The real estate industry has long been regarded as male-dominated, and historically it has been male-led. Recently, however, and specifically in Bulgaria, many women are realizing their careers as real estate professionals, steadily influencing the field.
Despite the progress, we can observe gender pay disparities. As data from the National Statistical Institute in Bulgaria shows, the gender pay gap in real estate increased significantly in recent years, peaking in 2022 with a 10% pay gap between male and female professionals, according to the most recent records. While women constitute a larger portion of the workforce in real estate activities, making up approximately 55.7% of employees, they earn less than men, with average annual wages approximately 19.5% lower than their male counterparts. This is only one of the many challenges female-led players face in the sector.
Bulgaria’s property market has over 1500 traditional agencies and thousands of individual brokers, resulting in intense competition and a fragmented market. Imagine leading a startup company of 8 people, aiming to digitalize a 35-year-old industry with outdated practices and a traditional system that’s no longer trusted. However, society accepts the status quo but has yet to fully understand the adequate alternative.
Now, take all of that context and imagine this scenario: a 30-year-old female CEO with an international real estate investment and development background, fundraising, and pitching to men who are traditionally used to working with older men only. Add two female COO and Marketing Manager professionals, motivated to drive a more transparent property rental process, despite the boxes they will inevitably be put in.
All of that is very much imaginable, because it is real, and evident in the female-led management team of flatimo, aiming to break barriers and build a startup that can provide a digitalized alternative to traditional broker agencies, while facing gender-based biases. In the following lines, I will share with you advice coming from the management team of flatimo, namely CEO Sophia Topalova-Zlatkova, COO Nevena Borissova, and myself included.
We hope our advice will be helpful to any female entrepreneurs trying to make a change. Our trio is basing every word on our own experiences and how they’ve shaped us to date.
Drop the ego. It’s never personal
One key advice is to start perceiving yourself as a professional, not as a woman. In sectors dominated by men, or when requesting powerful male investors’ attention and interest, your number one tool is your own self-belief and confidence that you know your data inside out and can give a solution to every challenge thrown your way.
Sophia’s experience has taught her to completely drop the ego and shift her own perception of self so that she is in a more powerful and confident position. All the potential investors she has spoken to are men and she has been not once confronted with the uncomfortable gender bias of initial mistrust.
In pitching for funding rounds, Sophia knew she had to compensate for the gender prejudice by bringing male flatimo board member with her to the meetings. On numerous occasions, even though herself and Nevena have presented the idea, market opportunity and financial ask, the questions would too often be addressed to the male board members in the room. The follow-up communication, despite being driven by Sophia, would be reversed back to the male board members, and not Sophia, the CEO. With time and patience, she managed to establish a respectful relationship, where the investor would communicate with and respond directly to her, acknowledging her as a reliable professional.
Nevena smiles, as she remembers her friend who owns a construction company (female friend that is) who had to hire a male associate for “optics”, so that her business can be taken seriously. She says he’s on the management team but doesn’t do any managerial work, as his sole purpose is the perceived value of his gender representation in the construction business.
You must laugh about it, or else you’ll cry about it. The team has witnessed comments like “do you hire these women based on looks” coming from clients or “I will not speak to little women” coming from a landlord belittling his female tenant and demanding to speak to anyone of the opposite gender.
Enduring such an attitude is no feasible solution, but we also must acknowledge that we cannot change minds and prejudices overnight. So for your sake, when faced with a similar situation, drop the ego and never take it personally. Meanwhile, do your best at using every favourable opportunity to talk about these issues, and step-by-step, drive a change.
Be prepared. Be really prepared
When pitching or presenting an idea, of course you will be expected to understand and know your topic and have the ability to handle questions or feedback. That is a basic prerequisite. However, in sector like this, with existing prejudice, our advice is not just to know your stuff – you must be overprepared. Because you will get setbacked, intentionally.
You must understand and be able to back every single number or statement you make – and more. If you’re presenting in front of potential partners or investors, firstly make sure you tell your story in a convincing manner, accentuating on the key messages you want the other side to remember. More importantly, anticipate what questions you might get asked. The listener will have questions, as naturally they’re not the experts in your product or service, but they might also put you on the spot on purpose and make you feel uncomfortable.
Nevena recalls a meeting with a potential male client from the construction sector, who was testing her and her partner with passive aggressive questions for at least half an hour, before realizing the two women have plenty of industry knowledge and can rationally argue every single point back. He then softened up and the conversation became easier, smoother and more collaborative. At the end of the meeting, the man admitted that when initially seeing “two little girls” he had doubts they would know what they’re doing and had decided to grill them.
In our experience, women often tend to be more self-critical than men, expect more from themselves, tend to be better prepared than men, but don’t believe in themselves as much. Research shows that lack of confidence in women accounts for one-third of the financial literacy gender gap. So, while women have lower financial literacy than men, they know more than they think they know. This state of mind applies to everything we do. One way to address this confidence gap is education, or in business – mentorship.
Foster the future leaders: Women as mentors
Women tend to nurture, mentor and are empathetic managers whose influence can increase productivity. Studies indicate that women leaders improve businesses by fostering inclusive and supportive work environments, which enhances team performance, collaboration and employee satisfaction. You should strive to find a great mentor who is experienced, knowledgeable, shares similar to your values, listens attentively, provides you with guidance, but not ready solutions.
Stanislava supports this and shares about her growth as a professional mentored by a nurturing manager, who very quickly identified her strengths and pushed her to reach her potential throughout her career. She recalls a situation where within her first two months of starting at a big corporation she was asked by her manager to present the company’s business plans onstage to 500 mostly salesmen and corporate partners aiming to engage and inspire them. Instantly self-doubt took over, but the fact that her manager asked her to do it gave her confidence that maybe Stanislava was up to the task. And she smashed it. To this day in a difficult work situation, she always puts on her ex-manager’s hat and thinks “What would she do now” and soon finds a solution. Finding the right mentorship and coaching can make all the difference when pursuing personal and professional growth.
Breaking into a traditionally male-dominated industry like real estate requires more than just good strategy and a solid team – it demands resilience, preparation, a deep belief in your own capabilities and supportive, empathetic leadership. Despite persistent gender biases and structural challenges, women in real estate are trying to reshape the narrative – one pitch, one meeting, and one rental at a time. By dropping the ego, staying overprepared, and uplifting others along the way, female entrepreneurs can not only succeed – they can lead lasting change.
