Empowering Equity 2025

Empowering Equity 2025 event brought together fund managers, LPs, policymakers and ecosystem leaders committed to driving gender balance across private markets. Designed as an interactive afternoon session, the room quickly turned into a dynamic forum: live polls, Q&A moments, and honest conversations about partner-track ambitions, confidence, LP access, and what women in investing need most right now.

It was also the moment  to officially introduce a structured, scalable mentoring programme for emerging women investors.

Building Impact Together

A highlight of the event was the panel featuring Kinga Stanisławska (European Women in VC), Gurpreet Manku (Level 20), Mirna Marović (VentureXchange), Carmen Vera Garcia (EIB), and Minerva Elias (EIF)

Kinga reflected on the early days of European Women in VC, when fundraising for women GPs was extremely challenging and even basic data on female representation didn’t exist. She highlighted how peer networks, LP access and co-investment bridges have become essential to career progression and fund-building, especially in Europe’s fragmented market.

The panel explored what truly moves the needle when empowering women in venture capital, private equity and private credit, from fundraising readiness and LP access to mentorship design, resilience, and the importance of clear, measurable goals.

Key themes:

• Europe’s LP landscape requires new strategies.
Europe still lacks strong endowments, foundations and fund-of-funds. For women to progress to partner level, they must master LP relationships early, because fund performance, co-investment networks and credibility all depend on access to capital.

• Mentorship works when it’s structured.
Successful mentoring depends on clarity: goal-setting, disciplined cadence, conflict-free matching, and a framework that keeps conversations focused on skills, decisions and behaviours, not job placement.

• Networks are a career accelerator, not a luxury.
Investing is a relationship-driven industry. LPs, co-investors, founders and peer communities shape outcomes. Building those relationships early, and consistently, is what turns mid-level talent into future partners.

• Resilience is part of the journey.
“You only ever see the 1% success. You never see the 99 attempts before it.”

The discussion set the perfect context for what came next.

Introducing the Empowering Equity Mentorship+ Programme

Against this backdrop, the session marked the official launch of the Empowering Equity Mentorship+ Programme, a new initiative designed to accelerate the careers of early-stage women fund managers across Europe.

Read more here.