Credit: WIDE

On Wednesday 27 November 2019, following the success of three previous editions, WIDE organised its fourth evening dedicated to Women Founders.

Organised in partnership with Silicon Luxembourg and BIL, and with support from the Ministry of Equality between Women and Men, the sold-out event brought together seven women who shared their stories and their determination in the realisation of their project and the development of their entrepreneurial careers.

The evening started with a welcome speech by Marie-Adélaïde Leclercq-Olhagaray, WIDE's Chairwoman, who explained WIDE's motivations for supporting women's entrepreneurship, initiatives such as the startup leadership programme and the first three editions of Women Founders. She also welcomed on stage Karin Scholtes, Global Head of People, Culture and Communication at BIL.

The first panel focused on "Scaling Up and the Growth Of Startups" and was moderated by Marina Andrieu, the co-founder and director of WIDE. Shiva Dustdar (Head of Division, Innovation Finance Advisory at EIB), Eva Sadoun (CEO / Co-Founder of LITA.co), Melanie Gagnon (CEO / Founder of MGSI) and Ghela Boskovich (Founder of FemTechGlobal) shared their perspectives into being an entrepreneur and intrapreneur, discussing their beginnings, inspirations and motivations, as well as the challenges of finance industry. Eva Sadoun explained how her previous experience and need for social changes encouraged her to create Lita, while Shiva Dustdar talked about changes in the financing industry and how EIB supports startups. The panelists also discussed how to approach the topic of financing and investments for startups.

Gaëlle Haag (CEO / Co-Founder of StarTalers), Bénédicte Keith (CFO Freelance) and Gosia Kramer (CEO / Co-Founder of The Office Coworking) participated in the second panel and discussed topics related to entrepreneurship, as well. The panel entitled "Getting Ideas Off the Ground" was moderated by the founder of Silicon Luxembourg, Charles-Louis Machuron, who invited the women on stage to talk about leveraging a number of women entrepreneurs, their career path leading them to funding startups and sharing their vision about what entrepreneurship is truly about. For their parts, Gosia Haag and Bénédicte Keith talked about freedom and the future of work. They also offered advice for future women founders and reiterated the importance of supporting other female entrepreneurs.

During a short break between the panels, Astrid Wagner (IP, Communication & Technology Partner at Arendt) shared with the audience insights on WIDE's recent mission to Tel Aviv, where the delegation discovered the Israeli startup ecosystem and the situation of female entrepreneurs there. 

The conference ended with an invitation to participate in the startup leadership programme organised by WIDE. The Call for Application is open until the 31 December 2019.