Mrudul
This is Women’s History Month and we are taking this space to highlight a few women entrepreneurs who have solved problems, uplifted communities and made a unique space for themselves in what they do. The women who are a part of this article have varying degrees of success, the only common thing about each of them is that they are all champions in their own right.
She’s the founder and CEO of Goodr, a sustainable surplus food management platform which helps in reducing food waste and combating hunger with the help of technology. The platform runs on Blockchain and is an IRS audit-friendly donation record which boosts the bottom-line of businesses, reduces greenhouse emissions, and reduces hunger with the help of food waste. The award-winning social entrepreneur was also the founder and editor of Blackcelebritygiving.com, which she operated for more than six years.
She’s the co-founder and CEO of Zola, a wedding planning and registry company that was founded in 2013 in New York. From designers to registry staples, Zola has more than 500 brands under its name. The company offers a wedding registry, free wedding websites, customizable check-list, guest-list manager, wedding invitations, and so on.
Before Shan-Lyn started Zola, she was the Chief Product Officer of Chloe+Isabel. She is also an investor at more than 11 companies. Ma also holds 2 board and advisor roles. Shan-Lyn has an MBA degree in General Management and Entrepreneurship from Stanford University’s business school.
The founder of Zum, her mission is to “build the world’s largest and most trusted platform for children’s transportation.” She also holds a master’s degree in management from Stanford’s business school and has a computer engineering degree from Delhi Institute of Technology. The company, which was founded in 2015, has managed to raise more than 40 million dollars and provides child transportation for school districts and families. They currently operate in the San Francisco Bay Area, Orange County, all of Los Angeles, and San Diego.
She’s the CEO and Founder of Nuritas, which uses artificial intelligence and genomics to unlock bioactive peptides to find its full benefits. A mathematician with a Phd in Molecular Evolution and Bioinformatics from Trinity College, Dublin, her research was mainly focused on protein evolution and comparative genomics. Before she started Nuritas, she was the first scientist to show gene transfer between multicellular species, a theory that led to path breaking results that we currently see in the phylogenetic methods that we currently use.
The software that Nora created is currently used in more than 70 countries. She has also led international research teams around the world, for both academia and industry.
The Armenia-based Yeva is the CEO and co-founder of SoloLearn Inc, a strong community of developers who learn and share their coding experiences as they build their career. Yeva has a master’s degree in management from Maastricht School of Management and also has a master’s degree in international economics. SoloLearn, based out of California, lets you learn and practice any skill of your choice.
She’s the founder of an award-winning self-care app called Shine which helps people with anxiety and depression. Marah has a BA in Journalism from the University of Georgia and was also named as one of the “Top 35 people to watch in NYC tech” by Built in NYC. Lidey is an active participant who rallies around people to increase racial and socio-economic diversity in technology and entrepreneurship.
A banking veteran of more than 30 years, she’s the Founder and CEO of Starling Bank. She’s also the Director of UK Finance and Advisor Board of Trade. Anne has an MBA degree from Middlesex University. She’s also the first woman in the UK to found a bank and is therefore a highly regarded sportswomen for female fintech entrepreneurs.
She’s the woman behind Impact X, a private equity firm that works with entrepreneurs from under-represented communities. Paula was the co-founder of Axxon Capital, a VC firm. Armed with a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, Paula has also served as a partner for Triumph Capital, a private equity firm, along with working for Wall Street for Credit Suisse First Boston, Leo Burnett, and 20th Century Fox Film.
She’s the co-founder and partner of Seedcamp, a London-headquartered organization which identifies startups that attack large global markets. Seedcamp has more than 300+ startups under its banner, including three billion dollar companies. She did her MBA from INSEAD and holds a bachelor’s in Economics from The Wharton School.
She’s the co-founder and CEO of Gossamer Bio, a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on delivering novel and differentiated therapeutic products. The company was founded in 2015, and is based out of California. Sheila completed her seven year honors program in Medical Education from Northwestern University with the highest distinction.
Even though more and more women are making strides in the world of entrepreneurship, all we can hope is that the numbers rise even more faster. There are at least 252 million female entrepreneurs in the world right now. Women face a lot of obstacles when they try to get their hands dirty with entrepreneurship. It is even more difficult for a female entrepreneur to become successful with their startup than it is for men.
More women entrepreneurs means higher economic growth as their participation has a direct bearing on job creation, standard of living and better lives. There are only 7 countries around the world which have equal parity among men and women in starting their own business. Businesses that have women executives leading the company are known to have greater financial success, according to the Kauffman Foundation.
In 2021, Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder and CEO of Bumble became the world’s youngest female self-made billionaire after she took her company public. Hopefully this will spark more interest in entrepreneurship for women and it will lead to a new wave.