Hunter women looking to build on a business idea will benefit from a new mentoring program to address gender disparity and encourage female entrepreneurship.
The University of Newcastle and City of Newcastle have launched the Female Founders Program in response to the lack of female-led representation in Newcastle businesses.
The university’s Integrated Innovation Network (I2N) will deliver the program, applications for which are now officially open.
Senior Manager I2N Operations and Innovation Siobhan Curran said the Female Founders Program would offer a “springboard to empower Newcastle women to navigate their start-up journey with confidence”.
“We saw an opportunity to develop a program that would specifically address the challenge that we have in supporting more women founders, particularly founders that are looking to leverage technology to develop new products and reach a bigger market,” Curran said.
“The program aim is to level the playing field for all of our female innovators and entrepreneurs, so we have as many female founders doing amazing work as we do male founders.”
The free 10-week program includes tailored mentoring and coaching, start-up insight workshops, peer network development and ongoing support.
“It takes more than a great idea to launch a start-up,” Curran said. “Business know-how, a strong and supportive professional network, and confidence in yourself and your concept are ‘must haves’ to succeed.
“Each week will feature a different insight workshop, which will deep dive into specific subject matter that are foundational skills for starting a business.
“So, things like understanding your market, looking at competition and how you can stand out, how to pitch your business, developing a business model, understanding associated costs, bringing in investors and how to turn a profit.”
Curran said they also included important workshops on legality issues and how to address founder agreements, NDAs and contracts.
There will be coaching sessions to help apply the theoretical lessons to the participants’ specific companies.
Participants will be able to schedule meetings with their assigned mentors to ask for advice or tap into their networks.
Female Founders Program mentor Tricia Martin knows first-hand how valuable courses like these are for aspiring entrepreneurs, having gone through a similar I2N program called Venture Mentor Service.
Venture Mentor Service helped Martin leverage her idea and thrust it into an established and successful business, Virtual Intern.
“Mentorship was the first time where I took my idea and my capability seriously. To have access to mentors who have worked from the ground up to create successful businesses was visible proof that this path was viable for me,” Martin said.
“After my first mentor meeting, I sat in my car for about 40 minutes bawling my eyes out because I had this startling realisation it was now serious, and I was accountable. That’s true empowerment.”
Martin said it was rare to find a purposefully built space to help people succeed but said the Female Founders Program offered precisely that.
“It allows you to convert that idea you have been tossing around, doubting and developing into reality and far beyond where you thought it could,” Martin said.
“It does this, not by comforting affirmations, but through questions that challenge your assumptions.”
The Female Founders Program will support up to 10 internationally-focused start-ups with high growth potential.
Curran said if they received enough interest, the program could run on a more regular basis.
“Participants accepted can be the only founder in the company that might be in the pre-start-up stage, or they could have already started the company and are generating revenue but need help further boosting their business and skills,” she said.
“They may also already have a team with multiple founders and a couple of first hires that are already working for them.
“We are also looking at how we could support those applicants who aren’t successful. We don’t want any applicant to go away without a road map for how I2N can help them.
“We have other cohort programs that we can recommend that aren’t female-focused but will certainly provide the same kind of support.”
Applications for the Female Founders Program are open until September 19. For more information, including eligibility and application details, visit the I2N website.
Hayley McMahon