Women in Cloud Announces the #EmpowHERAccess Inaugural Awards: Nominate Today!

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Today, Women in Cloud is thrilled to announce the first-ever #EmpowHERAccess Awards, a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to recognize those who have facilitated their access and ensured business stability throughout the pandemic.

Women in Cloud (WIC) partners with M12 – Microsoft’s Venture Capital Fund to award those who have created access for women in tech to support their stability and recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

#empowHERaccess is an annual digital advocacy campaign by Women in Cloud to generate greater economic access for women in technology. Launched in 2020, the campaign reached over 600K women all! This year, as part of the #empowHERaccess campaign, we at Women in Cloud invite you to join us in acknowledging and celebrating the many stories of pivot and perseverance during the global pandemic. The application ends on June 30, 2021. So start your nominations today!

Women in Cloud has created eight awards to recognize and commemorate these vital members of our community: 

  1. Digital Transformation Project of the Year Award: This award celebrates excellence in digital transformation through the cloud and AI technologies. This award is sponsored by Microsoft Corporation. 
  2. Cloud Solution of the Year Award: This award sponsored by Insight, celebrates the cloud solution that most successfully innovates through the use of cutting-edge cloud and AI technologies as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. 
  3. Supplier of the Year Award: This award celebrates companies who have managed to be accessible to female entrepreneurs during the recent epidemic and have increased their supplier ecosystem to accommodate their diverse needs.  
  4. Advisor of the Year Award: This award celebrates the advisors and mentors who have continued to support women entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic by unlocking their rolodex, volunteering their time, and sharing their knowledge. 
  5. Investor of the Year Award: This award celebrates investors who continued to provide economic access to women entrepreneurs during the pandemic by investing $1M+ into women-owned or led technology businesses. 
  6. Innovative Partnership of the Year Award: Sponsored by Accenture, this award celebrates companies that have partnered with women technology entrepreneurs to co-sell their solutions into the enterprise ecosystem. 
  7. Cloud Technology Deal of the Year Award: Our Cloud Technology Deal of the Year will be notable for creating new partnerships, coalescing resources, or injecting funds into innovative cloud businesses. This award is sponsored by Meylah Corporation. 
  8. Women in Technology Outstanding Leadership Award: The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the cloud industry by an individual. Our Outstanding Leader will be an industry leader whose creativity, passion, and innovation are driving the space forward—someone who embodies cloud excellence. M12 – Microsoft’s Venture Fund sponsored this award. 

We welcome you to nominate organizations, suppliers, advisors, investors, and women technology leaders and help us recognize powerful force contributing to your success in the technology industry. Those chosen will be honored at an Award Ceremony on July 16th during the WiCxInspire event. 
Important:

1. Organizations and initiatives can nominate themselves!

2. Nominations are open until 30-Jun-21. Learn more!

3. This year’s award ceremony will be on July16th, 2021 during the WiCxInspire Event

For information on the #EmpowHERAccess Inaugural Awards, click here. 

The countdown begins! 

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Three Ways To Engage with Fortune 1000 Companies to Create Billion Dollar Economic Impact. Join Us!

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We are so excited to announce the launch of #empowHERaccess campaign this month.

#empowHERaccess is an annual digital advocacy campaign by Women in Cloud to generate greater economic access for women in technology. The inaugural 2020 campaign focused on the disruptions women in technology founders were facing, and anticipating, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, while WIC’s 2020 programming aimed to offer the access and opportunities women technology professionals need for recovery and continued success.

The 2021 #empowHERaccess campaign will bring together a number of facets to better understand the Global Crisis the pandemic has created for women entrepreneurs, and celebrate the many stories of pivots and perseverance.

As we were shaping the narrative, the community and Fortune companies wanted us to provide solutions to involve women tech founders as part of the digital transformation roadmap. Based on the feedback, I brainstormed the Forbes article to highlight tangible practices that can be implemented now to double the supplier diversity to create billions of dollars in economic impact using the collective power of Fortune 1000 companies.

So, What can Fortune 1000 companies do?

Systematic change requires collective action by organizations large enough to influence and maintain change. Some groundbreaking ideas to doubling the supplier diversity in Fortune 1000 companies for digital transformation could be:

  1. Strategic digital transformation planning with diverse suppliers. Digital transformation is shifting the competitive landscape for many organizations. As you seek to partner with new partners, it is important to look for diverse suppliers who are willing to work with you on the journey while you extend your talent workforce.
  2. Policy Refinement. Research conducted by the Harvard Business Review claims that 52% of women in STEM careers will eventually leave because of hostile work environments where the company culture is not accommodating of women. The gap in the pipeline can be addressed by establishing policies within Fortune 1000 companies changing the landscape, forever allowing women to lead and develop solutions for the future and bring them into supplier ecosystems.
  3. Underwrite certifications. To accelerate the rise of women-led supply chains, Fortune 1000 needs to take on the onus of underwriting certifications to reduce the burden on diverse technology suppliers trying to build and raise their business. Supplier certifications are a huge investment that largely contributes to small businesses with a lack of funds being unable to deliver to their full capability.
  4. Focused networking with buyers. It is a no-brainer that networking is an essential element for business growth; however, facilitating focused networking sessions will help explore unique and creative solutions developed in a diverse environment.
  5. Solution Showcase. Sixty percent of digital sales are carried out through online marketplaces already, and the number of new marketplaces is growing rapidly to create visibility of potential solutions. Access solutions from Women In Cloud solution marketplace that helps buyers access enterprise-ready solutions developed by women founders for Fortune 1000 companies to incorporate in their supplier network. 

The solution is quite simple to pinpoint, if we double down on investments and engagements with female founders, the world’s largest organizations could succeed in abolishing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship while accelerating economic recovery. 

At Women in Cloud we are committed to developing solutions and generating resources that are dedicated to enabling Fortune brands and enterprise companies to create an economic impact; 

1. WiCxFortune100 Initiative: A turn-key equity advancing solutions for Fortune 100 companies to come together and collectively solve gender-equity challenges through representation, recruitment and relationship building.

2. WiC Solution Marketplace: A one-stop-shop for technology solutions and services for the mid-to-enterprise market, created, owned, and operated by women entrepreneurs.

3. Fortune 100 Lunch and Learn Series: A high-level networking experience designed to open the doors for leading fortune companies and brands to connect with technology business builders. 

I invite you and your brand to get engaged with us to unlock economic access while making the supplier programs diverse and inclusive in the ecosystem.

Website: https://womenincloud.com 

Calling all female tech founders to take 2021 Edition of Covid19 Impact Survey to help us identify and build economic relief and recovery solutions

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Announcing WIC Delegation at the Ideagen Annual Global Leadership 2030 Summit

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As we continue the countdown to 2030 and achieve the 17 Global Goals, organizations around the world are partnering and building communities to reach the goal. In the same effort,  24 – 26 March 2021, Ideagen’s has partnered with Women In Cloud to be part of the Annual Global Leadership 2030 Summit to highlight systemic solutions to solve the world’s most vexing issues. Ideagen’s mission is to provide a platform for cross-sector dialogue on the existing barriers and challenges across a myriad of issues. As we convene leaders from the world’s leading companies, NGOs, and the public sector, topics will range from STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), health, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and empowerment, among many others. 

Effective leadership is more important now than ever as we work toward achieving the 17 UN Global Goals. Women in Cloud along with Ideagen is focused on developing global partnerships and collaboration across sectors to achieve the Global Goals by 2030. Particularly, we seek to ensure all women have the opportunity to share in the benefits of a growing economy.

At Ideagen Annual Global Leadership 2030 Summit, the Women in Cloud delegation will represent WIC’s global goal to generate $1B in economic access by 2030. Women in Cloud will also hold the following panel discussions on creating an inclusive economy for women in technology and we welcome everyone to join us. We hopes that attendees will learn innovative ways to create an inclusive economy for women in technology. Anyone interested in attending might join the Women in Cloud at this free event.

Register now for free: https://bit.ly/3cJ71k9  

#EmpowHERWithAccess: Activating Economic Access During a Pandemic – 23 March 2021 – 2:30 PM ET. 

Women In Cloud #EmpowHERWithAccess: Activating Economic Access During a Pandemic

Cloud Innovations for Fortune 1000 Companies – 24 March 2021 – 2:00 PM ET

Women In Cloud Innovations for Fortune 1000 Companies

Our vision is to represent the Women In Cloud community as an influential community that will focus on enabling rich conversations and interactions at Ideagen’s Annual Global Leadership 2030 Summit. 
We look forward to seeing you and building strategic partnerships which will allow us to create a significant impact in the ecosystem and expand our networks. We hope to connect, learn, and share with you all. See you at #IdeagenGlobal!
Register now for free: https://bit.ly/3cJ71k9  

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Congratulations! WiC Cloud Accelerator’s Cohorts has been selected to participate in Microsoft’s #Buildfor2030 Campaign

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As a partner to the United Nations, we’ve pledged to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a set of 17 initiatives adopted by member states in 2015 focused on impacting the world for good by 2030.

United Nation SDG Goals

Last year, we also partnered with Microsoft to participate in their #BuildFor2030 campaign to make sure that everyone has access to technology developed by female tech founders. Together, we highlighted companies that align with the SDGs and bring us one step closer to creating an inclusive digital economy.

This year, WiC was invited to nominate solutions developed by female tech founders. We are so thrilled to celebrate the members of the Women in Cloud Microsoft Cloud Accelerator being featured in Microsoft’s #BuildFor2030 Campaign. The United Nations Sustainable Goal is at the heart of Women In Cloud’s movement, in an attempt to create opportunities for all.

As a global movement creating economic access to advance female technology entrepreneurs, we are beyond excited that our Accelerator is generating the desired impact. Women in Cloud was inspired by the United Nation and we as an organization are dedicated to contribute to UN SDG #5 – Gender Equality.

Congratulations!! WiC founder solutions has been selected to participate in Microsoft’s #Buildfor2030 Campaign. Read about this campaign at this blogpost by Gavriella Schuster and see full featured list of partners.  

BrandCompany Name & Solution What they solve for the world? Link
UNpkl: Network Traffic Control & Protection UNpkl empowers customers to own their network data and puts security on auto-pilot. https://solutions.womenincloud.com/unpkl-network-traffic-control-protection
Agtools: Ag & Food Supply Chain
Agtools transforms official data into actionable information for rapid supply chain decisions 		https://solutions.womenincloud.com/agtools
Stimulus: Relationship Intelligence Platform (SRIP) Streamline supplier search, evaluation, selection, and management with one platform. https://solutions.womenincloud.com/stimulus-relationship-intelligence-platform
X0PA AI X0PA AI Recruiter X0PA AI Recruiter (microsoft.com)
SciMar ONE A drug development platform that expedites the delivery of safe & effective scientific innovations. https://solutions.womenincloud.com/the-scientific-data-engine-sde
Resume Free Inc. Screening as a service that matches employers and candidates on data, all without using a resume https://solutions.womenincloud.com/resumefree
Volantsys Inc dBIRD – A guided workflow platform with embedded training to build AI solutions and track business insights. https://solutions.womenincloud.com/data-science-upskilling-workshop
PUG Interactive Inc. PUG builds unbreakable Brand-Customer Relationships for Enterprise. https://solutions.womenincloud.com/picnic-customer-engagement-hub
ApertureData Inc ApertureDB: Visual Data Management Made Easy https://solutions.womenincloud.com/aperturedb-visual-data-management-made-easy
Meylah Main Street Digital Platform, a digital economic development platform for any city to to build a vibrant, prosperous and resilient economy with small businesses.https://solutions.womenincloud.com/main-street-digital-platform
Interactive Tracking Systems Inc itracks Realtime a qualitative research solution unlocked to conduct real, high-quality focus groups any time, anywhere. https://solutions.womenincloud.com/itracks-realtime-1
Applaudo Studios Applaudo services help customers to rethink, retool, redesign, redeploy your infrastructure to the Microsoft Azure cloud https://solutions.womenincloud.com/applaudo-studios
Illuxi Intelligence Online content hosting and delivery Business Apps – Microsoft AppSource

Read about this campaign at this blogpost by Gavriella Schuster and see full featured list of partners. To engage with Microsoft and be part of #Buildfor2030, access the following resources:

Nominate your solution to be featured in #Buildfor2030 Campaign

Listing your solution in the Microsoft commercial marketplace helps you reach 4+ million monthly active users, sell in over 140+ global geographies, and engage with 100K+ high-potential leads generated each month.

By participating in the #BuildFor2030 campaign, you gain access to go-to-market services that can help drive awareness of your impact-focused solution with your customers and extend its reach.

Nominate your solution to be featured in our #BuildFor2030 campaign and Learn how to participate

WiC Solution Marketplace: Women In Cloud Solution Marketplace, is a one-stop shop for accessing all the technology solutions and services for the mid-to-enterprise market that are created, owned and operated by women tech founders.

Interested to be feature your solution in WiC Solution Marketplace and join the #EmpowHERaccess campaign?

It is a simple two set process:

First: Register your solution for free, click here

Second: Once submitted, co-promote the #EmpowHERaccess campaign with us.

Any questions, please send a email to [email protected]

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Ready. Set. Accelerate!: Announcing the 5.0 Cohort of the WiC Microsoft Cloud Accelerator

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The Women in Cloud team is immensely happy to announce Cohort 5.0 after four successful cohorts which is designed to give access for female technology founders to win enterprise cloud opportunities. We launched the 5.0 cohort on Feb 26, 2021 with 17 companies from 4 countries. Lets welcome them to the WiC Cohort of Successful Female Tech Founders.

Women In Cloud’s Microsoft Cloud Accelerator is designed as an immersive 6-month program to assist women-led tech companies to build stronger together co-sell plan with Microsoft and their distribution channels . This program is expertly designed to help women tech entrepreneurs win enterprise opportunities, get access to Azure credits, an advisor community, and a global stage to showcase your business.

The 5.0 Cohort Immersive Kickoff session held on on Friday, February 26, 2020. The first session featured curated speakers, Chaitra Vedullapalli, Co-Founder and President of WiC; Kim Smith, Global VP, Cloud Innovation Services of IBM; Brea Starmer, Founder/President, Executive Consultant, Lions + Tigers, Digital Enterprise, IT & Digital of Boeing; Ellen Feaheny, Founder & CEO of AlohaCloud Digital Networks; Martha Montoya, CEO of agTools, Inc.; and Patti Dobrowolski, CEO & Creative Activator of Up Your Creative Genius. The speakers consisted of founders, industry leaders and previous cohort entrepreneurs who set the tone for the new class about the current industry landscape, how to vision their cloud businesses, along with deliverables and takeaways by the end of 6 months. 

This kickoff focused on helping founders develop their future vision and this experience was led by with Patti Dobrowolski, 3 Times TEDx speaker and inspired the founders to design their co-sell plan.

Here is output of what a vision of equitable equity and access looks like for women founders.

Women In Cloud Accelerator

The cohort 5.0 will be digital accelerator with built in benefits including azure credits, listing on marketplaces, participating in global UN focused campaigns, bi-weekly office hours, monthly live chats with industry leaders, and continued access to industry stages, has elevated our programming to an unmatched scale.

Going digital has let us expand our horizon and open this program to people from around the world rather than just a region. Cohort 5.0 boasts a diverse participation of companies from the United States, Canada, India and United Kingdom.
This year’s WiC Microsoft Cloud Accelerator is more than just an effort to make economic contributions to the system by empowering entrepreneurs. It is about embracing the new normal and moving forward with a sense of community. It is about adopting self-empowerment and finding comfort in knowing where to turn for support with a community at your side. Most importantly, it is about collective growth and learning.

Presenting the Women in Cloud Microsoft Cloud Accelerator Cohort 5.0:

  • Jacqueline G Schafer, Clearbrief
  • Pradnya Desh, Advocat Technologies
  • Rachel Hankerson, International PROOF Systems, LLC
  • Sonal Malavia, Cloud 9 Infosystems
  • Sinmi Adeoye-Esene, Daniola Corporation
  • Cheryl Ingram, Inclusology
  • Sherisse Hawkins, PageDip
  • Sophia Stone, Indie Tech Ltd.
  • Sanjana Govil, Unseen Insight
  • Steph Locke, Nightingale HQ
  • Padma Subramanian, Fyrii.ai
  • Kerry Schrader, Mixtroz,LLC
  • Agnes Lan, Kinderdrop Inc.
  • Sonali Jha, Cunomial Technologies Private Limited
  • Bhavya Aggarwal, zipBoard Tech

This year, Global Affairs Canada underwrote 50% of the accelerator fees for two Canadian companies that were approved to participate in the 5.0 cohort. Their previous generous support has allowed 8 of our 4.0 entrepreneurs to have the opportunity to scale their businesses to become co-sell and co-market ready with enterprise partners.

Economic Access is the tide that lifts all boats. Together we rise.

Interested in joining the 6.0 cohort? Applications are open now: Click here to learn more

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