Lola Akinmade Åkerström (#041)
Never stop asking questions and demanding valid answers and reasons for exclusion
Company: Local Purse
Headcount: 2
Stage: Pre-seed
Warm intro from Unconventional Ventures
Too many great ideas, entrepreneurs and solutions stay overlooked and unsupported due to them not conforming to what is known, and thereby expected, by the traditional investment landscape. For some, they are unconventional, but unconventional is often what the world needs in order to change.
Unconventional Ventures invests in start-ups in the pre-seed and seed stage led by diverse founders (identifying as women, people of colour, immigrants and/or LGBTQ+), building scalable impact tech companies in the Nordics and beyond.
Tell us your story
At my core, I’m a storyteller whose purpose lies within cultural connection through my work. Growing up in Nigeria, I was always fascinated by human and cultural geography. How we’re connected and what makes us different yet similar. So when I moved to the US to start college at 15, in addition to majoring in Information Systems, I also minored in Geography. Fast forward a couple years, I worked as a consultant within the field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) first as a programmer and then later on as a technical lead and system architect, until I dove fully into the world of storytelling within the travel industry.
I run a visual storytelling company, Geotraveler Media Sweden, and my work has appeared in many high profile publications and as a travel photographer, I’ve been represented by the National Geographic Image Collection, was named a Hasselblad Heroine, and a Bill Muster Travel Photographer of the Year awarded by the Society of American Travel Writers.
My main focus as an author and travel photographer spotlights culture through traditions, slow gastronomy, and local lifestyles. So, when the pandemic brought our travel industry to a standstill, it meant all the incredible artisans, guardians of culture and tradition, and experienced travel guides lost their jobs. I knew I needed to do something. Through my years of working as a consultant, problem-solving is one of my innate strengths.
So I joined a founder program through Antler, came up with the unique idea for Local Purse, which combines virtual cultural experiences with live video shopping, and met my incredible co-founder Sara Mansouri within that program.
Tell us a story that has really resonated with you
I draw inspiration from so many sources - from considering Oprah a role model in the way she moves with genuine intention to stories of pioneers who are breaking through boxes.
But one of the phrases that continues to resonate with me deeply is from my friend and mentor, Yomi Abiola - journalist, women’s advocate, speaker, and model. She told me:
“People can only see as far for you as they see for themselves”
People will always project their own personal limitations onto me. If they can’t see themselves accomplishing whatever it is I am aiming to accomplish, then why would they think I am capable of it?
Especially as a Black woman who society has already created predefined boxes for.
I despise boxes and people crafting my narrative for themselves without taking into account my own voice. That was why I also gave this TEDx talk in Stockholm that focuses on the power of asking “Why Not?” - both verbally and metaphorically through my actions.
Another quote lodged deeply within my psyche is this powerful one below by researcher and storyteller Brené Brown:
“If you are not in the arena getting your ass kicked on occasion, I am not interested in or open to your feedback. There are a million cheap seats in the world today filled with people who will never be brave with their own lives, but will spend every ounce of energy they have hurling advice and judgment at those of us trying to dare greatly. Their only contributions are criticism, cynicism, and fear-mongering. If you're criticizing from a place where you're not also putting yourself on the line, I'm not interested in your feedback.”
What can't you stop thinking about?
Those most affected by the pandemic within the travel industry.
Many of them are still cut off from their revenue and income which had been solely dependent on people traveling and visiting their lands. Local Purse keeps me awake at night because we can’t move as fast as we want to without the support and funds we need, since we’re still fully bootstrapping. We are currently fundraising and looking for the right investor who not only shares our passion, mission, and vision, but can also come onboard as a mentor and advisor within one of the business areas our start-up touches.
I also can’t stop thinking about the future of Local Purse once we begin to accelerate the way we deserve to, and I’m continually filled with hope and joy for what we’re currently building.
We know that the macro trend of live video shopping is the future of retail. By merging live video shopping with cultural experiences in a personal way (in the colloquialism of start-ups) we are creating a sustainable painkiller and lifelong vitamin for the travel industry that also helps reduce our carbon footprints.
If I could tell you just one thing...
Never stop asking questions and demanding valid answers and reasons for exclusion.
Keep challenging that status quo. Keep demanding legitimate reasons why doors are kept closed.
Keep asking why we’re being forced into pre-defined boxes, when we are still carving out our own narratives.
Keep asking “why not?” but let’s not live our lives waiting for the answer.
Your voice is a lot more powerful than you think.
A little space for shout-outs
Besides my incredible co-founder Sara Mansouri, I would especially love to shout-out and thank both Nora Bavey and Thea Messel, behind Unconventional Ventures, actively fighting for diversity, inclusion and equity within the Nordic start-up scene. Only 2% of investor funding goes to women-led start-ups and less than 1% goes to women of colour / marginalized / Black women founders.
So, you can imagine the headwinds we’re already up against with a market-validated solution and a working MVP that others would have gotten money for by simply sketching the idea on a piece of paper.
If you could get a warm intro to anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
There are so many but the two that immediately come to mind are Oprah Winfrey and Serena Williams within the context of Serena Ventures. They both epitomize what it means to fully stand in your power as a Black woman and take up your rightful space. They are pioneers.
Oprah because she is a consummate storyteller and has built a pioneering empire around storytelling, which is at the core of who I am as a person. Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures because I truly know once she hears about our pioneering solution, they would support us any way they can.