Women In Innovation
Concept is proud to be represented by many amazing women in innovation. We are committed to providing support and opportunity for women to lead the way in entrepreneurship. Enjoy our spotlight, featuring women leaders at all stages.
PAVING THE WAY FOR WOMEN IN INNOVATION
Concept Spotlight
Nabiha is a first-year student in the Accounting and Financial Management program. She is interested in emerging trends in finance/fintech. Initially someone who had no plans of having her own startup, her involvement with a startup accelerator in high school, and recently as a Concept campus ambassador, presented alternative ways to be involved in the world of entrepreneurship.
Nabiha Sidat
Concept Campus Ambassador
Q | What advice can you provide other women trying to break barriers?
A | Be loud! Document your entrepreneurship journey and share it with your circle. Be proud of your creation and celebrate any setbacks as much as you would a success to remain motivated.
Nicole Troster
Concept Coach
Nicole has over 12 years’ experience developing startups and working with organizations to design policies and programs to support entrepreneurship. Nicole founded ELLA, YSpace’s award-winning accelerator for women entrepreneurs, in 2020. She is passionate about entrepreneurship, women in business, innovation, emerging technologies, design thinking and business growth.
Q | What is the biggest barrier for you as a woman in innovation?
A | The status quo. Not only does it hamper innovation in general, but it also hampers women’s and other underrepresented entrepreneurs’ ability to succeed in entrepreneurship.
Mila Banerjee
Business Advisor at Velocity
Mila is a cofounder and CEO at Pronti. Pronti is a wardrobe assistant using AI to help you get ready fast and easy. It recently had a viral 3.9M views tiktok video.
Q | What advice can you provide other women trying to break barriers?
A | It is not a zero sum game – help each other and we all do better.
Q | What can we do to foster support for women in innovation?
A | More early stage funding. Lobby the government to provide angels with UK and Australian style incentives for early stage investment.
Katie Traynor
Concept Campus Ambassador
Katie has engaged in ETF and stock investment, product design for Engineering Stores, and pursuing department opportunities through online resources. In addition to student work and other roles, she is a Concept Ambassador.
Q | What can we do today to support success for women in innovation?
A | Be more involved and share resources! Through sharing resources and experiences more people will feel less intimidated by entrepreneurship and innovation.
https://www.pronti4retail.com/
Margaret Mutumba
Concept $5k Grant Winner
Founder of MedAtlas. MedAtlas is a digital health platform that is making it easier to find specialist doctors in Africa. By leveraging advances in technologies, MedAtlas virtually and affordably connects users with qualified specialist doctors from anywhere in the region. Starting with fertility care, MedAtlas is improving women’s reproductive health by ensuring aspiring parents have access to experienced fertility specialists.
Q | What can we do today to support success for women in innovation?
A | Continue to provide opportunities for aspiring female entrepreneurs to participate in the innovation ecosystem early on and offer mentorship opportunities successful individuals (focus on female) in their areas of interest. Promote cross disciplinary collaboration between departments and encourage female led or included startups to engage with Concept.
Shoma Sinha
Concept Coach
With a PhD in nanoelectronics and an MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Shoma is passionate about entrepreneurship and the innovation ecosystem. Not only has she been a senior research professional with an advanced materials startup/scale-up and the lead of a clean-tech accelerator program, but she was also recognized as a Top 40 Under 40 in Edmonton for co-founding and helping to grow several non-profit initiatives supporting diversity in STEM and the technology ecosystem.
Q | Which women inspire you the most as an innovator?
A | There are so many amazing women who inspire me as innovators! One of the women who have inspired me the most is Dr. Margaret Ann Armour – for her support of and impact to generations of female innovators in STEM fields. Dr. Armour was an ambassador at local, national and international scales but she never forgot the individuals and was always available to lend her advice.
Jessica Lunshof
Concept Cornerstone Program
Co-Founder of TAMVOES. A health management platform supporting the information of individuals, families, and their professional team. I want to make an impact in the world and help empower individuals with their health information; giving them the ability to make more informed health care decisions. Providing their information all in one easy-to-use application and web based platform. Also to provide resources for disease prevention and to stay in a health promotion state.
Q | What do you want to achieve next?
A | Develop communities and provide care to palliative and seniors whether they be in a home or in “their” home.
Sheida Shahi
Concept Cornerstone Program
Sheida is an Architect and holds a PhD in Circular Engineering from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Waterloo. Sheida is founder of Adaptis, a software solution for optimizing circular engineering in existing buildings and new construction projects. Adaptis improves embodied carbon management, facilitates circular design in building adaptation projects, and improves future adaptability planning for new buildings.
Q | What is the largest barrier for you as a woman in innovation?
A | Access to seed-stage funding and developing a long-term sustainable financial plan to commercialize proof-of-concept.
