The email came through alerting me to some great news about Expert360 cofounder and CEO Bridget Loudon.
The management consultant turned entrepreneur, and 2014 Women’s Agenda Leadership Award recipient, has has been named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list in the ‘Enterprise Technology’ space.
It is a thoroughly impressive accolade for a thoroughly impressive woman.
Loudon left Bain & Company in 2012 to start Expert360 a global, freelance talent marketplace that connects businesses with 12,000 consultants for project work in 97 countries.
The business, which Loudon runs with Emily Yue, has raised over $8 million in capital and helped 2,500 companies find consultants for $60 million worth of projects.
Loudon is one of only four Australians on the prestigious Forbes list and the only Australian woman featured.
She is one of only two women included on the list of 30 emerging leaders. Two from 30.
The relative dearth of women in technology is well known but the visual is still hard to comprehend.
Loudon’s listing comes after an MIT study found that when male and female entrepreneurs pitch the same idea, investors were 60 per cent more likely to invest in the man’s proposal.
It is difficult to know whether just two women feature in the enterprise technology category because there are less women in the field, whether women are less likely to secure funding required to succeed in the field, or whether women are either less likely to be nominated or judged favourably.
The reality is probably a combination of all of the above.
The Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list recognises 300 emerging leaders in ten different categories. In most of these categories women are better represented than in enterprise technology.
For example, the arts recognises 16 women, finance and venture capital features nine women, marketing and media has 13, retail and ecommerce has 11, entertainment and sports has 11 and social entrepreneurs has 12. Consumer technology features only six women, healthcare and science seven and industry, manufacturing and energy just two.
A total of 87 women are recognised out of 300.