Project Female Founder
Building on the success of the Female Founder Award 2021 and our first accelerator program, Project Female Founder in 2021, our project mission is to accelerate female and non-binary founders in their success through a holistic program of investor readiness training and a global ecosystem of support to build relationships and networks.
The program coincides with the Female Founder Award which launched in 2021 and is now an annual award for early-stage fintech female founders. You can see the finalist for 2021 here and for 2022 here, plus a digital hub for our UBS Female Founders to showcase the work, the challenges and opportunities faced.
In March 2021, our Chief Investment Office published a report “The Funding Gap - Investors and female entrepreneurs” which explored the challenge that female entrepreneurs continue to receive less funding than their male counterparts and highlighted the abundant evidence that female entrepreneurs who receive adequate funding go on to develop businesses that perform as well as, or even better, than their male counterparts. It also covered the attractive opportunity these businesses present to investors.
This approach reaffirms our commitment to supporting women with financial empowerment through our Women’s Wealth program within Global Wealth Management (www.ubs.com/women ).
Project Female Founder is a modern approach to accelerating female founders in their success through a holistic program of investor readiness training + global ecosystem of support in community with UBS Client Advisors to build relationships and networks.
The 2022 Pilot included 16 Client Advisors and 34 female founders from around the world. The 2023 program is the expansion into two cohorts, one for APAC and one for the rest of the world, and developing regional female founder ecosystems.
Program Overview:
Project Female Founder 2023 is an 8-week Investor Readiness Accelerator program with Fortuna Funding and a year-long activation in the Coralus (formerly SheEO) global community (founded by Vicki Saunders, also a UBS Global Visionary) The program will be delivered online and include global and regional components.
Program Benefits:
Ultimately, Project Female Founder will provide support in these ways:
● Education on the fundamentals necessary to attract aligned capital
● Addressing both the personal and business needs that will lead to sustainable business growth
● Connections and mentorship to support business leaders
● Increased access to networks; key influencers in your local ecosystem
● Connection to a global community for business growth and investment
● New relationships; the core to business success
Timing:
● Nominations - February 2023
● Welcome Call - March 2023
● 8-Week Accelerator Program - April-June 2023
● Quarterly Alumni Calls & Newsletter - Starting July 2023
Application:
Through UBS Client Advisors
About Fortuna Funding
Fortuna Funding is a practical and intentional guide to accessing aligned capital. Fortuna Funding’s proprietary Investor Readiness Program is unique in addressing the key components to be ready to take on external capital, to understand the various capital options, and to create a custom funding strategy to accelerate success and be in alignment with the right capital.
About Coralus
Coralus (formerly known as SheEO) is a radically generous community supporting women and non-binary people working on the World’s To-Do List. Launched in 2015 in Canada and now also with venture programs in the US, Australia, New Zealand and UK, this visionary model is emerging as a leading global innovation for transforming how we fund small and medium sized businesses. Rather than trying to fit women into the existing models and systems and level the playing field, we are creating an entirely new field. To deliver, Coralus works with ‘Activators’ globally who gift their capital, buying power, networks and expertise as an act of Radical Generosity to support; and ‘Ventures’ led by innovative women working on the UN Sustainable Development Goals through a 0% interest loan. Ultimately, Coralus is creating a $1B Perpetual Fund with over 1 Million Activators supporting 1000s of Ventures globally, working on the World’s To-Do List.
Kimberley Abbott, CEO and Founder of Vested Impact, winner of the UBS Female Founder Award 2021 and part of the Project Female Founder 2021 cohort.
“The Female Founder Award and Program has been one of the most transformative experiences for myself, as a leader, but also for my company. My company has had an extremely successful 12 months; thanks in part to the exposure, networks and support from UBS. The global nature of Project Female Founder broadened my networks; particularly with other amazing female entrepreneurs; and the investor readiness training was a useful component to help successfully raise a small investment this year for my company to aid its growth.”
