As recent as this summer, Austin outranked Silicon Valley as America’s No. 1 city for startups. Yet, less than 3% of the city’s startup sector are women of color, less than 1% are Latina. At the same time, 80% of Austin public school’s incoming kindergarten is Latino. If the future is female – a majority of those females in Austin are going to be Latina!
On September 28 from 9am to 4pm, Latinitas presents its 6th annual Startup Chica Conference, a full-day of learning how to be an entrepreneur for girls ages 9 to 18. Girls and teens will work with coaches and volunteers at UT’s Austin’s newest MBA building: Robert B. Rowling Hall (300 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Austin TX, 78701). Startup Chica is $20 for the day, need-based scholarships are available.
Using the United Nations sustainable development goals as a context, teen girls will develop a business that supports issues like ending poverty and hunger, gender equality, clean water and sanitation and quality education for all. Participants will brainstorm, write business and marketing plans, and pitch their ideas to judges from companies and area startup incubators including DivInc.
“Latinitas is an incredible organization that provides tools and technologies for young women to grow and become the entrepreneurs of tomorrow,” said Mike Petersen, head of eBay’s Austin office. “eBay is proud to sponsor and volunteer at StartUp Chica again this year. We look forward to seeing the creative projects that students will bring to life.”
“About 50 girls and teens attend Startup Chica, dozens of volunteers, founders and other supporters. That’s 300+ girls since our first Startup Chica in 2013 who have the tools to develop an idea into a business.” said Latinitas Deputy Executive Director Sylvia Butanda “the possibilities of this event are endless when you consider how many of the girls in Latinitas are natural born entrepreneurs, growing up in first generation households navigating non-traditional routes to a livelihood in their day to day.”
Startup Chica builds on Latinitas program successes. Serving 2,000 girls a year in Central, West and South Texas and recently Northern California, 93% of Latinitas alumni graduate high school. 81% are in college. And, though Latinas make up less than 1% of the STEM world, Latinitas is graduating 50% more STEM majors than the national average for girls, overall.”