A Unicamp Innovation Agency (Inova), in partnership with the group of entrepreneurs Unicamp Ventures, opens a call until September 10th for this year's edition of Entrepreneur Award, intended exclusively for registered Unicamp daughter companies to share and be recognized for their good practices and experiences.
In addition to the winners of these categories performing their pitches during the 16th Unicamp Ventures Annual Meeting, scheduled for October 21st, and have more visibility in the entrepreneurial ecosystem around the University, they will automatically be competing as finalists for the title of Unicamp Entrepreneur of the Year, which this year will feature again with the prize of R$50 thousand in marketing services (Sinapro table) offered by the sponsor Sabiá Agency.
Among this year's new features, in addition to the three submission categories already consolidated in previous editions in the themes of Socio-Environmental Impact, Innovation and Greater Growth (Scale-up), the organization opened the new Female Leadership category with the intention of encouraging increased participation of entrepreneurs linked to the University.
One of the main reasons for a new category that recognizes the specific work of entrepreneurs from Unicamp's daughter companies is the low percentage of entries for the Award, resulting in no female finalist, in four editions of the award, presenting their pitches and competing for the title of Entrepreneur of the Year at Unicamp, as explained by the director of institutional relations at Inova Unicamp, Vanessa Sensato. “Even though there is a predominance of male founders of Unicamp's daughter companies, which represent 80% of partners linked to Unicamp, we need to show that there is an increase in women leading businesses. This is important to inspire other women who often give up because they do not see themselves represented in this entrepreneurial ecosystem”, explains Sensato.
The director also highlighted that we should not ignore that structural problems of machismo affect the entrepreneurial and investment environment, and for a woman to achieve success at the same level as men, she always has to try twice as hard and receive more “no’s” in the same sector, as shown by a 2018 study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) carried out in partnership with the accelerator network MassChallenge.
The research found that when women present their pitches For investors to receive initial capital, they on average receive more than 1 million dollars less than when they are introduced by men. Contradictorily, companies founded or co-founded by women generated higher revenues than men, with 78 cents generated for every dollar invested compared to 31 cents for enterprises founded only by men.
Read article in full published on the Unicamp Innovation Agency website.
