Apr 11, 2022
1,266 words | 5 minutes
A month of 2022 International Women’s Week (IWW 2022) events conclude, but the momentum continues.
On March 8th, the world celebrated International Women’s Day, and from February 28th to April 6th, Invest Ottawa, alongside dozens of strong local, regional, and national collaborators, marked the 4th annual International Women’s Week: IWW 2022.
Across industries spanning tech, entrepreneurship, academia, research, media, investment, smart mobility, cybersecurity, and beyond, IWW 2022 addressed the critical opportunities and challenges facing women leaders. Each event supported a shared goal to expedite change and move the dial to build a collaborative and inclusive community of women leaders from all walks of life to achieve a significant impact on our economy and society.
IWW 2022 is not just simply a series of events but a powerful driver for long-term, sustainable change for our community and the world. It will take women and men working together as a unified force to drive change and create a safer, healthier and more equitable and inclusive future for all women from every walk of life—the heart of IWW 2022.
And although the celebration of IWW 2022 has come and gone, the collective goal as a tech ecosystem and business community to take action continues to create a critical mass of successful women leaders who are making a positive impact in our world.
We encourage you to digest the inspiring and empowering content filled with authentic and actionable insight that you can put to work for the days, weeks, and months ahead to stay refreshed and committed to making significant progress towards an equitable and inclusive future and community for women.
1. The F-Factor: Fueling Women Founders
Frank discussions on the ‘F’ words that impact women tech entrepreneurs and business leaders from every walk of life who are fighting through the pandemic, demonstrating fierce resilience, and scaling firms in the pandemic era.
2. Women Angel Investor Breakfast
Only 2.3% of investments went to companies led by a woman-identifying founder in 2020. Get equipped and inspired with actionable insight to help move the dial to get more women on the other side of the table making investment decisions. This session explores the opportunity, benefits and impact of angel investing.
3. Women Leading Globally in Cybersecurity
The world requires 3.5 million professionals. Yet, today, women make up just 20% of the global cybersecurity workforce. There is a growing labour shortage and gender and diversity gap in this critical field. Cybersecurity changemakers drive discussion on what it takes for women to break barriers in a billion-dollar market and workforce.
4. Better Together
Evidence shows that when allies—especially men—are deliberately engaged in gender inclusion programs, 96% of organizations see progress, compared to only 30% of organizations where allies are not engaged. This session brings authentic and frank discussions on how allyship is key to moving the dial for inclusivity in the workplace.
5. Women Leaders of Mainstreet
Real and authentic discussions aimed to inspire and equip women leaders of mainstreet and get actionable insights to put to work to strengthen your business during unprecedented times and tomorrow. This session also includes tactical, practical ways to address and overcome key personal, professional and business challenges, invest in yourself, and employ novel self-care and mental health approaches.
6. Driving Customer Success
Practical advice you can put to work to scale your company, generate greater revenue, acquire new clients, and achieve greater ROI and profitability through customer success.
7. Empower: Creating a Safer, More Equitable & Inclusive Future for All Women
It’s not news that the pandemic disproportionately impacted women, particularly women from marginalized communities. Emerging data show that the pandemic has intensified violence against women, leaving a new crisis to battle—the Shadow Pandemic. This session provides open and honest conversation with visionary leaders and experts to discuss key imperatives impacting women during and beyond the pandemic, including gender-based violence, mental health, gender identity journey, and purpose-driven, inclusive leadership.
8. Women Driving the Smart Mobility Revolution
Award-winning founders, innovators and researchers. Leaders driving global innovation collaboration to improve our world. World-leading experts in self-driving cars, AI, 5G and robotics. This event goes full throttle, engaging women driving CAV and smart mobility from technology and innovation to global markets, investment and policy.
And if you’re still looking for more gems of wisdom and sources of inspiration, the IWW 2022 Featured Leaders’ stories you’ll want to take in. We partnered with Naomi Haile from the Power of Why Podcast as she unpacks the ‘why’ of local tech and businesswomen leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators who are building their lives and careers with purpose and intention. Five inspirational leaders are selected to represent International Women’s Week each year. They are role models achieving a significant impact on our economy, community and society and embody the spirit, goals and values of IWW.
Here’s How to Create the Business You’ve Always Wanted with Stacey Martin
Before founding a fashion startup showcased at New York Fashion Week, she performed on Broadway. Today, Stacey Martin shares what she’s learned as a serial entrepreneur—overcoming failure, finding mentors and raising capital during a pandemic.
The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare with Dr. Ashleigh Kennedy
Ashleigh joined us to share how she co-founded Neurovine from personal experience and professional need, why a values-based business is key to securing top talent, what it’ll take the health sector to adopt new tech, and how modern concussion treatment is helping patients do more than recover, but to thrive.
No, Anti-Colonial Ideas Aren’t “Radical” with Sabre Pictou Lee
A highly acclaimed Indigenous speaker, trainer, liaison and researcher, Sabre’s company has supported the Canada Council for the Arts, Assembly of First Nations and Global Centre for Pluralism (to name a few). Today, Sabre shares why anti-colonial ways and concepts aren’t radical, how she built her business from the ground up, and the frameworks you can apply to make yours more inclusive.
The Power of Data, Women in STEM, and Sponsors with Solmaz Shahalizadeh
Your story = your power: whether you’re a founder impressing new investors or a business going public. Add data and you’re sure to succeed. Solmaz harnesses that power to support diverse founders at Backbone Angels: investing in women and non-binary founders, focusing on investments in Black, Indigenous, and Women of Colour-led companies. She shares why great career paths aren’t linear, what you need to know to impress investors and the difference between sponsors and mentors (and why you should have both).
Why Taking Risks Are the Best Thing You Can Do for Your Career with Dimple Thomas
Dimple Thomas wants you to embrace the opportunity in uncertainty. As Ericsson’s Cloud RAN Systems-DevOps Engineering Manager, she does just that—with an eye to building a future where Zoom calls could be replaced by life-sized holograms. Dimple shares why she’s never charted her career path, why you should take risks at work, and tech’s potential for transformational good.
In support of its Women Founders and Owners strategy, Invest Ottawa offers programs and services that enable and accelerate the growth and success of women entrepreneurs from every walk of life. Visit www.investottawa.ca/women to learn more!
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