Associate feature: Female momentum in entrepreneurship

I’m using International Women’s Day on 8 March as an opportunity to reflect on the success of female tech entrepreneurs in the Highlands and Islands.

In partnership with Techscaler (the Scottish Government’s technology start-up programme), we’re supporting seven entrepreneurs with grants of up to £10k through the HIE Techscaler Kickstart Grant scheme.  Five of those seven entrepreneurs are women.

The grants are helping people to develop their tech concept, create a minimum viable product and turn their idea into a reality. Through the scheme, we’re supporting the start-up, development and growth of new tech businesses. The women’s kickstart projects include:

• a logistics platform to revolutionise how goods are transported, which was inspired by personal experience of organising humanitarian aid for Ukraine; 
• applying artificial intelligence to offer real-time support to women navigating the complex challenges of menopause - this project is linked to the Glasgow School of Art in Moray;
• a ‘virtual town hall’ to better understand how people in Skye feel about tourism and development - it aims to balance social, cultural, environmental and economic factors by blending big data with human sentiment and giving everyone a voice; and,
• a ‘virtual walking challenge’ adventure app designed around iconic walking routes - it will offer an immersive experience that connects users with Scotland’s scenery and culture.

These projects highlight the ambition and determination of female tech founders in our region, to create new products and services that address key challenges. We’re proud to support them on their entrepreneurial journey. 

The quality of applications has inspired us to look at running the HIE Techscaler Kickstart grant scheme again regionally later this year.

This article is sponsored by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). 

www.hie.co.uk/techscaler