> On my way back from [**World Football Summit**](https://www.linkedin.com/company/world-football-summit/) where I was invited by [**CMG Agency**](https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecmgagency/) -one of the largest agencies in the world for women’s professional football players, to co-host a workshop on leadership and share insights into the work of [**Feminvest**](https://www.linkedin.com/company/feminvestsweden/) [**Feminvest Ventures**](https://www.linkedin.com/company/feminvest-ventures/) and [**Feminvest Accelerator**](https://www.linkedin.com/company/feminvest-accelerator/). 

 

*One surprise that I learned is that maternity leave was only first introduced for women professional players in 2022 to be revised in 2024 and for the first time they see that women dare to get pregnant without loosing their career. It shows how one infrastructural change can give women players an additional five to ten years in their football career, the financial impact is huge.* 

 

I sat down to listen to a conversation with Michele Kang, what she is doing in women's football is the clearest example I have seen of what it looks like when someone with capital decides to build infrastructure rather than just write cheques.

After building her fortune exiting an healthcare technology, Michele took majority ownership of three of women's football's strongest clubs, Washington Spirit, OL Lyonnes, and London City Lionesses. The thesis: that women's sport is systematically undervalued, and that the data to prove otherwise does not yet exist. 

 

Michele made a $50 million seed investment in the Kynisca Innovation Hub, targeting $100 million in total to fund female-specific sports science research. Research-backed protocols on ACL recovery, menstrual cycle performance, and postpartum return-to-play. Knowledge that should have existed decades ago.  

 

She described that she is often portrayed as a social impact investor but is she really? Isn’t it simply a business opportunity, a new vertical that yet is to be discovered. What Michele Kang is doing in women's sport is what we are trying to do with women's entrepreneurship and the structural parallel is almost perfect. We launched a commercial program [supporting women founders in retail](https://pulse.amazon/survey/YT8ZRYEU) last week  together with Amazon and the response is great.  

 

Michele Kang is building the science that proves women athletes are excellent investment opportunities. We are building the ecosystem that proves women founders are worth backing not because it is right, but because it yields great returns. [Connect with me if you are interested in learning more about how you can take part as an investor.](https://calendar.app.google/ZTX7JYeLowz2Ab7M9)

What can the financial industry learn from football?