Hema Vallabh
Founding Partner, Five35 Ventures and Co-Founder & CEO, WomHub
Alumni Profile:

Hema is an engineer, turned entrepreneur, turned investor. She is the founding GP at Five35 Ventures, a $30m Pan-African female-focused VC fund that will invest in early-stage (Seed & Series A) tech start-ups solving the most meaningful challenges in Africa. She is also the co-founder & CEO of WomHub, a boutique pan-African incubator and the first co-working space for female-founders in STEM in Africa. WomHub is a spin-out of her global, award-winning non-profit WomEng which provides interventions for girls and women at every stage of the engineering skills pipeline.

How did VC Unlocked impact your confidence as a VC?

As a first-time fund-manager, really just getting my feet wet into the world of VC, the programme was an incredible springboard. Everything from the content and learning, the practical application of principles in designing and affirming my fund thesis and structures, exposure to world-class experts and leaders in the industry, and arguably most importantly the network of peer VC’s in the cohort has really set such a strong foundation and grounding for me to build up from here. I felt like the programme significantly catalyzed my “readiness” – confidence and otherwise – to establish myself as a trailblazing VC, in the gender-focused Africa landscape in particular.

What was the most important takeaway from the program that you implemented afterwards?

Other than the excellent core content learnings, the community the programme provided. Subsequent to the program, I have collaborated with a number of cohort members in various ways ranging from sharing and assessing pipeline, to comparing best-practices, to hosting live social media sessions on Instagram and Clubhouse focused on providing advisory, thought-leadership and overall spotlighting gender-lens investing in particular.

What advice do you have for Corporate VCs who are considering the program?

Don’t second guess it – just go for it!! I will always look back to VC Unlocked as one of the key milestones in kick-starting my VC journey. It’s a unique opportunity to be exposed to such incredible experts who are genuinely passionate and committed to developing the next generation of leading VCs. But most importantly, be ready to commit, put in the time and be present for the program. Like anything in life, what you put in is what you get out.

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How did VC Unlocked impact your confidence as a VC?

As a first-time fund-manager, really just getting my feet wet into the world of VC, the programme was an incredible springboard. Everything from the content and learning, the practical application of principles in designing and affirming my fund thesis and structures, exposure to world-class experts and leaders in the industry, and arguably most importantly the network of peer VC’s in the cohort has really set such a strong foundation and grounding for me to build up from here. I felt like the programme significantly catalyzed my “readiness” – confidence and otherwise – to establish myself as a trailblazing VC, in the gender-focused Africa landscape in particular.

What was the most important takeaway from the program that you implemented afterwards?

Other than the excellent core content learnings, the community the programme provided. Subsequent to the program, I have collaborated with a number of cohort members in various ways ranging from sharing and assessing pipeline, to comparing best-practices, to hosting live social media sessions on Instagram and Clubhouse focused on providing advisory, thought-leadership and overall spotlighting gender-lens investing in particular.

What advice do you have for Corporate VCs who are considering the program?

Don’t second guess it – just go for it!! I will always look back to VC Unlocked as one of the key milestones in kick-starting my VC journey. It’s a unique opportunity to be exposed to such incredible experts who are genuinely passionate and committed to developing the next generation of leading VCs. But most importantly, be ready to commit, put in the time and be present for the program. Like anything in life, what you put in is what you get out.

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