To celebrate #IWD2016, we wanted to reflect on the achievements of our female alumni and look forward to supporting more women in business!
Over the past 5 years, the Converge team have been privileged to meet and support a tremendous group of female entrepreneurs. 2015 was fantastic year for female entrepreneurial success in Converge Challenge, with 2 out of 3 of our Converge winners being women. Caroline Barelle from University of Aberdeen’s spin-out Elasmogen for novel drug candidates aimed at the opthomology market, scooped a total prize of £22,500 cash and in-kind support, and undergraduate student, Rebecca Pick from University of Strathclyde secured £13,500 of cash and in-kind support for her personal attack and lone worker alarm.
In addition, our inaugural Entrepreneurial Spirit was awarded to Hannah Dimsdale from Teadough, a doughnut making kit from the University of Edinburgh, whilst the best Digital Marketing campaign was won by Susanne Mitschke from University of Glasgow for MindMate, a platform designed to empower people with dementia, their families and caregivers.
Converge Challenge is extremely proud of its 30% year-on-year female participation rate, but we want this number to grow in 2016! At the Converge 2016 Edinburgh launch, Professor Lesley Yellowlees, Vice Principal and Head of the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, spoke about her desire to see more females entering the programme:
“I’m delighted to see that the male / female ratio is 30%. I would love it to be 50% but 30% is a good start and we’ll get there! Let’s make 2016 even better, let’s take this competition to our hearts, let’s engage with it, grow these ideas, and grow Scottish companies. That’s my kind of challenge.”
Professor Lesley Yellowlees, Vice Principal and Head of the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh
The #ConvergeC team share Lesley’s aspiration!
Celebrating women’s achievements socially, economically, culturally and politically is of huge importance to us. In the run up to International Women’s Day, Converge Challenge, along with Women’s Enterprise Scotland and Investing Women is running a social media campaign – #IAmAStartup – which asks investors, academics, business owners, entrepreneurs, organisations,students and staff how they would inspire a young women to start-up. And we’ve had some BRILLIANT pledges so far!
And a few inspirational #IAmAStartup messages from our alumni who are now walking the walk!
“You are not going to do it right the first time. You are not going to do it right the second time. You are going to make tons of mistakes, trash loads of work you realise wasn't really necessary, and feel like a failure and a fraud. Then you're going to keep going and make something work and it's going to get better and better until you can see success far off in the distance. Don't give up.”
Anne Rushing, Pop Up! Scotland & Converge Alumnus
Anyone can inspire a young female to start-up, whether it’s sharing your own experiences, offering support, making an introduction or encouraging their ideas! Mentorship is extremely important when you’re at the very beginning of your entrepreneurial journey and many innovators credit much of their success to their mentors.
“If I hadn’t had mentors, I wouldn’t be here today. I’m a product of great mentoring, great coaching… Coaches or mentors are very important!”
Indra Nooyi, CEO PepsiCo
Let’s continue to inspire and support women in entrepreneurship today, tomorrow and in the future! #IWD2016 #IAmAStartup @WEScotland @Investing_Women
