why Dakar? Because it is one of the cities most influenced by technology on the continent. There is a vibrant ecosystem in the country, both in terms of entrepreneurs and incubators. The country has set itself the goal of creating 35,000 direct jobs in the field of new technologies by 2025. We will therefore be representing Senegal's ecosystem at this year's event in Dakar. We have also organized a learning expedition in partnership with Orange Sonatel to discover this ecosystem and meet local entrepreneurs.
What are your ambitions for this African component? What will be the highlights?
For this first African edition, we will welcome startups from Senegal, but also from Chad, Ivory Coast, South Africa, and other countries. The highlights will be joint speeches by men and women, startups and large groups, to symbolize the new ecosystem in which we live today. The talks will tell the stories of women who are changing the world on their own scale and men who support female entrepreneurship.
Our ambition is to highlight how digital technology can be used to create a better and more inclusive world. To achieve this, we must strive for greater representation of women, who are the architects of tomorrow's world. I am thinking in particular of artificial intelligence, a sector with a bright future and a source of job creation. Women must invest in this sector.
At the "Les Margaret" awards ceremony, named in honor of Margaret Hamilton, we will be recognizing women in digital technology who are committed to creating a better world. Among the nominees are Arielle Kitio from Cameroon, founder of Caysti, a company dedicated to teaching coding to younger generations, and Rebecca Enonchong, a leading figure in African tech.
From a more general perspective, what is your view of these women who are entrepreneurs on the continent thanks to digital technology?
I think Africa is a pioneering continent in many ways. I'm thinking of mobile payments, all these innovative solutions that are created to overcome logistical and social deficiencies and that enable further innovation. It's a real source of inspiration. The digital revolution is happening on the continent, and women must be part of it! The 21st
century will be female or it will not be at all.
What are the challenges?
Financing remains a crucial issue. Access to financing is a real issue for women entrepreneurs (and entrepreneurs in general). Globally, the percentage of women with access to financing is only 2.2%.
Then there is training and, finally, confidence. Women need to gain confidence in themselves, and to do that, we need to develop role models, because you can't believe in something you haven't seen. The more we represent these diverse women who are entrepreneurs and who are successful, at whatever level, the more other women will have the courage to take the plunge.