Yvonne Gamble on How Entrepreneurship Empowers Women To Support Water As A Human Right: WAAHR ENCORE

As a leading financial advisor, entrepreneur, investor, civic leader and humanitarian, The Right Honorable Yvonne Gamble has a long history of working with "captains of industry" in Chicago, founding San Pete Financial Group and funding areas such as software development and innovation. She has also been a strong support of female politicians and training programs for women to run for public office through her nonprofit, Women Leading Change Now. She has used her access to leadership to support innovation in water.

Her work with women-led startups includes advising the development of the Women-Owned Small Business program. As an advisor for many businesses, she highlights the need for startups to have access to capital and contracts, and recommends creating a business plan and team to solve problems. In particular, she highlights the need for desalination plants for water transport, which creates a market opportunity for startups. Her company, San Pete Financial Group, creates business opportunities by providing access to capital to allow businesses to take advantage of market opportunities.

Yvonne advises women to "go where they are celebrated and not just tolerated" and not to try to go it alone but to design their businesses to include a team with specific skills and mindset to create a successful business venture - noting that building a strong team takes time and effort, and a willingness to let people go if they don't perform. She stresses the importance of having a clear vision and attracting a team to achieve a goal related to gender parity in entrepreneurship.

Yvonne has had a strong interest in water and climate change for many years, and monitors issues that could lead to opportunities for innovative solutions by business. Her success as an entrepreneur made it possible to support her humanitarian work. She stresses the importance of taking a global perspective of the water crisis, and of going beyond superficial solutions and address the root issues. Rising sea levels and its impact on human rights is important to her, as is the need to view water issues as a human issue rather than addressing them regionally or municipally. She encouraged individuals to consider starting their own businesses in the water space and to seek funding from venture capitalists. Yvonne also highlighted the freedom and opportunities that come with owning a business, such as serving on boards and supporting non-profits. She emphasized the urgency of fixing rising water issues worldwide and offered her assistance to anyone interested.

Quotes:

3:57 “If you want to be in an industry and you want to flourish in an industry, then you have to come in that industry as a leader of that industry, and then you bring others along with you.”  

5:20 “Policy, politics and science go hand in hand.”

18:24 “Go where you are celebrated, not where you are tolerated.”

34:37 (Speaking about effects of climate change) “We have to look at this as a human rights issue. We have a right to live. We want to live on this planet as humans.”

46:41 “Currently we do not treat the water issue as a human issue. We are continuing to address it by country, by region, even by municipality - as being separate and apart. And that is a problem that we have to abate immediately. We have to begin to treat our water shortages, contaminations, and our oceans rising as a human issue because they affect the humanity of this planet. Time is of the essence to fix our rising water issues around this world.”