I am very pleased to welcome Lucy Larbi as part of the FemalExperts Role Model Interview series. As the founder and co-founder of AiDiA, she is committed to raising the visibility of Black entrepreneurs and talent in Germany and opening up access for them to networks, capital, and economic participation.
What began as an idea for an Afro-German startup pitch has, within just a few years, evolved into a platform that brings together entrepreneurship, innovation, community, and culture. In this interview, Lucy talks about her personal and professional journey, her motivation behind AiDiA, structural barriers in the German startup ecosystem, female entrepreneurship, and her vision for a more diverse economy.
1. Dear Lucy, before we talk about AiDiA and your work: Who are you as a person, and what experiences in your life so far have shaped you into the woman you are today?
I’m Lucy Larbi, a native of Hamburg, an entrepreneur, a visionary, and the founder of AiDiA. Many things have shaped me into the woman I am today, but my upbringing had a profound influence on me from a very early age. Even as a child, I was told that I’d probably have to work twice as hard to achieve some things that others take for granted. At the same time, this standard was exemplified in my own family. My mother was the second Black female bus driver in Hamburg at the time, and my brother was a reserve player for HSV and considered a great soccer talent. Achievement, determination, and the will to truly seize opportunities were very much a part of our family life. Added to that was a circle of very ambitious people and my own drive not to simply accept things as they are, but to change them. That has stayed with me to this day. I think very much in terms of the future: What do we have today, and what can we do with it tomorrow?
2. You studied international relations and political science, and later worked as a management consultant, among other roles, helping companies with their digital transformation. Which stages of your career had the greatest impact on you, and which of those experiences still influence your work as an entrepreneur today?
My dual master’s degree at the United Nations University had a particularly profound impact on me. There, I studied alongside people who came from places like Cambridge, Harvard, and Oxford, among others. Suddenly, my social background was no longer a factor. I was simply a student among a group of highly accomplished, privileged individuals. That experience fundamentally changed my own expectations and showed me just how much our environment and access to opportunities influence what we believe we’re capable of. Later, I began working as a management consultant. Even on my very first project, I had to work largely independently with the client and support a major insurance company in transforming its data management. After that, I took charge of large-scale agile transformations and organizational projects. That’s where I learned how leadership, processes, and customer focus actually interact. That is precisely how I understand organizational development to this day: People alone cannot solve it, nor can the perfect process alone. Good organization emerges where people and processes work together. And I like to say: No matter your age or level of success, you should never be resistant to advice. Mentoring and people who offer a different perspective remain important.
3. You’ve been advocating for many years for the visibility and economic participation of Black people in Germany. Was there a specific moment when you realized that you wanted to take an active role in changing structures yourself?
Yes. I can still remember a class from high school to this day. We were studying the ecological footprint in geography class, and I asked my teacher—out of ignorance and, at the time, from a white perspective—“Why is Africa poor and Europe rich?” He couldn’t give me an answer. I actually wanted to study psychology because I’ve always been fascinated by people. But that question kept nagging at me. That’s why I studied international relations and later political science. I wanted to understand why resources, power, and opportunities are distributed so unevenly and why Black people are so rarely at the table where decisions are made. During my studies, I came to understand that the economic inequality between Europe and many African nations did not simply arise, but was historically produced: through colonialism, the exploitation of people and natural resources, and economic structures in which value was siphoned off from African societies for centuries without that value being able to build prosperity there in equal measure.
And at some point, my thought was very simple:
I can’t change history. But I can work toward the future. I can create structures in which Black people can participate economically, start businesses, invest, and help shape decisions. That’s exactly how AiDiA came to be later on.
4. The idea for AiDiA was born in 2020. What gap in the German startup ecosystem did you notice back then, and what did you want to do differently with AiDiA from the very beginning?
For my team and me, the gap wasn’t that there were too few opportunities for startups. Those opportunities existed—and still do. The question was: Who is visibly represented in them? When you look at many startup events, you often see a very similar picture: white, male, around 25–38 years old. You might conclude that other founders simply don’t exist. But they are there. That’s exactly what AiDiA has been proving for years. The problem often lies in invisible barriers. If no one on a judging panel looks like me, if I don’t see other Black founders, if I lack the necessary networks, or if I don’t know how to access capital—even if every door is technically open—I still don’t feel like this space is meant for me. Together with Irene Aniteye, Daniel Tiemor, Shanice Sintim, Jeff Jacobson, Louisa Schätz, Lenoard Konrad, and many others on the AiDiA team, we’ve been working ever since to bridge three key gaps: knowledge, capital, and networking. We’re highlighting the fact that Germany’s innovative strength has long been fueled in part by ideas from the Afro-diaspora. Since our founding, we’ve supported over 400 startups and facilitated more than 180,000 euros in equity-free funding. I like to say:
Even a heavy door only needs a small key. AiDiA is meant to be just such a key.
5. You once described, in essence, how economic relevance can help create new narratives about Black people in Germany. Why do you see entrepreneurship as such an important lever for social change and greater equality of opportunity?
Because images create possibilities. In Germany, there are still very limited narratives about Black people. We naturally see Black people in sports, music, or entertainment. We see them much less often as entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, or people who make economic decisions. Not because they aren’t there, but because this image isn’t yet the norm in society. And narratives have consequences. When we repeatedly see who starts businesses, who invests, and who leads, it shapes our perception of who we believe is capable of filling these roles—and also what young people believe they are capable of. For me, therefore, entrepreneurship is a very concrete lever for equal opportunity. Those who start businesses don’t just create their own income. Entrepreneurs create products, jobs, wealth, networks, and—in the best-case scenario—new role models. Economic participation thus changes not only individual life stories but also, in the long term, power dynamics. My goal, therefore, is not to create a positive counter-stereotype. I want the picture to become more complete. I want to live in a world where the characteristics that set us apart do not lead to discrimination.
6. At FemalExperts, we focus intensively on female entrepreneurship. When multiple forms of discrimination intersect, the challenges can be even greater. In your view, how do Black women experience the startup ecosystem differently, and what kinds of structures are needed to ensure that their ideas and economic potential are more fully recognized?
In the startup ecosystem, women generally face different starting conditions than men. For Black women, these barriers can compound one another: They face challenges as women and, at the same time, challenges related to racialization, a lack of representation, or a lack of understanding of their markets. This can lead to ideas being taken less seriously, target audiences being underestimated, or business models simply not being understood. Yet it is precisely here that economic potential lies. A good example is the market for Afro and textured hair. Black female founders understand needs, products, and consumer behavior from their own experience, enabling them to identify markets that are easily overlooked in traditional decision-making circles. We also see in our own AiDiA Community how this can lead to relevant innovation. A good example is KYND Hair, founded by Cosima Richardson: The company has developed Europe’s first plastic-free, plant-based braiding hair that is non-toxic, biodegradable, and specifically tailored to the needs of Black people. To me, this shows that different life realities aren’t just a matter of representation. They can be a source of market insight. If decision-making bodies are unaware of this knowledge, they risk overlooking not just a single founder, but potentially an entire market.
7. What does female empowerment mean to you personally, and what role do role models, networks, and mutual support play in encouraging women to pursue their own entrepreneurial paths?
To me, empowerment means creating a space where someone can actually voice a vision that may have existed only as a faint thought in their own mind until now. Then it takes people who take that vision seriously, challenge it, reinforce it, and help turn it into a realistic path forward. That’s why, to me, female empowerment doesn’t mean telling women that they can do anything. It means giving them access to knowledge, role models, networks, and capital so that self-confidence can turn into competence and an idea can turn into action. Because self-confidence alone isn’t enough. I often tell women:
“You want confidence that is rooted in competence.”
And that’s exactly why mentoring and strong networks are so important.
8. What began as a startup pitch has grown into an ever-expanding platform within just a few years. On September 4 and 5, 2026, the AiDiA Business & Culture Fest in Hamburg will bring together more than 1,500 people and over 100 speakers. When you look back on this development, what makes you particularly proud, and was there a moment when you personally realized just how big your original idea has become?
What makes me most proud is that an idea has become a reality. Coming up with ideas is relatively easy. The hard part is turning an idea into reality over the course of years, getting people on board, and keeping at it despite setbacks. When more than 1,500 people say today, “I want to be part of that,” it still means a lot to me. And when founders say years later that AiDiA helped them secure funding, partners, or contacts that transformed their companies, I know it became more than just a nice event. After all, people are often celebrated in public for things they’ve practiced behind the scenes. Behind these two days lie years of work, conversations, rejections, fundraising, and a great deal of volunteer work—all of which my team and I do day in and day out, tirelessly. I’m proud of that.
9. With the Business & Culture Fest, you’re deliberately bringing business, entrepreneurship, innovation, and culture together. Why do you think these areas go hand in hand, and what can visitors look forward to in particular at this year’s event?
At AiDiA, we deliberately use the term “Culture”—not just “culture.” By “Culture,” I mean communities, urban movements, music, fashion, language, sports, and shared codes that give rise to new needs and behaviors. Many economic innovations begin right there. Facebook started out as a student campus community. Sneakers and streetwear evolved from functional clothing into global markets through basketball, hip-hop, skateboarding, and urban communities. New creator business models also emerged from digital communities long before traditional companies understood the economic power being generated there. That’s why, for me, culture often serves as the economy’s early warning system. It’s where we see today what could become mainstream tomorrow. Entrepreneurship translates this movement into products and business models. Innovation turns it into something new. And the economy scales it up. That’s exactly why we’re consciously bringing these worlds together at the AiDiA Business & Culture Fest: founders, corporations, investors, creatives, and people from the cultural scene. Because if we want to understand where the next innovation will emerge, we can’t just look where the money is today. We must also look to where new behaviors are emerging.
10. To wrap things up, let’s take a look at the future together: When we speak again in five or ten years, what do you hope AiDiA will have changed in the German business and startup ecosystem, and what personal vision do you hope to have realized by then?
I want Black entrepreneurs to no longer be a rare sight in five or ten years, but rather a natural part of the German economy—founding and scaling companies, creating jobs, investing, and playing a key role in shaping Germany’s innovative strength. AiDiA aims to help paint a new picture of Germany: diverse, economically strong, innovative, and proud that global ideas originate here. Paradoxically, my long-term goal is therefore to eventually make AiDiA, in its current form, obsolete. Once access to capital, knowledge, networks, and visibility has become the norm, we will have fulfilled an important part of our mission. Until then, we want to continue growing. After all, entrepreneurship also means being ahead of the curve. And with AiDiA, I want to show what the German economy of tomorrow can look like—before this vision becomes a given for everyone.
Dear Lucy, thank you very much for your personal insights and your dedication. With AiDiA, you’re not only creating important spaces for connection, exchange, and new opportunities, but you’re also increasing visibility within the German business and startup landscape. It is precisely this visibility that is needed to drive long-term change, create new role models, and open up access to entrepreneurial opportunities for more people. We wish you and the entire AiDiA team continued success on this important journey.
About the author
Kinga Bartczak advises, coaches and writes on female empowerment, new work culture, organizational development, systemic coaching and personal branding. She is also the managing director of UnternehmerRebellen GmbH and publisher of the FemalExperts magazine .
