Female entrepreneurs represent the fastest growing category of entrepreneurship worldwide, driving jobs’ growth and economic prosperity.
However, female entrepreneurs face more challenges than male counterparts on their business journey.
In 2021, start-ups co-founded by women received just 27 per cent of venture capital funding in Australia.
Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins was famously turned down by over 100 investors before securing the investment she needed to get her business off the ground – which was valued at over $40 billion in 2021.
A recent report from Asialink predicted that boosting the number of female business owners to equal that of men in Australia could add up to $135 billion to the national economy.
The Queensland Government is committed to increasing the number of women participating in the state’s innovation economy.
Advance Queensland’s Accelerating Female Founders Program supports the state’s female founders to grow their businesses.
Queensland Chief Entrepreneur Julia Spicer said the program was critical to levelling the playing field for female founders in the state.
“We know that female founders only make up 22 per cent of the innovation ecosystem,” Ms Spicer said.
“The Advance Queensland Female Founders’ program will grow the number of female founders across the innovation ecosystem."
“They will receive support and expertise – including mentoring, coaching, product prototype development and testing – to overcome some of the key barriers to their business.”
The Government is providing almost $1 million to 11 leading education and industry agencies to supply key business development programs.
The 11 agencies are being funded to provide a host of practical business development and technical skills programs for about 484 female founders and leaders of innovation driven enterprises across the state at different stages of the entrepreneurial lifecycle to help them nurture, develop, grow and expand their businesses.
The agencies cross the industrial spectrum – from sports tech to tourism to agriculture.
They include Impact Boom and its social enterprise accelerator program, the Sunshine Coast’s Food and Agribusiness Network with its food and beverage accelerator program, and the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub (ARM Hub) at Northgate in Brisbane.
Find out more about the Accelerating Female Founders Program.
