The Daily Telegraph - 20.08.2019

FEATURES

T

he statistics on the

struggles of female

entrepreneurs are a

depressing read:

90 per cent of funding

goes to all-male founder

teams in the UK, and, in the US,

all-male teams are four times more

likely to get investment than if they

have even one woman in the team.

But the story is different if you

cross paths with Natalia Vodianova,

the supermodel.

The 37-year-old is putting to good

use the money earned in a two-

decades-long fashion career from

huge contracts with brands such as

Calvin Klein and Guerlain. Now she

spends her days managing a portfolio

of “impact investments”: businesses

that can make the world a better

place while still bringing return. The

latest was founded by two women.

Vodianova is stepping into a man’s

world, given that just 14 per cent of

UK business angels are female. This

wild under-representation leaves

many reporting that women in the

pitching room face unconscious –

and conscious – bias, leading to

female entrepreneurs starting

businesses with half as much capital

as men. She is looking after her

wallet too – women-led start-ups

delivered twice as much return as

those led by men in a study by

management consultant group BCG.

I meet her in Google’s office just

behind King’s Cross station, where

she is due to talk to a forum of female

start-up founders about her latest

investment. It’s a company called

Little Tummy, a baby

food subscription

service described as

“Deliveroo for

babies” which was

founded by Nadine

Hellmann and Dr

Sophie

Niedermaier-

Patramani. It

produces

healthy baby food

treated with special

technology to give it a

longer shelf life.

Vodianova has

admitted in the past she

is “a little military” when

it comes to her children

not eating junk food,

telling Porter magazine

Natalia Vodianova

tells Helen

Chandler-Wilde

she’s putting her

faith in female

entrepreneurs

The rags to riches

supermodel making

impact investments

Making an impact:

Natalia Vodianova

is one of the few

female investors

putting money

from her modelling

career to good use

in 2017 that she got strict with her son

when he was 10 and “getting a little

chubby”, saying: “Well I tell them they

are gorgeous and beautiful and all

those good things, but I tell them to

watch what they eat, because those

habits will stay forever.”

She sees Little Tummy as part of

her mission to improve the lives of

women burdened with more

domestic jobs even when they work

full-time. “It’s proven that having

one child for a mother is the same

pressure as having two and a half

jobs”, she says, referring to a 2018

survey, that found stay-at-home

mothers had an average working

week of 98 hours, with little more

than an hour a day to themselves.

Vodianova is the mother of five

children, three with former husband

Justin Portman, a property heir. Her

two youngest children are with her

current partner Antoine Arnault, CEO

of menswear brand Berluti, which is

owned by his father Bernard’s LVMH

luxury goods conglomerate.

I ask whether she splits the cooking

with Arnault.

“Even scrambled eggs is an

issue for my man,” she says with a

long sigh, adding that he does

help put the children to bed.

“It’s still a female-

dominated space, still

women are making those

decisions of what to feed

their baby, what to buy,”

she says. That’s why she

embraces the term

“mumpreneur”.

She is firm that her

identity as a mother is a big

motivator as to why she has

continued to work, even

though she could retire

comfortably right now. “It’s

something they will be much

more proud of when they

grow up,” she adds.

The life of her children is

vastly different to her own

upbringing, in a poor family

in Nizhny Novgorod, a city

250 miles east of Moscow. She helped

her mother, after her father walked

out, to raise her younger sister Oksana,

who has epilepsy and autism. There

were days when she had only a cup of

powdered soup to eat. Things changed

when, at 17, she was spotted by a model

scout. The agency gave her an advance

to pay off her mother’s debts and she

moved to Paris.

She says the experience informed

her desire to do good in the world. She

founded a charity, the Naked Heart

Foundation, following the Beslan

school massacre in 2004, to support

children and families in Russia. She

then founded Elbi in 2018, an app for

charitable giving which incentivises

donors with fashion rewards.

Vodianova doesn’t pass for an

ordinary investor. Most founders at

the Google conference are dressed

safely: all navy blue and shoes that

don’t rub. She wears a vest under an

oversized blazer, tight jeans and dark

red crocodile skin mules. She still

moves in celebrity circles: shortly after

we meet she is photographed on the

front row at Paris Fashion Week, in

Cannes and at starry charity dinners.

This involvement with fashion can

be tricky to align with her ethical

principles. The industry’s success is

built on people buying more than they

need, and replacing it seasonally.

Rejecting work with less sustainable

brands was not possible in her early

career, she says, when there would

always be a model to replace her.

“But today I’m much more aware

and I am making my choices much

more carefully than before because I

have different priorities,” she adds.

She says her partner “feels that

urgency” to make LVMH a more

sustainable operation. In July this year,

it announced a partnership with Stella

McCartney, which it said emphasised

its commitment to sustainability.

She adds that her partner is

passionate about philanthropy

because “he understands that they

have been very privileged,

especially as children, to inherit this

great company”.

Vodianova thinks that tech may be

the answer. One start-up she has

invested in, 3D Look, uses image

recognition software to map a

consumer’s sizing with just two

selfies, allowing them to virtually “try

on” clothes.

It also gives producers a clearer

understanding of what their client’s

bodies are really like, making sure

they produce clothes in the right sizes

and proportions. This could help

brands reduce the controversial

practice of burning unsold clothing.

“It’s producing less, more

effectively, and the return rate drops

by 30 per cent,” she says.

She attributes her tough start in life

to her drive to make a better world.

“When I became successful I left

literally millions of people behind who

were in a similar situation”, she says.

“It’s a huge responsibility but I have

managed to turn it into something

extremely positive and purposeful.”

Working mother: Natalia Vodianova with

children Lucas and Neva Portman

Passion: Natalia Vodianova

and Antoine Arnault

talk to a forum of female

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Book now Women Mean Business Live

The event will

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For more

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Sadie Frost

Entrepreneur

Victoria Derbyshire

Presenter

Tina Brown

Media Entrepreneur

Samantha Cameron

Fashion Designer

Asma Khan

Chef and Owner of

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November 5

2019

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GEOFF PUGH FOR THE TELEGRAPH

The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 20 August 2019 *** 21

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