Super for women? Retirement disruptors prepare for launch

Christina Hobbs was in Baghdad when she decided it was time to become a startup founder and disrupt Australia's superannuation space.

"A lot of it was thinking about these huge problems around climate change, war and what we can do. And about investing in industries doing the right thing," Hobbs says.

The former Deloitte management consultant and United Nations financial inclusion expert will launch her women-focused superannuation fund, Verve Super, with co-founders Zoe Lamont and Alex Andrews on Monday.

The startup will aim to build "the financial power of women" by inviting them to join a super fund that will screen investments through a gender lens, including only investing in businesses with women on their boards and meeting specific ethical requirements across supply chains.

The fund also plans to write to company chairmen that do not have women on their boards — and if they don't work to improve this, Verve is dropping them from possible future investments.

Hobbs' previous experience has seen her setting up emergency banking systems and women's financial security projects for the UN. Read more

Emma Koehn - Brisbane Times - 2 Dec 2018