Girls in high school are getting a head start in the world of startup businesses with a new camp from the University of Waterloo, Google and the Business and Education Partnership of Waterloo Region.
The program, Engaging in Entrepreneurship and Engineering – or E3 – will mentor 25 girls entering grades 11 and 12 to become entrepreneurs. Over the course of a weeklong program, successful female entrepreneurs from Google, Plasticity Labs and bitHound will mentor young women as they generate ideas, design prototypes, and prepare pitches for a Dragon’s Den-style panel of expert judges.
“Recent studies have shown that the percentage of venture capital deals for companies with a female founder is starting to accelerate – but women are still woefully underrepresented in the startup world,” said Professor Mary Wells, associate dean, outreach and chair of Women in Engineering committee at Waterloo. “Increasing the participation of women in the engineering profession starts with our students and our children. This program aims to empower young women who have their sights set at a young age on being successful entrepreneurs.”
A study published by PitchBook in September of 2013 found that a lopsided number of venture capital rounds go to companies founded by men, but that companies with at least one female founder increased their share of venture rounds every year for the past 10 years.
Hosted by University of Waterloo Faculty of Engineering, the program is also an opportunity for entrepreneurial young women to learn more about Engineering. A series of technology workshops that include programming microcontrollers, engineering design, and soldering will support their tech-focused ideas.
Judges for the business pitches include some of Waterloo Region’s influential female entrepreneurs.
- PJ Lowe-Silivestru is the co-founder of tinyHippos, acquired by BlackBerry in 2011. She is currently co-founder of bitHound, based in Kitchener.
- Jennifer Moss is the co-founder of Plasticity Labs, enterprise software for organizational culture performance.
- Ingrid Fielker is a software engineer on the Gmail team based at Google Waterloo.
“Programs like E3 are telling young women that we are working to support them in taking creative risks and that we need to get their ideas to help deign our world,” said Professor Wells. “We have a long way to go before we reach the right balance between men and women in the world of engineering and startups. But young women need to know this is a community that will actively embrace and support them.”
The program is made possible with the support of the Business and Education Partnership of Waterloo Region (BEP) and Google’s #40forward. A partner of Communitech, BEP helps students explore careers, gain meaningful professional connections, and learn valuable job skills. Through #40forward, Google for Entrepreneurs is increasing the representation of women in 40 startup-focused organizations, including Communitech.
About the University of Waterloo
In just half a century, the University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada's technology hub, has become one of Canada's leading comprehensive universities with 35,000 full- and part-time students in undergraduate and graduate programs. Waterloo, as home to the world's largest post-secondary co-operative education program, embraces its connections to the world and encourages enterprising partnerships in learning, research and discovery. In the next decade, the university is committed to building a better future for Canada and the world by championing innovation and collaboration to create solutions relevant to the needs of today and tomorrow. For more information about Waterloo, please visit www.uwaterloo.ca.
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