NEW YORK, Aug 12, 2010 / — With a purse of $25,000, the inaugural WIE Symposium (Women: Inspiration & Enterprise) to take place in New York City this September has teamed up with i/o Ventures to find the next female trailblazer in technology entrepreneurism.
Representatives from WIE and i/o will review hundreds of business plans and select one to receive the coveted WIE prize, which provides the aspiring female entrepreneur a ticket to the Symposium, roundtrip airfare, hotel accommodations and $25,000 in seed investment capital from i/o Ventures.
i/o Ventures, an early-stage startup program focusing heavily on investment and mentorship, is comprised of some of the most successful founders in Silicon Valley history and will award the prize winner four months of free office space at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco’s Mission District.
Occupancy in this energizing workspace will be accompanied by invaluable mentorship from the founders of i/o Ventures.
On September 20, 2010, Sarah Brown, Donna Karan and Arianna Huffington will co-host the WIE Symposium with the central theme “Women Inspiring Women” and timed to coincide with the Clinton Global Initiative and the UN General Assembly.
The motivational event invites prominent women to empower the future generation of female leaders and entrepreneurs and will include panel discussions hosted by Arianna Huffington, founder of Huffington Post, on a fundamental topic of the symposium: Women and Technology.
Drawing on the energy and drive of New York City, the WIE Symposium will feature powerful speakers from around the world, challenging panels and informative lectures with panel topics including the future role of women in technology, women leading the way in business and a White Ribbon Alliance (WRA) philanthropy and advocacy panel with Sarah Brown. Five prize-winning young women advocates from Africa and Asia will join the women of New York to speak about why we must end the global scandal of women dying needlessly in childbirth.
Created by Elmina Inc alongside the White Ribbon Alliance team, the annual one-day event is not only designed for women to be inspired by high profile mentors, but also to enable women to connect with each other and work together to achieve social change around the world.
Sarah Brown will give the annual ‘White Ribbon Alliance Lecture’ at the WIE Symposium, outlining how the rapidly growing global movement has campaigned to mobilize communities while holding governments accountable to their Millennium Development Goal promises to reduce deaths in childbirth by 75% before 2015.
Sarah explains, “The WIE Symposium is an opportunity for women of all backgrounds from all over the world to come together, share ideas, experiences and find solutions.
There are so many women around the world who don’t have a voice and the WIE Symposium is one way of trying to redress the balance. When women join forces in this way, we are truly an unstoppable force for change.”
Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, and the Urban Zen Foundation.
For tickets information and further contest details, visit www.wienetwork.org
