Meg Faure, the founder of Baby Sense, Play Sense and Parent Sense, is passionate about early childhood development and providing parents with the support they need. She speaks to AfricArena’s Jabulile Sonya Ngwenya about the importance of championing women as we continue to celebrate International Women’s Day this month.
Thrilled about how International Women’s Day shines the spotlight on women globally and the incredible work women do as mothers, wives, business women, entrepreneurs, leaders and innovators, Meg says: “International Women’s Day is a powerful reminder of how far we’ve come and how much more work remains to be done. It’s a day to celebrate female resilience, leadership, and innovation, but also to challenge the barriers that still exist for women in business, investment, and leadership. As a female founder, I see this as an opportunity to advocate for more funding, mentorship, and systemic change that supports women-led businesses.”
An incredible entrepreneur making waves in the African and global edtech sector, Meg tells AfricArena that it has been an incredible journey pioneering two digital platforms and it has not been without a few unique challenges. After she sold Baby Sense in 2014, she went on to found Play Sense and Parent Sense, which she says are “two pioneering platforms dedicated to early childhood development and parental support. Play Sense provides a play-based micro-school curriculum and teacher training platform, while Parent Sense is a digital parenting companion that guides parents through the first 1,000 days of their child’s life.”
Reflecting on her journey, Meg says her biggest achievements to date include “securing funding and investment from gender-lens investors like Engyma Venture’s Sarah Dusek and Grindstone’s Catherine Young who believe in the power of female-led impact businesses.”
She adds that winning awards which created exposure and recognition for what she does has contributed to her success. “In 2009, I was awarded the FNB Enablis Entrepreneur of The Year Award and in 2004, Play Sense secured second place in the ANZA-TUT Future Tech Challenges 2024 for our innovative approach to early childhood education.”
She is proud of Parent Sense’s impact metrics, which are impressive and showcases their growing impact. “We’ve trained over 1,000 teachers, educated 5,000 children and we have over 250,000 parents on the Parent Sense apps to date,” Meg says.
She shares that she and her team are currently busy “developing a Vodacom-powered version of Aiah, our AI health chatbot to scale our impact, putting access to health and educational information in parents’ hands.”
When asked what one accomplishment she is most proud of, Meg chuckles and says, “it’s impossible to focus on just one part of my life, so here are three accomplishments I am most proud of, beginning with the personal aspect - my incredible children who think critically and solve real-world problems in their own businesses and lives; the social impact aspect through my Sense-series books, which have made parenting easier for millions by providing science-backed practical support; and in the business aspect, selling my first company Baby Sense and then in my forties, launching Parent Sense - a global digital health brand that empowers parents worldwide.”
Meg is a woman who is not afraid to shine, empower others and be frank about the challenges she encounters as a female founder in a male-dominated environment. “Some of the biggest challenges I’ve faced included experiencing fundraising bias where female founders receive less than two percent of venture capital funding globally, often facing risk-based rather than opportunity-based questions from investors. Another challenge is when it comes to balancing business and family as women are still expected to ‘do it all’ and that expectation creates additional pressure.”
She shares strategies for overcoming these challenges so other women can learn and apply them to their own lives: “Own your narrative - be confident in telling your story and framing your business as an opportunity-driven investment. Leverage female-focused networks - engage with investors and organizations that actively back women-lead businesses. Find male allies - some of my strongest business supporters have been men who recognise the importance of diverse leadership.”
These strategies lead into a conversation about the importance of gender diversity for female founders within the African and global tech, innovation and investment landscape. Meg states that “gender diversity isn’t just about fairness - it’s about better business outcomes, innovation and economic growth. Diverse teams perform better, make smarter decisions, and create more inclusive products that serve a broader market. As a female founder, I’ve seen firsthand how representation matters - when women lead, invest and mentor other women, we create a ripple effect of opportunity and empowerment. Women make up 50% of all consumers and need solutions designed by women to solve our unique challenges.”
Touching on the topic of what it is like in the room when female founders pitch their innovative ideas to investors, Meg says she would like to hear investors ask female founders the following question, “can you prove this market exists?”. Meg says this is because “female founders often have to justify demand more than male founders, despite evidence supporting their market potential.” If investors start to ask this question more, it will open the floor for female founders to share their insights and build up investor confidence.
The global tech, innovation and investment landscape is dynamic and Meg shares if there is one thing she could change to ensure future generations of female founders are successful in their endeavors, it is this: “I would change the investment landscape to ensure equal access to capital for female founders. This means ensuring that there are more women on investment committees, more funding specifically for female-led businesses and more mentorship and support structures. Access to capital is the biggest barrier for women entrepreneurs, and until we change how funding decisions are made, we will continue to see brilliant female founders struggle to scale their businesses.”
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