Venturing into the Future: Empowering Women Founders

Join us for a  morning tea panel, “Venturing into the Future: Empowering Women Founders.” This event promises to provide inspiration, innovation, and empowerment, aimed at fuelling the journey of women in the startup ecosystem.

Date: Friday, 10 November

Time: 10:00am – 12:00pm AEDT

Location: Hall and Wilcox, Level 11, Rialto South Tower, 525 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Our goal is to build connections among women entrepreneurs, investors, ecosystem supporters, and phenomenal startup founders. We will delve deep into essential strategies and insights that pave the way for women to thrive in the startup ecosystem, gleaned directly from the minds of venture capitalists and successful female founders.

What to Expect:

• Valuable Insights: Gain invaluable knowledge from a panel of experienced venture capitalists and women founders.
• Engaging Conversations: Participate in honest, practical and informative discussions that offer tried and true wisdom
• Networking: Connect and network with like-minded individuals who are shaping the future of entrepreneurship.

This event is not just an invitation but a golden opportunity to elevate your entrepreneurial journey. Men are also welcome to join in on these meaningful conversations, fostering a more inclusive and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Tickets are limited to the first 100 people so be sure to get your ticket as soon as possible.

About the speakers

Irene Tsang is the Founder & CEO at LIFTwomen Group, a pioneering platform dedicated to levelling the playing field for female entrepreneurs across Australia and Asia. As the country's first women-focused reward crowdfunding hub, they aim to address the stark disparity where less than 3% of global venture capital goes to women-led businesses. Their mission is to create a more equitable and accessible funding pathway for all women and girls, empowering them to turn their business dreams into reality and live life to its fullest potential. With a proven track record of supporting hundreds of projects, we are not just a platform, but a collaborative community committed to fostering sustainable positive impact and driving systemic change in women's financial empowerment.

Tracey Warren is the CEO and Founding & Partner of F5 Collective. She is an experienced professional with a background in financial markets, advisory, and strategy. With a deep passion for supporting female founders, she is determined to highlight the investment opportunity that exists in backing exceptional women-led ventures. Recognising the power of intersectionality, Tracey strongly believes in the potential of impact and returns working hand in hand. Her goal is to activate a regenerative ecosystem that provides the necessary support, funding, and tools for women to thrive in the business world.

Roo Harris is the Chief Investment Officer and Co-Owner of Scale Investors, Australia's premier, women-owned investment syndicate, investing into women-led startups in the pre-seed and seed stages. Prior to Scale, Roo worked as an international corporate and commercial lawyer for over 15 years, with a specialisation in hospitality, sports, education and CMT (Communications, Media and Technology). Roo stumbled upon - and fell in love with - private equity and venture capital deal making during a three-year stint, advising the private family office of a member of the ruling family of Qatar. Roo is a qualified coach and has Board experience in a private family investment company and in the Not-for-Profit sector, where she is a disability advocate with a focus on neurodivergent conditions. Roo is passionate about supporting diverse and underserved founders in startups and beyond.

Sangeeta Mulchandani is a third-generation entrepreneur, author, speaker, and innovation educator with a background in corporate leadership. She's the founder of Jumpstart Studio, where she combines her corporate background and startup experience to support entrepreneurs and the next generation of innovators. Recently, she launched Press Play Ventures, a Pre-Accelerator Program aimed at helping women transition from employment to entrepreneurship. As a Lecturer at the University of Melbourne, Sangeeta teaches the Master of Entrepreneurship degree. She designs and facilitates startup programs for goverment startup organisations like LaunchVic and Startup India. Her book, "Start Right" provides valuable guidance for aspiring and early-stage founders on how to turn their ideas into profitable businesses. With a diverse career that spans six continents and multiple industries, including Airlines, Energy, and Banking, Sangeeta has a global perspective. She is also the co-founder and Board Director at Australian Professionals of Colour, a community organisation focused on fostering culturally intelligent leadership. A passionate traveller, Sangeeta has spent time in 42 countries and speaks four languages, and believes that entrepreneurs hold the transformative power to shape a better future for the world.

Shamila Gopalan is a seasoned entrepreneur and corporate leader with a 26-year global track record. She serves as the CEO of HerWit and the Chief Growth Officer at SisterWorks, an NFP Social Enterprise. HerWit, her third entrepreneurial venture, empowers ambitious female entrepreneurs from startup to scale-up to pre-seed funding, with a focus on fostering diverse and inclusive leadership. At SisterWorks, she drives growth and innovation serving migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking women to become economically empowered. Her dedication has earned her recognition as one of Asia's Top 50 Female Leaders. She sits on several boards and mentors Women Superstars of STEM in Australia. As a co-host of the podcast "Unapologetically Brown," she uplifts voices and perspectives of people of colour.

At the end of the panel event Emeli Paulo will lead us through facilitated networking. Em is a five-time social entrepreneur, fierce intersectional design advocate, multidisciplinary speaker, trainer & facilitator. With two decades of facilitation mastery, she has reached over 1 million people through 15,000 workshops and codesigned 1200+ change programs. She is currently working in the Aus startup circuit as a consultant, codesign facilitator, MC, learning trainer & pre seed mentor. Emeli is also the coFounder of SoCo, a Diversity Equity & Inclusion startup, SoCo Collective - an agency of game-changers here to bridge networks & know-how between uncommon founders and investors. Using their collective experience across business strategy, service design and multi-disciplinary project delivery they deliver paradigm busting initiatives. SoCo Agency does this so that more uncommon founders can get funded and succeed as profitable businesses.

Special thanks to our sponsors & partners:

A big thanks to Hall & Wilcox for supporting this event and providing the venue