Why we need to tell different start-up stories

What story springs to mind when you hear the words “successful start-up”? Perhaps a student – probably male – who develops a groundbreaking new technology while tinkering away in his hall of residence or someone’s garage and ends up becoming the globally influential CEO of a listed company worth billions? 

This, at any rate, is roughly what the backstories of the major Silicon Valley players such as Facebook, Google, Apple, ­Amazon and Microsoft sound like – shaping our notion of what constitutes innovation and success. And yet their social impact is often questionable, to say the least: just think of the disastrous effects the algorithms of firms like Meta and X are having on the world of information. In fact, the richest companies are in many cases proof that growth should not be an end in itself. Meanwhile, the stories behind most start-ups that truly bring about positive change do not involve valuations in the billions or stock market flotations.

Success isn’t just about making a profit

Around 10 years ago, everyone was talking about “impact start-ups”. Across the world, impact and start-up hubs were set up to support firms whose business models weren’t just about making profits but also about solving problems. Investments in these companies grew. 

In the countries of the Global South, such impact start-ups frequently fill genuine gaps in supply. In Rwanda, Ghana and Nigeria, vital medicines are transported to remote regions by drones these days. Companies in India have brought millions of solar panels to households and electric scooters to the streets. In many places, doctors diagnose a patient’s condition remotely via telemedicine, farming is planned using AI apps, and payment transactions and delivery services are arranged on mobile apps. Countless small to medium-sized firms worldwide provide products or services that give people access to things they wouldn’t otherwise have.

The money ends up elsewhere

Yet the enthusiasm for impact start-ups appears to be waning at least in the financial sector. According to estimates in the latest State of Impact report, global venture capital (VC) investments in impact companies declined by around a quarter year-on-year in 2025, putting them at their lowest level for seven years. That same year, global VC investments soared by over 25  % and defence investment doubled. Three quarters of the venture capital for impact start-ups was invested in North America and Europe; a small part went to Asia, but just three percent found its way to the rest of the world. Anyone with a good idea in Africa or Latin America will almost certainly have to finance its realisation themselves.

However, it is precisely such local firms that can steer the economy in the right direction. Now more than ever, with public budgets under pressure the world over and international funding being slashed, we need companies with a sense of responsibility to bring about change. Their founders’ narratives are certainly worth telling. Read in this edition how Imma Guixe from Ethiopia developed recyclable menstrual hygiene products on her sewing machine at home, and how a health crisis prompted Romita Ghosh in India to pursue medical research. They too had a novel idea and took a personal risk to turn their vision into reality. They are the real role models – yet we hear far too little about their stories.

Eva-Maria Verfürth is editor-in-chief of D+C.
euz.editor@dandc.eu