Vera Futorjanski is the CEO and founder of Veritas Ventures, an innovation advisory firm based out of the UAE. Vera is an angel investor who invests mostly in women-led startups. She is also a limited partner in an African venture capital fund. Vera has been in the tech innovation and the venture capital world for almost a decade.
Before her career in tech, Vera was a dancer who taught and performed Argentine tango in Europe, but an accident forced her to choose a new path. After living in Europe for some time, she moved into the tech world and joined Rocket Internet in Berlin. She managed the global communications during the IPO and then came to the UAE as an entrepreneur in residence to launch a startup for them. The Dubai Government hired Vera to build an accelerator to advance innovation in different sectors. Later, Vera joined 500 Global, a VC firm, and launched the first international accelerator in Saudi Arabia.
You've spent many years building startup ecosystems. What excites you in this role?
I love building something from scratch and giving opportunities to people. They say, talent is everywhere, opportunity is not. And this is particularly true in the MENA region and other emerging markets.
What does it take to build a flourishing ecosystem?
I believe that it takes several stakeholders to create a successful ecosystem, including talent, investors, and government involvement.
I am happy to see the expansion of the investor base in the Middle East and believe that the government's involvement is necessary for startups to succeed. Startup world typically does not welcome government involvement as it slows things down but not in Dubai. Here, it's the opposite. With governmental support, startups move much faster due to collaborations and projects.
According to the project 10x, Dubai aims to be 10 years ahead of any other city in the world. That incentivizes every government entity to innovate. The Dubai government is very agile and fast-moving, as evidenced by its blockchain strategy and its goal to become a completely paperless government. I am excited to see what the future holds for the region.
What is the Female Angels 2022 Movement about?
Many women believe investing is difficult and complicated, and this belief holds them back. However, investment process is much easier than one thinks. The Female Angels Movement has been organizing bootcamps and education sessions for women. It is important to understand that you do not need enormous capital to start investing. You can start with a thousand dollars.
Why is it important to have more women investors and venture capitalists?
You usually invest in somebody you can relate to. If you sit on the investment side of the table, you will want to relate to the person across the table. If we only have old men sitting on the investment side of the table, they will finance young men. It's that simple feeling, 'This is like me when I was younger.' We need to change that. We need to break this barrier for women and invite them to make a decision: I want to invest, I want to support other women.
Apart from the return on investment aspect, it is about impact. What impact are we creating with our time and money? We are the ancestors of our future. What kind of future do we want to build? How do our decisions influence the future? An ancient saying says: We influence the future for seven generations after us. This means, we need to be very intentional and conscious about our choices and decisions, and that includes bringing more women to the table.
Last year, I had the pleasure and honour to moderate a panel discussion with Sadhguru at the World Economic Forum. He shared a wonderful thought: Leadership is about courage. Once you become a leader, your life is not about you anymore. It is not only about yourself as a leader. Your life is about everything and everyone around you.
This principle can be helpful for our leaders. It definitely influenced my life a lot. I do not live my life to merely survive. I live my life to thrive, and I try to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and a lot of style.