Women Entrepreneur Quest (WEQ) 2014 to be held on 21 November

The Anita Borg Institute (ABI), a non-profit organization focused on advancing women in computing has announced the 4^th edition of the Women Entrepreneur Quest (WEQ) 2014, which will be held during the 5^th annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing India (GHCI) conference.  

The annual conference, presented by the Anita Borg Institute and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM-India), will take place from 19-21 November, 2014 at the Lalit Ashok Hotel, Bangalore, India.

WEQ is a unique contest designed to promote and showcase early-stage ventures with a technology component, founded or led by women entrepreneurs in all technologies. It focuses on talented women technologists in the founding or leadership team of early stage start-ups who have applied technology in innovative ways to solve meaningful business problems.

As per the release, the winner of the WEQ 2014 contest will be awarded a grand cash prize of Rs 5, 00,000, co-sponsored by Intuit.

“We are extremely thrilled to initiate the 4^th Edition of WEQ, which will bring together aspiring women entrepreneurs from across India. The significant increase in women-led businesses in the last few years is truly encouraging and I am confident that the WEQ platform will identify and support women entrepreneurs to set up innovative companies that can lead to job creation and business opportunities in local and international markets, ”said Geetha Kannan, MD (India), Anita Borg Institute.

The company informed that the six finalists will be mentored closely by the WEQ Committee, to prepare their pitches for the final Showcase & Award Presentation event. The finalists will make their pitches in person at the GHCI conference on 21 November, 2014 in front of a distinguished panel including VCs, entrepreneurs and mentors.     

Last year, more than 140 women entrepreneurs from all over India had applied for the WEQ 2013. The final pitch was challenging and exciting, with the competition running neck to neck. Mausmi Ambastha from Intellocut was the winner for WEQ 2013.

Talking about her experience, Mausmi said, “WEQ provides a huge cash prize and an amazing networking opportunity, the most important fuel in a business start-up. We have already raised a seed round and are looking for the next round of investment. I would like to thank the WEQ team for being an important part of my start-up journey.”