Ready. Set. Accelerate!: Announcing the 5.0 Cohort of the WiC Microsoft Cloud Accelerator

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The Women in Cloud team is immensely happy to announce Cohort 5.0 after four successful cohorts which is designed to give access for female technology founders to win enterprise cloud opportunities. We launched the 5.0 cohort on Feb 26, 2021 with 17 companies from 4 countries. Lets welcome them to the WiC Cohort of Successful Female Tech Founders.

Women In Cloud’s Microsoft Cloud Accelerator is designed as an immersive 6-month program to assist women-led tech companies to build stronger together co-sell plan with Microsoft and their distribution channels . This program is expertly designed to help women tech entrepreneurs win enterprise opportunities, get access to Azure credits, an advisor community, and a global stage to showcase your business.

The 5.0 Cohort Immersive Kickoff session held on on Friday, February 26, 2020. The first session featured curated speakers, Chaitra Vedullapalli, Co-Founder and President of WiC; Kim Smith, Global VP, Cloud Innovation Services of IBM; Brea Starmer, Founder/President, Executive Consultant, Lions + Tigers, Digital Enterprise, IT & Digital of Boeing; Ellen Feaheny, Founder & CEO of AlohaCloud Digital Networks; Martha Montoya, CEO of agTools, Inc.; and Patti Dobrowolski, CEO & Creative Activator of Up Your Creative Genius. The speakers consisted of founders, industry leaders and previous cohort entrepreneurs who set the tone for the new class about the current industry landscape, how to vision their cloud businesses, along with deliverables and takeaways by the end of 6 months. 

This kickoff focused on helping founders develop their future vision and this experience was led by with Patti Dobrowolski, 3 Times TEDx speaker and inspired the founders to design their co-sell plan.

Here is output of what a vision of equitable equity and access looks like for women founders.

Women In Cloud Accelerator

The cohort 5.0 will be digital accelerator with built in benefits including azure credits, listing on marketplaces, participating in global UN focused campaigns, bi-weekly office hours, monthly live chats with industry leaders, and continued access to industry stages, has elevated our programming to an unmatched scale.

Going digital has let us expand our horizon and open this program to people from around the world rather than just a region. Cohort 5.0 boasts a diverse participation of companies from the United States, Canada, India and United Kingdom.
This year’s WiC Microsoft Cloud Accelerator is more than just an effort to make economic contributions to the system by empowering entrepreneurs. It is about embracing the new normal and moving forward with a sense of community. It is about adopting self-empowerment and finding comfort in knowing where to turn for support with a community at your side. Most importantly, it is about collective growth and learning.

Presenting the Women in Cloud Microsoft Cloud Accelerator Cohort 5.0:

  • Jacqueline G Schafer, Clearbrief
  • Pradnya Desh, Advocat Technologies
  • Rachel Hankerson, International PROOF Systems, LLC
  • Sonal Malavia, Cloud 9 Infosystems
  • Sinmi Adeoye-Esene, Daniola Corporation
  • Cheryl Ingram, Inclusology
  • Sherisse Hawkins, PageDip
  • Sophia Stone, Indie Tech Ltd.
  • Sanjana Govil, Unseen Insight
  • Steph Locke, Nightingale HQ
  • Padma Subramanian, Fyrii.ai
  • Kerry Schrader, Mixtroz,LLC
  • Agnes Lan, Kinderdrop Inc.
  • Sonali Jha, Cunomial Technologies Private Limited
  • Bhavya Aggarwal, zipBoard Tech

This year, Global Affairs Canada underwrote 50% of the accelerator fees for two Canadian companies that were approved to participate in the 5.0 cohort. Their previous generous support has allowed 8 of our 4.0 entrepreneurs to have the opportunity to scale their businesses to become co-sell and co-market ready with enterprise partners.

Economic Access is the tide that lifts all boats. Together we rise.

Interested in joining the 6.0 cohort? Applications are open now: Click here to learn more

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Be part of changing the narrative at WiC International Women’s Day Celebration 2021

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Women In Cloud is proud to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 11-12, 2021 with a virtual event experience to challenge economic exclusion. This will be hosted in the REMO networking platform. 

Book your Spot Today:

  • Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 3 – 5pm PST: Get Access to #CloudJobs Recruitment Lounge. It is open and free for all to participate. Register & Learn more at: https://wicxiwd2021-cloudjobs.eventbrite.com 
  • Friday, March 12, 2021 at 10am – 3pm PST: Get Connected with Industry Leaders & learn world class pitching skills. Register & Learn more at: https://wicxiwd2021.eventbrite.com/ (10% off Code: WIC10)

Summit Schedule:

Three opportunities:

  1. Sponsor a corporate pass : Purchase Women in Cloud Corporate Pass Package for $549 today, surprise 5 of your employees with access and be part of our #ChooseToChallenge social campaign
  2. Become an advisor/mentor to facilitate a mentoring table and meet cloud entrepreneurs. Complete your profile
  3. Submit Your resume & meet your future employers: https://womenincloud.submittable.com/submit/185452/cloudjobs-recruitment-lounge-candidate-profiles (plus get free ticket to March12 celebrations)

This event is global, but space is limited so please register ASAP!

REGISTER HERE (10% off Code: WIC10)

We hope to see you there!

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Supporting Women Entrepreneurs in 2021!

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According to Crunchbase data, global venture funding to female-founded companies plummeted in 2020. There’s no one factor at cause here, but COVID has disproportionately impacted women. McKinsey and Lean In’s Women in the Workplace 2020 report explains that child or elderly family care obligations will force as many as two million women to leave the workplace as the result of the pandemic. One final jaw-dropping stat: Business Insider recently reported that hundreds of startups go public every year, but only 20 are founded and led by women. That’s right, only 20 companies since the founding of the New York Stock exchange in 1817 were founded and led by women. Boston Consulting Group analysis of MassChallenge data explained what we’re leaving on the table in ignoring women’s entrepreneurial leadership: if women and men participated equally as entrepreneurs—and had equal access to capital, mentorship, and customer access—the global economy would rise from $2.5 trillion to $5 trillion. 

The lack of support for women entrepreneurs is clear, and it’s part of the reason why I joined Women in Cloud as an Advisory Board member. Women in Cloud is thinking about the full lifecycle of business success—from coaching women entrepreneurs in the Microsoft Cloud Accelerator to partnering with forward-thinking politicians like Washington State Senator Patty Kuderer in developing legislation to provide more equal opportunity to women entrepreneurs. 

Of course, while we can all influence our representatives to prioritize support of women entrepreneurs, and tout these important stats, there’s more direct action that we can take as well:

#1 – Do the research – Learn about the local businesses in your neighborhood that are founded by women, and tap into communities supporting women entrepreneurs. Take inventory of the products and services that you’re using daily and look into the companies behind the brands. How could you get more intentional about supporting a representative population?

#2 – Understand your sphere of influence – Write down all the ways that you might better support female founders. Maybe it’s buying products or services that they offer, but it could also mean facilitating an introduction to an investor, sharing social media posts to promote their business, or offering an endorsement to feature on their site or in a Yelp review.

#3 – Invest in female founders – This note is specifically for the institutional and angel investors out there. If you have access to capital, investing in women is likely to return a higher ROI. Boston Consulting Group and MassChallenge published research in 2018 to demonstrate why women-owned startups are a better bet. Despite receiving significantly less early-stage capital, women ultimately deliver higher revenue.

When it comes to realizing greater equality in entrepreneurship, each and every one of us is responsible for pushing for the change we wish to see—whether that means voting with your dollars or prioritizing your time to support women entrepreneurs. Global change will require the partnership of policymakers and corporations, but you can have a direct impact on a women entrepreneur’s business trajectory today. 

Interested in learning more about this topic? Join me January 28-30 at the Women in Cloud Digital Summit 2021 and be a part of the movement. Book your spot today with a 15% discount, and get on board to witness the collective power of women in the technology industry from around the world.

Ticket secured? I highly recommend prioritizing the following sessions:

  1. Welcome Remarks featuring The Right Honourable Kim Campbell, Canada’s first woman Prime Minister
  2. The #CloudJobs Recruitment Lounge
  3. The Black Founders Circle
  4. #RockYourPitch – a session on personal brand architecture
  5. #CloudMentorshipCircle – a session with cloud industry leaders
  6. Youth Mentorship Circles focused on STEM topics
  7. A digital scavenger hunt to network close out the summit

Whether or not you can attend the summit, I appreciate any amplification of the opportunity to friends and colleagues. And to keep the conversation going, I recommend joining the Women in Cloud Digital Network, where you’ll meet incredible women entrepreneurs, corporate cloud leaders, and supporters of greater gender equity in the cloud business.

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Technology in its Glory: Capability to Meet Educational Needs of the Future

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Looking back at my journey, I have come to realize that over the years I worked hard to independently forge an international way in the business while nurturing a thriving family – it would have been so much easier with a network of like-minded support. A platform where ideas are shared and problems solved by people who experience the same barriers was missing; Women in Cloud offers this – a place where women can help each other progress in a world dictated by men, after all, a problem shared is a problem halved.

Women make up roughly 50% of the world’s population. I believe this is a significant force that can and should be used to empower all that is good! Instead of continuing the traditional and destructive pursuit of GDP, I believe a collective of women with positive, proactive, and purposeful ideas can rethink a sustainable economy and improve the quality of life for everyone and everything that shares the planet.

I am not the first to say that “Education is the Answer.” Despite this 175M children lack basic literacy skills. Around 2/3 of the world’s illiterates are women (UNN, 2010). Children and their facilitators in deprived areas have even less of a chance to succeed in life. 

The reasons for this are 1) Gender bias 2) Poverty 3) Lack of resources. Utilizing shared knowledge, resources, and technological prowess, we can level the playing field and improve world prospects by uplifting women from the ground up and providing every child – irrespectively of gender, culture, and parenting background – equal opportunities to access education. At the Women in Cloud Digital Summit 2021, I want to share my ideas on ways to utilize AI to reduce barriers, and positively impact families, and nations.

“If women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations do as well.” — Hillary Clinton

With my association with Women in Cloud, I aim to enable the use of AI educational tools – giving remote, poor, and underprivileged children access to high-quality tuition, feedback (AI enables recording, data collection, and analysis)

Partnering with Cloud hyperscalers such as Microsoft, afford memory and storage of lessons, data, and feedback to populations that could not otherwise access tools that can propel and certify their academic progression.

Technology has been underused in the furthering of rural women’s educational and economic opportunities with men being the primary adopters of assistive technology. This is mirrored to a lesser degree of 60%-40% in modern settings (Gill et al, 2010). Policies that would lessen the educational gap by means of technology, need to be focused on 1) delivery of energy to support electronic technology 2) refocusing of the hardware development lifecycle from marketing, aesthetics, and profit to longevity, user-focused simplicity, and affordability. 3) finally this hardware needs to be connected, so free cloud and internet coverage of rural and impoverished areas need to be implemented.

“Modern technology enables us to meet the needs of those on the fringe of society, making technology a necessity in the realization of these children’s potential.” – Nataliya Tetruyeva

So this January, join me at the Women in Cloud Digital Summit 2021 to discuss the possibilities of incorporating technology into education to benefit millions who will impact the future and sustainability of our world. 

Book Your Spot today with a 15% discount, and get on board to witness the Collective Power of Women in the technology industry from around the world! 

I highly recommend the following Interactive Experiences for you to participate and expand your network: 

  1. 28 January: Learn about Tech Industry at their opening plenary with Former Prime Minister of Canada, Rt Honorable Kim Campbell, and Corporate Vice President Gavriella Schuster 
  2. 28 January: Explore Cloud Jobs at #CloudJobs Fair & Recruitment Lounge
  3. 28 January: Meet Black Founders
  4. 29 January: Master your pitch at #RockYourPitch Experience
  5. 29 January: Get access to mentorship from Cloud Industry leaders
  6. 30 January: Get your kids to participate in Youth Mentorship Circle
  7. 30 January: Make New Friends at Scavenger Hunt 

Also, join WIC Digital Network to be part of the global economic access movement

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Ask, Don’t Tell: Powerful Questions for Successful, Inclusive Leadership

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“If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.” ~African Proverb

Personally, I believe that harnessing the Collective Power of the community is more impactful than individual heroism. What if everyone recognizes that they can be a leader? How can we work together to achieve goals as a single entity? Optimizing collaborative leadership and developing productive team cultures is the key to producing successful results, and these skills are transferable across all organizations. Through my work, I have had the opportunity to help individuals and teams harness their unique talents to develop strategic, authentic leadership styles. 

Women should have the ability to change their economic situations in order to better their lives. I am passionate about being part of an organization that is developing the resources and network to provide women with inclusive economic access. We need more policies that support the elevation of women into senior and executive roles as well as increased opportunities for female entrepreneurs to start businesses. As a woman in technology, I am familiar with bias challenges in the corporate world, and I want to share my experiences while also learning from others, so that we can all rise higher to further advance women’s leadership.

Everyone has the potential to be a fantastic leader. One of the most important aspects to being a leader is channeling the talents of the team so that everyone is contributing to creating a successful, productive environment. I am excited to be speaking at the Women in Cloud Digital Summit 2021, where I will be presenting on one focused aspect: the art of asking powerful questions. Attendees will gain insights into the power of listening and how question-based cultures create better leaders. Each person brings their own unique strengths, and recognizing this early on will enable team members to unlock each other’s potentials to keep growing. 

So join me at the Women in Cloud Digital Summit 2021 to learn more about how creating a culture where individuals are encouraged to be curious will enable you to become an accomplished, inclusive leader.  

Book Your Spot today with a 15% discount, and get on board to witness the Collective Power of Women in the technology industry from around the world! 

I highly recommend the following Interactive Experiences for you to participate and expand your network: 

  1. 28 January: Learn about Tech Industry at their opening plenary with Former Prime Minister of Canada, Rt Honorable Kim Campbell and Corporate Vice President Gavriella Schuster 
  2. 28 January: Explore Cloud Jobs at #CloudJobs Fair & Recruitment Lounge
  3. 28 January: Meet Black Founders
  4. 29 January: Master your pitch at #RockYourPitch Experience
  5. 29 January: Get access to mentorship from Cloud Industry leaders
  6. 30 January: Get your kids to participate in Youth Mentorship Circle
  7. 30 January: Make New Friends at Scavenger Hunt 

Also, join WIC Digital Network to be part of the global economic access movement.

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