Event description

Are you looking to expand internationally? Want to know what you should look out for and how to navigate the disability and accessibility landscape in that country?

Join us for a founders-speaking-to-founders event to hear from and connect with other disability and age-tech startup CEOs that have successfully expanded internationally.

This event, hosted to celebrate +N inclusive innovation network’s first birthday, aims to equip you with knowledge and connections that will make your plan of expanding internationally more likely to be successful.

We’ll kick off with lightning rounds with four startup CEOs that have expanded to another market, followed by an audience-led Q&A. After this, you'll have a chance to chat with the CEOs in a smaller group setting with other guests that want to expand to the same country.

Live captioning and an International Sign Interpreter will be available throughout. When completing the registration form, please let us know if there is anything else we can do to ensure you have an inclusive, accessible and enjoyable experience at this +N event.

Event Details

Date: Thursday, 1 September 2022

Time: Below is a list of the various times around the world when this event will be taking place.

8.00 am BST ☀️
10.00 am EAT ☀️
12.30 pm IST 🌙
3.00 pm HKT🌙
5.00 pm AEST 🌙
7.00 pm NZST 🌙

Location: This is an online event that will be streamed via Zoom.

Accessibility: Live captioning and Sign language Interpreters. Please let us know if we could make this event experience more inclusive and accessible for you in the registration form.

Meet our Speakers

Penny Weber, Founder & CEO, The Shapes United, Australia

Having survived a serious road accident and the subsequent challenges of dressing herself during rehabilitation. A natural problem solver, Penny designed her own rehab clothing which she used during her own rehab needs. Realising that this need extended to those who manage ongoing mobility challenges, she launched her inclusive and adaptive Fashion clothing label, The Shapes United.

Her passion is complemented by a strong entrepreneurial background, including previous businesses in the music industry, an MBA and Master’s in International Business. Penny also lectures at Collarts (Australian College of the Arts) in Fashion Marketing and is a founding member of the Adaptive Clothing Collective.

Brian Mwenda, Founder & CEO, Hope Tech Plus, Kenya

Brian is working on ground-breaking technology that is redefining how society thinks about visually impaired people and cementing their role as active participants in society. Brian leads an amazing team at Hope Tech Plus to create a wearable aid that supports unaided movement for visually impaired people. The device is revolutionising mobility for visually impaired people by giving them the freedom of independent movement and the confidence to engage in any activity without being limited by mobility.

Brian is an alumnus of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) Leaders in Innovation Fellowship and Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. He is the 2019 winner of the Diversity and Inclusion Awards for best innovative and inclusive deployment of Technology. Brian is actively speaking for the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in society.

Charles BARK, Founder & CEO, HiNounou, China & France

Charles is a successful Serial Entrepreneur in France and China. In January 2018, he was named by French President Emmanuel Macron as one of the top 3 French entrepreneurs in AI in China.

After a combined 12Y R&D in 4 countries, Charles founded HiNounou Intelligent Robot. HiNounou is an AI Predictive Healthcare Data Platform company that helps Seniors and Chronic Disease Patients to live Longer, Healthier and Happier at home. It helps the children who live far away from their elderly parents to have peace of mind. Hinounou is the 2022 World Winner of the UN/WHO’s Healthy Ageing Innovation Prize.

Charles is currently a PhD candidate in AI Patient Digital Twin for Preventive Care and has published a research paper on fall prevention for elders. He hails from the University of Oxford, UTC and HEC Paris.

Narayanan Ramakrishnan, CEO, Avaz Inc, India

Narayanan graduated with a Masters in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta and has been leading assistive technology development at Avaz for the past 10 years. Avaz is a leading assistive technology company that makes AAC and language learning products used by thousands of people around the world.

Narayanan loves creating technology solutions that empower people to achieve their full potential. He is especially passionate about ideas that holistically address challenges faced by parents, teachers and AT users of all ages.

He has built other assistive technology solutions, including FJ Typer - a desktop-based Touch Typing tutor software for the visually impaired & a wearable glove that enables people to learn music while enjoying rehab exercises, among others.

About +N

+N inclusive innovation network is a community of innovators, accelerators and investors dedicated to growing the impact of technology on disability inclusion. We believe that technology and entrepreneurship have important roles to play in ending the exclusion of those of us with disabilities.

Our mission is to connect a global ecosystem of partners who shape future technologies that lower barriers to disability inclusion. We do this by facilitating interactions and cooperation between users, innovators and entrepreneurs, capital and expertise. If you aren't already, you're invited to join the +N community today by registering online today!