Non-profit organisation Startup Victoria is looking to boost the number of female founders in Melbourne and surrounding regions through a number of workshops designed to empower women and teach young girls about entrepreneurship.
The push to close the gender gap in the startup community is being driven by the Here to There initiative, which is focused on showing girls in high school that a job in tech is a viable career path, as well as a number of upcoming workshops designed for women who may already have a business.
The female founders workshop series will be held monthly and will cover topics ranging from how to finance and market your startup to how to deal with the emotional challenges of running a business.
Tristonne Forbes, a startup advisor who is on Startup Victoria’s female founders committee, told StartupSmart there is an imbalance in the number of women both in high-growth startups and potential high-growth startups.
“We’d like to turn that around because the startup success stories become the business leaders of tomorrow,” she says.
“We want women to be represented in all areas of business and especially in startups where there is so much change going on in the way we do business and the types of businesses that are created.”
Forbes says the first workshop will focus on how to turn an idea into a high-growth business.
“A lot of people have ideas, and we want to give women more confidence and know-how to design those ideas into big businesses,” she says.
“So it’s a bit of theory, pep talks and insights into other women that have achieved success. And then we have a practical element where they can apply their thinking while they’re there and we’re going to apply that form to each of the sessions.”
Forbes says the workshops will be held a month apart so that the participants have some time to apply their skills and Startup Victoria can keep track of where they are at with their understanding and provide them with insights and mentors if necessary.
The first workshop will be held on May 7. Speakers will include StartupSmart and SmartCompany founder Amanda Gome and founder of Rare Birds Jo Burston.
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Broede Carmody is a former senior SmartCompany reporter. Before this, he was a co-editor of RMIT University’s student magazine Catalyst.
