Grace Accelerator for Female Founders
The future is female, because female founders have a huge potential! In Berlin, 20 prospective female founders are working together with mentors, coaches, investors and many partners on the products and business models of tomorrow, to strengthen the startup ecosystem.
Although women are highly skilled, only one in seven startups is founded by a woman, while female-run startups make over 40% more profit on average (Female Founders Monitor, 2019). Grace, our Accelerator Program for Female Entrepreneurship, developed the Grace Summer Camp. A format that supports ambitious women towards building their own company.
The two and a half week program for 20 women was held for the second time in August 2019. In total, over 600 women from the DACH region applied since 2018. The Summer Camp took place in close partnership and with the support of She's Mercedes and many other partners.
During the Summer Camp, the 20 participants develop their ideas until the pitch. They are supported by more than 50 coaches, mentors and speakers with individually tailored inputs and workshops in areas such as storytelling, investment strategy, marketing & sales, financial modeling, business plan development and digital prototyping.
Mentors and Speakers in 2019 among others are: Katja Ohly-Nauber, Dr. Anabel Ternès of Hattburg, Dr. Joana Breidenbach and Anne Kjaer Riechert. In fact, the strong mentoring network from the Grace Community, She's Mercedes and the Association of German Women Entrepreneurs (VdU), offers the participants longterm opportunities beyond the summer camp. The biggest summer camp highlight is the final "Demo Day": On August 16, the 20 female founders will present their business ideas to a jury and invited guests, including leaders from business, politics, science, culture and media, at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin.
"Our program is inspiring and intensive at the same time with the support of the involved mentors, founders and coaches. The participants themselves bring exciting backgrounds, life paths and ideas with them and share the vision to achieve great things with us.", says Leonie Moos, Head of Program Grace.
