Two Alberta executives have won thousands of dollars in investment through a national competition for women and entrepreneurs of different genders.
Shelvey Fernand of Edmonton and Lourdes Juan of Calgary are two of the winners of the 2022 HerStory competition hosted by Alberta Innovates and The51, an organization that invests in start-ups and companies run by women and founders of different genders.
The presentation competition, held in Banff earlier this month, included 29 entrepreneurs from across the country sharing stories about how they came up with the ideas behind their companies.
Fernand is the CEO and co-founder of Fly & Fetch, a shipping company that aims to provide faster and cheaper international package deliveries. Fernand won $ 51,000 for the company through the HerStory race.
“I was definitely shocked,” Fernand said. “At the same time, you just have to say it, because I’m also working very hard and my team is working really hard.”
Well, financial feminists,
This is the end. We are incredibly excited to announce the WINNERS of HerStory 2022:
Shelvey Fernand from
Julia Richard Dexter from pic.twitter.com/WOaPNgbrr8
– @ _ The51
Instead of the traditional delivery process, Fly & Fetch pays passengers with extra space in their luggage to carry and deliver packages to customers. The company covers 50 to 100 percent of the cost of passenger flights, Fernand said, and already has a database of about 7,000 passengers willing to deliver packages.
Fernand said the idea for the company came from her own experience with international shipping. As an immigrant from the Philippines, when she sent packages back to her mother’s home through traditional courier companies, supplies were expensive and usually took more than a week.
It is common practice in immigrant communities to ask people who return home to deliver packages to friends and family, Fernand said.
“We’ve been doing this for so long,” she said. “We have to have a business model that works because a lot of other people want that [quick] delivery too. “
Rethinking the field process
Shelley Kuipers, co-founder and co-CEO of The51, said the idea behind the HerStory competition was to rethink the presentation process in a way that serves women and entrepreneurs of different genders.
“Don’t guide us, tell us your story,” Kuipers said. “Is there a living experience behind this? Why are you the one creating this business? Why will this business be successful when you run it?”
Kuipers said competition was also intended to be a direct way to increase investment in companies run by women and founders of different genders. She knows first hand how difficult it can be to navigate a high-risk ecosystem.
“My own life experience has been that it has been extremely challenging to raise capital as a woman entrepreneur and founder,” Kuipers said.
In 2020, the founding women received only 2.3% of the billions of dollars distributed in global venture capital funds.
Although initially there was to be only one winner in the HerStory race, Kuipers said the riders were so impressive that four prizes had to be handed out by the end of the event.
“Increasing access to food around the world”
One of those awards went to Lourdes Juan, founder and CEO of Calgary-based Knead Technologies, a technology company that helps food rescue organizations manage logistics through an app. Juan won $ 20,000.
Juan said participating in the competition was one of the best experiences of her entrepreneurial career.
“It was so wonderful to be in the room with that energy, just to meet so many people who do exactly what I do,” Juan said.
Juan, whose experience in urban planning, has founded numerous companies and charities, including a spa and the non-profit organization Fresh Routes, a mobile grocery store and pop-up market that offers products and other foods at a discounted price.
Calgary inspected the quality of production at one of the emerging markets of Fresh Routes at the LRT station. Fresh Routes is just one of many organizations founded by entrepreneur Lourdes Juan. (David Bell / CBC)
Juan said her passion for solving problems with access to food comes from her own life experience. Her mother, who immigrated to Canada from the Philippines, worked in three jobs, including as a cashier at a grocery store, to put food on the table.
“We were one of those families who just couldn’t waste food,” Juan said.
“I am now really committed to increasing access to food around the world through this new technology.
While Knead Technologies was founded only this year, Juan said her team has already received calls from organizations around the world from Jamaica to Côte d’Ivoire.
Plans for the future
The various organizations that have invested in the HerStory winners will follow each company to see how they plan to use their new funds, Kuipers said.
“We will go through a process of proper verification to make sure that everything is verified from an investment point of view,” she said.
Juan said the money her company earned is likely to go to improving the app to better market organizations around the world.
Fernand said her company is looking to expand. Although it currently supplies primarily to Canada, the United States, the Philippines and Pakistan, the company hopes to reach countries such as Brazil and India.
Add Comment