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A Virtual Fireside Chat on Diversity, Inclusion & Innovation
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The insurance industry broadly is not known for leaning into innovation, nor is it overly diverse in representation. As such, the BrokerTech Ventures Innovation & Inclusion task force enlisted the help of Shelly Bell, founder and chief executive officer of Black Girl Ventures. BTV believes there is not only an opportunity but an obligation to elevate the understanding of inclusion for the future of the industry.
As a part of BrokerTech Ventures’ core philosophy and foundational platform of the infinite game mentality, the BTV leadership team has recently launched an initiative around innovation and inclusion. It became apparent that in order to truly achieve progress in terms of increased diversity in the insurance industry, we must be intentional and extend the outreach from within. Ultimately, we will not achieve paramount progress in the name of innovation, without intentionality around our efforts toward inclusion.
Through one of our BTV Owners, Taruja Deshmukh of Conner Strong & Buckelew, I was introduced to the company Black Girl Ventures. BGV’s core tenant is to create capital opportunities for black and brown women founders. In addition to my personal values of helping to lift up all women in the professional space, I also sensed that our BrokerTech Ventures Capital Tower may provide an alignment with BGV. Here is an excerpt of my virtual fireside Q&A with Shelly Bell, founder and chief executive officer of Black Girl Ventures.
As a part of our BrokerTech Ventures Accelerator and additional towers of business, we are making every effort to be intentional around opening up our networks to broaden diversity within our ecosystem. As Bell suggests, as insurance industry professionals it is our greatest missed opportunity if we are not educating our startup founders about the implications and business applications for insurance.
We believe that true innovation for our industry cannot and will not happen without intentionality around inclusion…and we are committed to being a part of the change.
Susan Hatten is the chief operating officer of BrokerTech Ventures.