In a capitalist world it takes a queen to build an empire, and HerCapital is on a quest to empower queens. Founded by two badass women—Rabiya Ather and Zabreen Khan—HerCapital is a global info-media platform that curates educational and inspiring content around personal financial management and investment. Their vision is to create a strong community of women who enable each other to invest in their futures.

Intent...

Money and feminism are so deeply entrenched with each other, yet not enough attention is given to the gaping problem in how women think about and make use of their money. Global research indicates that over 71% of women’s assets remain in cash throughout their lives, and on average women invest 40% less than men. In India, 65% women either don’t have bank accounts or have dormant bank accounts.

As women who have worked in finance for several years, Rabiya and Zabreen consistently found that their female peers lagged far behind men when it came to managing personal finances. Given the gender pay gap and the fact that women generally live longer than men they observed that this problem continued to exacerbate the female wealth gap. Their intent was clear—women in any industry should know how to manage their money, how to budget and how to invest—and so, HerCapital was born in 2019 to serve this premise.

Philosophy and output...

A core reason which precludes women from investing their money is a complexity phobia that they tend to perceive the world of finance with. As Zabreen points out, “Women tend to feel as if these topics are complicated”. This perception then creates a massive cavity in women’s confidence levels when it comes to taking charge of their money. Further, the fact that information on personal finance and investing doesn’t necessarily target women, is expensive, and is written in a jargon-y, intimidating and uninviting manner, doesn’t make life easier (tell women about that)!

HerCapital understands these issues very well. Their philosophy for bridging the financial literacy gap is to produce freely accessible, aesthetically pleasing and digestible content on finance. Their online knowledge repository hosted on their website contains insightful resources on:

1. Building blocks of personal finance—where they break down what it means to meaningfully budget, save, invest, and protect your money through insurance
2. Fearfully Fiercely facing financial markets—where they demystify various sectors and industries you can invest in, explain what “Bull and Bear” markets mean, and analyse how financial markets react during crises (2008 financial crisis and covidunending19)
3. Stalking the stock market—where they mentor you on how to strategically and critically think about investing in stocks, diversifying your portfolios, and avoiding investment fallacies
4. Businesses and balance sheets—where they deconstruct business cycles, how to read financial statements and understand the financial health of a business

Apart from distilling seemingly complex terms in a simplified manner, HerCapital also seeks to empower women with inspiration. On their social-media platforms they routinely showcase #BossLadies who journey their professional careers with bold ambition and a passion for growing their money. The brand also publishes weekly digests with updates on the political economy of finance and business, and also hosts online events to arm their women with information and insights.

Outcome and Impact….

“The number one thing that women should be doing with their personal wealth is literally thinking about it,” says Rabiya. “A lot of us just sit on our cash or shop it away.” HerCapital’s deepest legacy is in starting this important conversation. Three other reasons why HerCapital makes an impactful presence:

1. Democratising financial knowledge—the brand is levelling the playing field for women in finance by producing free and high quality content that makes the process of learning money management easy and intuitive.
2. Inspiration along the way—You don’t even have to look too far—Rabiya and Zabreen shine as flag bearers of inspiration. Rabiya, who holds a degree in Applied Mathematics, Economics and Computer Science has extensively worked towards ensuring equitable healthcare and educational outcomes. She’s worked with the World Health Organisation to eradicate polio in her home country, Pakistan. Zabreen—a student of Science, Technology and Creative Writing—has been passionately involved in the economic empowerment of women, and is the proud founder of a vocational school for women in Pakistan. The duo currently work at the cutting edge of finance and technology—Rabiya as a strategic advisor for large institutional clients and Zabreen as an investment advisor at a venture capitalist firm.
3. Stronghold for the Feminism movement—While much more needs to be done fundamentally—from annihilating discriminatory inheritance laws and ensuring equal access to work opportunities and equal pay for equal work—HerCapital has set the ball rolling for empowering women to take charge of their money and be fiercely independent and ambitious with their economic goals.

We concur…

HerCapital is a brand that is inclusive, spunky, inspiring and resourceful. It’s a community that we endorse for its important intent, its quality output, and its potential for nurturing powerful women professionals.

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