An American initiative backed by UBS is playing its part in ‘breaking down the barriers for female founders’.
The financial giant is supporting the ongoing development and impact of Project Entrepreneur (PE) – run in collaboration with Rent the Runway Foundation – with a two-year grant of $2 million. And 200 ‘female-founded startups’ will take part in the PE Intensive event in New York next week, with 10 of those set to pitch for the opportunity to receive investment and a place on five-week accelerator.
More than 1,600 women innovators working across 25 industries have accessed support from PE since its 2015 launch, with $18 million raised by alumnae of the initiative.
“Project Entrepreneur illustrates that companies who share a common commitment to changing the narrative for women can be a catalyst for sustainable change. We’ve seen firsthand what our UBS Investor Watch research finds – that female founders are the disruptors of our time, more often tapping into a new customer base and looking to make a social impact; we need to ensure they have the resources they need to continue innovating and improving the world around them,” said Jamie Sears, UBS Head of Community Affairs & Corporate Responsibility, Americas.
Check out some of the ideas generated during our recent Twitter chat – hosted with Knowledge4Innovation – on the actions different stakeholders, including companies, can take to help achieve gender equality in STEM
