A ‘Shark Tank’ style kickstarter event for young women was held in Canberra today, featuring five fabulous female founders, along with a surprising entry from group of Year 9 Canberra Girls Grammar School (CGGS) students who blew organisers away with their innovative idea to enhance financial literacy among women.
The entrepreneurs were pitching their businesses to a panel of judges for the Enterprising Women’s Kickstarter Challenge on Wednesday 16 February and were vying to win a share in $60,000 worth of funding.
The official finalists were between the ages of 18 to 24, but the honourary team of CGGS students were invited despite their age, to present their pitch as a ‘wildcard’ due to the impressive quality of their idea.
The four CGGS students, Reshmi Senanayake, Sofia Atreya, Bronte Coggan, and Nettie Lescinski, participated in the event hosted at Questacon, and were delighted to reveal their proposal on how to address the issue of financial literacy in young people.
CGGS Year 9 student, 15-year-old Reshmi Senanayke, joined the Kickstarter Challenge through the accelerator program, and feels so privileged to be a part of event.
“We had to do a project about increasing financial awareness in the community, so together we decided to create a support system in the form of a website to help spread knowledge about financial management,” says Reshmi.
“We just thought that because technology is such a dominant aspect of people’s lives that it would be the best way to make knowledge accessible for everyone.”
Wise beyond her years, Reshmi’s driving ideology is that more women should be involved within the business sector because of the indirect correlation between business contributions and how society functions.
She says women being given the chance to contribute more in the business world will help the push for gender equality.
“We were so inspired by all the amazing women and all of their pitches, and it’s cool to know there’s a future like that for all of us,” says Reshmi.
“I’m not quite sure yet of what I want to do when I finish school, but I think it’s great to know that there’s the option of business available, and to know that we can do anything.”
Winner of the challenge was University of Queensland tourism and psychology graduate, Hailey Brown, who founded Vacayit – an accessible storytelling app for blind and low vision tourists so they can independently make informed decisions before travelling.
Minister for Women, Senator Marise Payne, said the Federal Government was pleased to commit an additional $5 million to expand the Accelerator for Enterprising Women initiative.
“Starting a business is no easy task, and we know female-founded startups face even greater challenges in getting the finances they need to expand. That’s why we are very proud to be supporting the Accelerator for Enterprising Women initiative,” Minister Payne says.
Visit enterprising-women.com.au/kickstarter-challenge-winners to read about the other inspiring finalists of the Kickstarter Challenge.
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