CEO and co-founder of flood mapping platform,
Cloud to Street

co u rte s y o f B e s s

Bessie Schwarz

Ph o toLEADERS IN ACTION

ie Schwar ts

AUGUST 2020

JOURNEY OF ATECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEUR
Bessie Schwarz is the CEO and co-founder of flood-mapping platform Cloud to Street, which helps governments, humanitarianorganizations and insurers to effectively respond and prepare for flood disasters. Flooding affects more people than any othernatural disaster but, by harnessing global satellites, advanced science and community intelligence, the company can monitor
worldwide floods in near real-time and remotely analyze local flood exposure with ease. Founded by Bessie and Beth Tellman
at Yale, and seed-funded by Google, Cloud to Street has been used by governments and companies in almost 20 countries.

What challenges do women entrepreneurs face?
As CEO of a company founded by two women, I am aware of how difficult it is for women to access the capital needed tostart a business. Only 2.2 per cent of venture capital funding goes to women,1 and having to couple this with raising money
for a purpose-first organization has presented its share of challenges. Despite the barriers, we have been very lucky to havefound amazing funders and social purpose investors in our journey.

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to be honest and upfront about
the mission and values of your organization when speaking topotential investors.”• 1 •While being uncompromising might deter some funders, it’ll attract the right people, whose values are aligned with yourcompanies, and will ensure that you stay close to your core mission as you grow your business.

What needs were evident which encouraged you to create your company?

“As a community organizer, I learned that, in times of environmental
crisis, all existing social vulnerabilities are heightened. This was adriving factor for Beth and me when we started Cloud to Street
and remains at the core of our work, which is to remove barriers
to life-saving information.”
When environmental crises strike, it is the most vulnerable, women and girls, who feel the brunt of the impact – displacement,poverty, hunger, and the loss of life, income and property. Working directly with decision makers on the ground has allowed
us to take a human-centred approach when building our tools. We listen to our users and customize the tools and support
we provide to them based on the unique needs and challenges they face – empowering them to keep the most vulnerable
parts of their populations safe.

How do you envision scaling your business to positively impact women?
Over half of the team at Cloud to Street are women, and our leadership team is 75 per cent female. Internationally, we havepartnered with incredible women who are local flood managers, first responders and in technical hydromet offices aroundthe world. Individualized workshops and trainings on flood information systems, coding, and remote-sensing science build
their confidence and capabilities to serve their communities. We have plans to build on this work at a greater scale as we
continue to grow as a company.

How does the Cloud to Street advancethe Sustainable Development Goals?
Every year, flooding affects more people than any other natural hazard,
affecting each and every sustainable development goal on multiple
and overlapping levels. The destruction of homes, property,
infrastructure, businesses, and croplands lead to poverty, hunger,and threatens industry, innovation, and infrastructure.
By intervening in every stage of the disaster cycle aroundcatastrophic flooding, Cloud to Street supports good health,education, clean water and sanitation, as well as programmes
necessary for equality, equity, and relief.

• 2 •“Better planning and effective rebuilding from disasters promotes
decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation, andinfrastructure, and sustainability.”
Through transparent data-sharing and training programmes and WhatsApp groups we bring together officials working on
flooding by region and watershed, not just country. A recent workshop brought together officials from Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania,Burundi, and Rwanda, which means we can bolster peace and justice, strong institutions and partnerships to achieve our goals.

How did you build the company?
We had the idea to start Cloud to Street while Beth and I were graduate students at the Yale School of Forestry andEnvironmental Studies. After watching a talk on Google Earth Engine, a remote-sensing cloud-processing platform,
we immediately thought about communities that we had worked with during our community organizing days that lacked
information about disaster risks. We thought if we could use a cloud-processing platform to get more information about therisk to climate-vulnerable communities, it could be a powerful tool for empowering people.
She and I started building the Cloud to Street algorithm, and were eventually connected to our first major partners,
the World Bank, which kick started the business. We now work in 20 countries to provide governments and global insurers
with the necessary data needed to relocate people at risk, rapidly target the distribution of millions of dollars of disaster aid,
identify devastating floods, and offer insurance products in new areas.

How do you think being a signatory to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs)
can help create positive action to support gender equality and the empowerment ofwomen through business engagement?
There is a lot of power that comes with a network of motivated and entrepreneurial-minded women – and this is what theWEPs’ platform is helping to create. No one person or company will ever have all of the answers on their own, so being a part ofa network of like-minded businesses can provide the fresh perspectives, tools and ideas that are necessary for building
companies that create real impact.

1. Emma Hinchliffe, “Funding for female founders stalled at 2.2% of VC Dollars in 2018”, Fortune, 28 January 2019. Available at: https://fortune.com/2019/01/28/funding-female-founders-2018/#:~:text=According%20to%20data%20from%20PitchBook%2C%20female%20founders%20received%202.2%25%20of,amount%20of%20VC%20investment%20increases (accessed 26 August, 2020).

• 3 •Women’s Empowerment PrinciplesHigh-level corporate
leadership

Education and training
for women

weps.org

Funded by:

Workplace HR

Supplier diversity& marketing practices

weps@unwomen.org

Produced by:

Employee well-being
and safety

Community
engagement@WEPrinciples

Measurement andreporting@Empower_Women

In support of:

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the European Union, UN Women, International Labour Organization or
the United Nations and their Member States.