Delft Female Impact Community

Matchmaking & Collaboration
Delft Female Impact Community

Matchmaking & Collaboration Delft Female Impact Community

The strength of a women’s network

A unique event: nearly 100 female Delft alumni gathered on campus during the first TU Delft Female Leaders Day.

Text Saskia Bonger
© Guus Schoonewille

A network of female TU Delft alumnae: that did not exist yet. Until October 2023, when the Delft Female Impact Community met for the first time. What do the initiators, who are themselves alumnae, want to achieve? And how did they succeed in setting up a community and a special fund together with TU Delft? “This is an excellent example of how we want to shape this community.”

Thirty percent of students at TU Delft and more than 20 percent of TU Delft alumni are women. While still a minority, this nevertheless constitutes a large group of people and also the target group of the newly established Delft Female Impact Community. Didi te Gussinklo Ohmann, board member of Delft University Fund and initiator of the Delft Female Impact Community, explains what she believes is the network’s strength: “By bringing together female Delft students and alumnae and sharing knowledge and experience, we can make the difference and create more impact for a bright future for generations to come.” Co-founder Karin Sluis, alumnus of the year 2021 and chair of Delft University Fund adds: “The best solutions to complex challenges come from divers and inclusive teams.” And the idea is that, in this way, the women within the network can reinforce TU Delft’s mission of making an impact for a better world. Sluis and Te Gussinklo Ohmann both spoke at the first TU Delft Female Leaders Day, on 5 October at the Dream Hall.

This is where the TU Delft student Dream Teams work on their technical projects. In a room of nearly one hundred alumni and students, they shared their own dream, and that of the Female Impact Community: by 2033, 50 percent of people in research, education and entrepreneurship will be women. Currently, for example, 25 percent of TU Delft researchers are women. More figures were mentioned in the presentation by alumna Floor van Wingerden, the ‘driving force’ behind the Delft Female Impact Fund established at the same time. For example, the Female Board Index 2023 shows that only 15 percent of directors of listed companies are women, and incubator YES!Delft counts only 15 percent of female founders and co-founders among its start-ups. In addition, only one percent of venture capital goes to women-only teams and five percent goes to mixed teams. These figures led her and three fellow alumnae to the establishment of a special fund under the banner of Delft University Fund.

Thirty percent of students at TU Delft and more than 20 percent of TU Delft alumni are women. While still a minority, this nevertheless constitutes a large group of people and also the target group of the newly established Delft Female Impact Community. Didi te Gussinklo Ohmann, board member of Delft University Fund and initiator of the Delft Female Impact Community, explains what she believes is the network’s strength: “By bringing together female Delft students and alumnae and sharing knowledge and experience, we can make the difference and create more impact for a bright future for generations to come.” Co-founder Karin Sluis, alumnus of the year 2021 and chair of Delft University Fund adds: “The best solutions to complex challenges come from divers and inclusive teams.” And the idea is that, in this way, the women within the network can reinforce TU Delft’s mission of making an impact for a better world. Sluis and Te Gussinklo Ohmann both spoke at the first TU Delft Female Leaders Day, on 5 October at the Dream Hall. This is where the TU Delft student Dream Teams work on their technical projects. In a room of nearly one hundred alumni and students, they shared their own dream, and that of the Female Impact Community: by 2033, 50 percent of people in research, education and entrepreneurship will be women. Currently, for example, 25 percent of TU Delft researchers are women. More figures were mentioned in the presentation by alumna Floor van Wingerden, the ‘driving force’ behind the Delft Female Impact Fund established at the same time. For example, the Female Board Index 2023 shows that only 15 percent of directors of listed companies are women, and incubator YES!Delft counts only 15 percent of female founders and co-founders among its start-ups. In addition, only one percent of venture capital goes to women-only teams and five percent goes to mixed teams. These figures led her and three fellow alumnae to the establishment of a special fund under the banner of Delft University Fund.

Didi te Gussinklo Ohmann: Create more impact for a bright future for generations to come.

Three ambitions

The Female Impact community hopes to turn the tide in three ways:

Networking to expand and deepen the community, with the different generations inspiring each other;
Mentoring and coaching of female students and young graduates by alumni;
Establishing the Delft Female Impact Fund, through which female TU Delft students and young graduates can be supported in personal leadership and entrepreneurship, thus removing any barriers in the TU Delft ecosystem. The ambition is to fill this fund with 100,000 euros.

As an alumna, would you like to mentor or coach, contribute your expertise and broaden your network? Join us and sign up to our community using the link. Our ambition is to raise 100,000 euros with the Delft Female Impact Fund so that we can develop truly impactful empowerment programmes and interventions based on proper analysis. Anyone can participate and you can contribute in several ways. Delft University Fund is a public benefit organisation (ANBI) so donations may be tax deductible.

Sign up

‘The best solutions to complex challenges come from divers and inclusive teams’

Characteristic of TU Delft

Karin Sluis and Didi te Gussinklo Ohmann’s line of communication with Delft University Fund and thus with the Alumni Relations Department was short. When alumna Floor van Wingerden came up with a similar idea, the two TU Delft departments put the three women in touch with each other, says Head of Fundraising for Delft University Fund, Cindy de Visser. “When we brought them together, we jointly developed the idea of a community and fund further, drew up a list of women engineers and invited them to an initial meeting and launch of this initiative.” De Visser calls that way of working “characteristic of TU Delft”. “Let’s see if we can bring together a large number of TU Delft alumnae.

Well, we succeeded: nearly a hundred female TU Delft alumnae gathered on campus. That really is unique.” Since that launch, the Delft Female Impact Community has not been on its own, De Visser stresses: “Together we will continue to develop the community and the fund.” All alumni can take such an initiative, according to Alumni Relations and Delft University Fund Director Jasper Peterich. They don’t have to have short lines of communication for that. He and his team are ready to help people with good ideas. “Under the name TU Delft for Life, our mission is to facilitate the largest, close-knit, easily approachable and active alumni community possible. The Delft Female Impact Community and Fund are a fantastic example of how we are shaping this community, and doing so together with our alumni.”

Characteristic of TU Delft

Karin Sluis and Didi te Gussinklo Ohmann’s line of communication with Delft University Fund and thus with the Alumni Relations Department was short. When alumna Floor van Wingerden came up with a similar idea, the two TU Delft departments put the three women in touch with each other, says Head of Fundraising for Delft University Fund, Cindy de Visser. “When we brought them together, we jointly developed the idea of a community and fund further, drew up a list of women engineers and invited them to an initial meeting and launch of this initiative.” De Visser calls that way of working “characteristic of TU Delft”. “Let’s see if we can bring together a large number of TU Delft alumnae. Well, we succeeded: nearly a hundred female TU Delft alumnae gathered on campus. That really is unique.” Since that launch, the Delft Female Impact Community has not been on its own, De Visser stresses: “Together we will continue to develop the community and the fund.” All alumni can take such an initiative, according to Alumni Relations and Delft University Fund Director Jasper Peterich. They don’t have to have short lines of communication for that. He and his team are ready to help people with good ideas. “Under the name TU Delft for Life, our mission is to facilitate the largest, close-knit, easily approachable and active alumni community possible. The Delft Female Impact Community and Fund are a fantastic example of how we are shaping this community, and doing so together with our alumni.”