From the first Women's History Day in 1909, to the year Women's History Day became a full month in 1987, people have celebrated the accomplishments of women around the U.S and the world. And there is so much to celebrate!

Women innovators have played a critical role in many scientific discoveries despite the fact that only 30 percent of researchers are women. From Laura Bassi, to Katherine Johnson, to Susana López Charretón, women's contributions have helped push our understanding of the universe and safeguard future generations. Women innovators have provided us with GPS, Wi-Fi, Kevlar, the aquarium, the first computer algorithm, the process of stem cell isolation, and the mobile X-ray machine, to name just a few.

In addition to their great discoveries, women provide perspectives that have proven benefits across multiple settings. Return on investment is proven higher when women are included a company's top leadership. Peace treaties are more likely to hold up over time when women are at the negotiating table. 

Since 2011, GIST has elevated the accomplishments of women STEM innovators in entrepreneurship. By providing trainings, mentorship, prizes, and a platform, GIST is committed the successes of these innovators. 

 

Join us in honoring these pioneers and celebrating Women's History Month by learning more about some of the incredible women who have come through GIST's programs.

 

Alyona Glushko

iCardy’s Alyona Glushko, a participant in this past year’s inaugural GIST Business Incubation cohort, was presented the Award of the President of Ukraine for Young Scientists in 2019. iCardy is developing a product that detects hidden atrial fibrillation in real time without the internet, detecting AFib more quickly than other products, with an accuracy rate greater than 99%.

 

Rituparna Das

Rituparna's startup, Hydrotec Solutions, has designed a Smart water ATM Kiosk that purifies and dispenses clean drinking water on pay per use basis, using sustainable energy. Rituparna was a participant in the 2019 GIST Business Incubation program. 

 

Jessica Wu

Jessica Wu's startup, Lesstics, has designed a Smart water ATM Kiosk that purifies and dispenses clean drinking water on pay per use basis, using sustainable energy. Rituparna was a participant in the 2019 GIST Business Incubation program.

 

Vèna Ariell

Vèna Ariell's startup, Kea, through Universal Medical-ID attached to a QR-code, aims to interconnect hospitals and different medical stakeholders through a single database in order to manage the whole patient medical information and therefore increase doctors’ efficiency. Read more about the 2019 GIST Catalyst Pitch Competition.

 

Samina Sarawat

Samina Sarawat from Bangladesh saw a critical need for safe drinking water especially in rural communities. Her Astha Purifier is an affordable water filter that uses rice husk ash. Specially treated rice husk is effective in removing arsenic, heavy metal particles and other pollutants from water. Rice husk is also widely available and inexpensive to harvest, which helps make the purifier affordable to the low-income villagers most affected by the contamination.

 

Queenny López

Queenny López from Ecuador was named the Outstanding Female Entrepreneur at the 2019 GIST Tech-I Pitch Competition. Queenny also participated in the 2019 GIST Business Incubation program. Her startup, Anuka, uses endemic microalgae from Ecuador to fix large amounts of CO2 present in the environment in a highly efficient manner—100 times more than one tree.

 

Sadaf Naz

Read about Sadaf Naz, winner of the AWS Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur award at the 2018 GIST Tech-I Pitch Competition. Sadaf's startup, Her Ground, is an online subscription service that delivers feminine hygiene products to users’ doorsteps every month.

 

Cynthia Villar

Mibolsillo is a personal financial trainer App that feeds on the users' interactions in the App. It also uses their transactional history to process and send actionable information at the right time to increase the opportunity for behavior change which results in better user financial health, something especially important to lower-income users. 

 

Rafeah Mustafa Kamal & Rahinah Ibrahim

Rafeah and Rahinah won first place in the GIST APEC Startup Training Pitch Night. Their startup, Oceanori, has created an independent sewage treatment plant (also known as iSTP) for rural communities that do not have centralized sewage collection and treatment. The treatment plant is one of the smallest on the market, easily transportable by boat, can fit underneath the toilets of rural water-based communities and treats sewage to meet the specs of Malaysia’s National Water Services Commission. Learn more about their startup and GIST APEC Startup Training Brisbane.

 

Sources: 1- World Intellectual Property Organization, 2- Inc Magazine