Dentsu Aegis Network, a leading multinational media agency, announces the return of Female Foundry for its second year. Female Foundry is prestigious accelerator programme that educates, mentors and provides funding access to leading female-founded startups in Southeast Asia.
Female Foundry, Female Founders and West Tech Fest open the program to western female techpreneurs and Southeast Asian based female entrepreneurs from now until Thursday, 26 October 2017.
This will six week-long programme will provide shortlisted Southeast Asia-based female entrepreneurs access to tools and networks, training to scale platforms, and skills to create commercially viable businesses.
In addition to education and mentorship, the programme culminates with a demo day to help secure possible second round funding, a key hurdle for female-led startups in this region.
“Dentsu Aegis Network is thrilled to lead the industry in supporting female entrepreneurs from emerging markets,” said Joanna Catalano, CEO of iProspect Asia Pacific said in a statement to Good News from Southeast Asia. She is also a key driver of the Female Foundry initiative in the region.
She added, "We continue to support initiatives which leverage tech for good and drive meaningful and lasting change in society. Building on the success and learnings from last year and in partnership with leading influencers, we are delighted to welcome our second cohort of founders."
The programme will partner shortlisted participants with senior industry mentors including Darshini Santhanam, APAC Marketing, Microsoft Advertising, Paula Taylor, Executive Director & Co-founder, West Tech Fest, as well as Katarina Hasbani, General Manager of Female Founders.
Nick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific, said, “Female Foundry helps prepare startups by equipping them with the necessary tools, networks, skills, and strategy to thrive in the digital economy. Through Female Foundry, we hope to provide a platform that will support and empower women in emerging markets where 80% of the global middle class will live in 10 years.”
“Next year, we plan to extend the programme into Latin America and Africa as part of our plan to roll Female Foundry out to 30 markets around the world in 30 months,” he adds.
The demo day winner will then be sponsored to travel to West Tech Fest, Australia’s premier innovation festival held in Perth, to present their winning idea at its 2017 Startup Challenge in December.
This year, Bill Tai, Silicon Valley-based Venture Capitalist and Founder of ACTAI Global, will join the programme as both an advisor and judge on demo day.
Interested participants can apply a twww.thefemalefoundry.com.
