On International Women’s Day in 2017, I launched Australia’s only women-friendly rideshare because I was moved to action by the endless stories of girls and women facing harassment while travelling in taxis and rideshares.

Shebah has grown enormously since then and we have the strongest and most loyal community of drivers and passengers rallying behind us to support our fundamental mission. The growth we’ve experienced over the last two years only reaffirms for our community the critical need of this offering in society today.

Nothing speaks to this point more than the number of women investors involved in Shebah’s equity crowdfunding raise to date. We are making history with our figures that 95 per cent of our new shareholders are women, as typically the majority of investors in crowdfunding campaigns are men.

This is a ground-breaking feat and our raise only furthers our commitment to encouraging Shebah drivers to truly experience the virtues of financial freedom and empowerment by becoming shareholders for the first time, an opportunity that embodies financial empowerment.

This was so important to me that we bring the fruits of our success into the hands of the women who helped us grow initially-our drivers and our passengers-as I wanted the whole community to share in Shebah’s success.

It is a no brainer that women have the right to get home safely without feeling dread or fear, so we have embarked on this equity crowdfunding raise in order to fund the growth of Shebah’s social movement, and truly expand our sphere of influence.

We want all women passengers to feel like they can finally sit in the front seat of the car (like men do), without fear of inappropriate conversation and harassment. All police safety advisements suggest women should sit in the back seat for their safety. But why should we have to? We’re adult women. Children sit in the back seat and we are not children. We should be able to sit anywhere we like and feel completely safe.