Sarah Dusek
Managing Partner, Enygma Ventures. On 1 show, 2 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
founderinvestorexecutiveauthorLinkedIn ↗sarahhdusek.com ↗
Sarah Dusek co-founded the glamping brand Under Canvas, which she scaled and sold in 2018, before launching Enygma Ventures to back female entrepreneurs across Africa. She also co-founded the eco-travel company Few & Far and authored Thinking Bigger.
1shows
2appearances
25statements
4resolved
4supported
0contradicted
100%fully supported
Everything Sarah Dusek said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Dusek: Realism is a disadvantage in venture capital
“So what we, you know, and sometimes to our fault, we're a bit more realistic. That can be a disadvantage in the venture capital space. You know, you are rewarded for being bold and brave, not conservative and realistic.”
Dusek: Female founders are better people managers, listeners, and more intuitive
“We typically tend to be better at, I think we're typically better people managers. I think we're more intuitive and I think we're better listeners.”
Dusek: Women founders deliver more consistent performance overall
“But women tend to consistently deliver performance more Consistently and tend to be, I mean, this is very generic, but tend to have sort of a better consistent performance rate overall.”
Dusek: African banking systems are more advanced than the US
“So banking systems in Africa, for example, tend to be infinitely more advanced than
The US, for example, because they've had to digitize much more rapidly than the US has”
Dusek: Female founders traditionally underestimate networking power compared to men
“One of the things I noticed about women, actually, is that we traditionally have underestimated the power of networking. We've underestimated the power of connections for doing business. And I do think men have realized this a lot long ago. And we have been a …”
Dusek: Being realistic is a disadvantage in venture capital
“Sometimes to our fault, we're a bit more realistic. That can be a disadvantage in the venture capital space. You are rewarded for being bold and brave, not conservative and realistic.”
Dusek: African banking systems are infinitely more advanced than the US
“Banking systems in Africa, for example, tend to be infinitely more advanced than The US, for example, because they've had to digitize much more rapidly than the US has”
Dusek: Africa will transition to a green economy faster than the West
“And we're going to see, and we are beginning to see a leapfrogging into a green economy, I think much faster than we'll see one happen in the West.”
Dusek: 25% of the global workforce will reside in Africa by 2050
“I think by 20, 50, 25% of the world's workforce is going to be on the African continent.”
Dusek: Women have traditionally underestimated the power of networking compared to men
“One of the things I noticed about women actually
Is that we traditionally have underestimated the power of networking.
We've underestimated the power of connections for doing business.
And I do think men have realized this a lot long ago.
And we have been a li…”
Dusek: Enygma Ventures invests exclusively in female founders
“Yeah, we invest only in female founders which is my attempt to counter steer against gender imbalance in the startup world.”
Dusek: 98% of all venture capital goes to male founders
“We know we've got 98% of all venture capital going to male founders”
Dusek: Lack of market capital drove rapid growth in Enygma's fintech portfolio
“We've had several companies in the fintech space that have really done extraordinarily well over the last few years. And their growth has largely been because of the lack of capital in the markets.”
Dusek: Africa will adopt a green economy faster than the West
“Also, there's insufficient power supply for the demand across the continent, and we're going to see, and we are beginning to see a leapfrogging into a green economy, I think, much faster than we'll see one happen in the West.”
Dusek: Founders should not close deals with investors they dislike
“If you don't like the people who are looking to do an investment deal with you before you've even closed the deal, don't close the deal. There's an old adage that says, if people show you who they are, believe them. And if people show you who they are and you …”
Enygma Ventures invests exclusively in female founders in Africa
“We invest only in female founders, which is my attempt to counter steer against gender imbalance in the startup world. We know we've got 98% of all venture capital going to male founders, so our fund is designed to try and contribute towards getting dollars to…”
Dusek: Financial services for unbanked populations offer enormous scale
“Several of our fintech companies were focused, are focused on serving an unbanked population, i.e. In designing financial service products for people who are trading or living on two or three dollars a day, the lowest socioeconomic Demographic of society, but …”
Dusek: Never take investment from people you dislike before closing
“If you don't like the people who are looking to do an investment deal with you before you've even closed the deal, don't close the deal. There's an old adage that says, if people show you who they are, believe them. And if people show you who they are and you …”
Dusek: Africa will house 25% of global workforce by 2050
“I think by 20, 50, 25% of the world's workforce is going to be on the African continent.”
Dusek: Grew a Montana-headquartered startup to over a $100M valuation
“Our headquarters for the business that we grew to being worth over a hundred million dollars came out of Montana, which is not, not, not the usual place you'd think of for growing a big company.”
Dusek is developing a travel venture focused on soil carbon and rewilding
“And one of the large projects I'm working on at the moment is we are developing another, I made my money in travel, and we're developing another travel company now, but we are focusing our energies and efforts on regenerating Vast areas of wilderness to restor…”
Dusek grew a Montana-based business to a valuation over $100 million
“Our headquarters for the business that we grew to being worth over a hundred million dollars came out of Montana”
Dusek: Agriculture remains the largest employment sector across Africa
“We do know that across the continent that the largest sector of society is still employed in agriculture. So agriculture is still sort of the largest sector. Aggregate of what people do for work.”
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Sarah's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 INNOVATORS & INVESTORSLEDGER | Managing Partner, Enygma Ventures | 2 | 25 | 100% 4/4 | full record on Innovators & Investors → |