Who is Hephzi?

Hephzi Pemberton is a UK-based angel investor and advisor specialising in high-growth, female-founded technology companies.

Her passion for driving positive societal change through impactful business led her to found Kea Consultants in 2009 and Equality Group in 2018, a leading culture and inclusion specialist firm serving the Finance and Technology sectors.

Equality Group provides executive search, consulting, and education services to help companies build diverse and inclusive teams and cultures.

With 13 companies in her portfolio (2 successful exits) Hephzi leverages her expertise in both areas to support exceptional female entrepreneurs in building and scaling their businesses.

Providing strategic investment and advisory services to exceptional female founders disrupting the technology landscape

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“She bought into my vision when it was just an idea on paper. I do not feel I am just another investment for her. In this sometimes very hard journey of being a founder, Hephzi just has the most encouraging and inspiring words.”

Ozohu AdohCEO Epara

“Hephzi helped us at All Shades Covered (ASC) as an angel/advisor in our search for a director level hire to really take ASC to the next level. Her drive to ensure we found the right candidate to balance out our team was extremely useful and through her expansive network we found and hired the right person.”

Tommy Williams

“Hephzi has been a trustee of Resurgo (Guardian Charity of the Year 2013) for two years now during which time she has made a fantastic contribution to our social investment capability as well as our recruitment service for unemployed young people. Hephzi combines her professional rigour and investment experience with a heartfelt commitment to social transformation; bringing valuable strategic insight while retaining sharp attention to detail.”

Tom Jackson, MBE

“Hephzi produced a wonderful business training programme for small businesses in Africa and taught the material in Aru, Democratic Republic of Congo. She is a woman of kindness, who loves to share life and knowledge with everybody she meets.”

Willy Kangu

“Hephzi has a rare combination of sincere generosity and commercial acumen. Her help had a significant impact on the growth and long-term success of my business. Hephzi was able to dig deep into my business fundamentals and use her extensive experience to make practical suggestion and valuable introductions.”

Sam OliverFounder OpenFi

“If you want to understand how to make your organisation more diverse and inclusive, but don’t know where to start, read this book. Clear and concise, and based on the latest research, The Diversity Playbook is an essential guide to transforming your business.”

Matthew GreenAuthor and former Financial Times correspondent

“Her insights were not only thought-provoking but also a call to action for all of us to foster inclusive leadership in our organisations.”

Michael Alexander KuglerCEO Contentserv

The future of business is being built by people who’ve been counted out. As an angel investor, I’m leading the charge to direct more capital towards diverse innovators. I’m on a mission to find the hidden gems:
🔥 big ideas with limited support
🔥 gritty founders with real problems to solve
🔥 underestimated entrepreneurs without the usual friends and family rounds to fund them

The Latest

One to Win

3 start-ups, 3 innovative ideas, 3 reasons to be excited about the future.
I’m proud to feature the top three companies that made it to the biggest pitch competition in the West Midlands – the £1 million ‘One to Win’ event held in Birmingham this past October.

These founders are pushing boundaries and tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges.
Scroll through to learn more about their game-changing solutions and the future they’re helping to create.

Let’s cheer them on with me.

The Lifted Project

Funding Gap That’s Costing Us Billions

As the co-chair of the newly formed The Lifted Project Birmingham board, I’m on a mission to change that. Our mission is simple but powerful: to accelerate funding and support for female entrepreneurs..

The statistics speak for themselves – women-led startups receive less than 3% of venture capital, despite evidence that diverse teams drive better business results. 

This funding gap is holding back incredible innovation and economic growth. That’s why we’ve assembled a powerhouse team of experienced investors, successful female founders, and business leaders to change the game.

Through The Lifted Project Birmingham, we’ll be providing female-led startups with:

✅ Direct investment capital
✅ Dedicated mentorship from industry experts
✅ Tailored training on fundraising, scaling, and more
✅ Connections to our expansive network of VCs and angels

➔ Our goal is to deploy £50 million in the next 3 years to shine a spotlight on the incredible potential of women entrepreneurs.
🚨 Interested in getting involved, either as an investor, advisor, or founder? Reach out to learn more. Together, we can rewrite the narrative and achieve true equality in the startup ecosystem.

🌱 Let’s fuel the future, one female founder at a time.

Portfolio

Angel investing is a high-risk, high-reward endeavor. It’s important to diversify your investments across multiple startups, and make sure that whatever you invest, you are prepared to lose entirely.

Angel Investor:
CogX
Stratajet
Honordex
Magic Sauce
Tech Will Save Us
LDL & SSI Energy
Atlas Technologies

Advisor:
ASC
Ohne
Lead.Pro
Neta Ventures

Angel Investor and Advisor:
SSI
Epara
Urban
Beauty Stack
Encyclokidia

Specialisms

Inclusion and Diversity

Hephzi is the founder and CEO of Equality Group, a specialist business focused on the Finance and Technology industry. Equality Group helps accelerate social sustainability in the private sector.

Business Consultancy

Over the past decade, Hephzi has advised a number of businesses on their hiring practices, board composition, compensation structure, strategic and fundraising plans.

Thought Leadership

Hephzi speaks and writes on the topics of sustainable business, entrepreneurship, diversity, and inclusion across multiple media platforms. She is a passionate speaker and advocates for positive change in business.

The Diversity Playbook

Hephzi Pemberton’s first nonfiction, business book The Diversity Playbook provides an empowering and uplifting experience. It contains proven expertise, factual examples and practical tools to transform your business and leadership approach with inclusion and innovation as a central shared goal and priority.

Her book demonstrates with clarity, relevant case studies and the latest research, as well as an applicable exercise in each chapter, to show how leaders and firms who embrace and embed inclusion and diversity into their business will benefit. They will be the businesses that innovate and adapt more rapidly. They will have a workplace culture that the latest talent seeks out and stays with. They will reach a wider set of customers and clients who feel valued and understood. They know that to achieve these benefits and many others besides, leaders and businesses now and in the future will have to take inclusion and diversity seriously.

Discover more

Buy The Diversity Playbook
And look forward to my next book!

I want my copy!

Contact Hephzi