New program helping female entrepreneurs

Women entrepreneurs in Stem Programming are offering free support to female business owners.

The resiliency of southern Alberta businesses has been tested over the last year with COVID-19, adding another layer of stress and barriers which is especially true for women-owned businesses who are taking twice as long to recover than male-owned.

To be competitive and to “stay in the game”, women entrepreneurs are pivoting their businesses by exploring technology as a launching pad to new markets, new service lines and to enhancing their client experience reflecting the popular quote, “Disrupt or be disrupted”.

In support of this trend, a program is now available for women business owners in southern Alberta.

With funding from the Government of Canada’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, Economic Development Lethbridge and Tecconnect have created a program called Women Entrepreneurs in STEM or WESTEM. offering training, networking, mentorship and access to current and emerging technologies to all female entrepreneurs.

One of the programs offered is 6 Pack App, a program training women entrepreneurs to build and launch their own app.

Lori Olson is the owner of local Lethbridge business WNDX and is the facilitator of the program.

“There’s absolutely no excuse for a lack of female representation in tech fields,” said Olson in a release. “If we don’t have representation, then we also won’t have advocates for the development of technical solutions to uniquely female problems.”

Cara Wolf, CEO of Ammolite Analytx and facilitator of WESTEM program Foundations of Cyber Security echoed the importance of female representation in tech.

“Technology can be intimidating to some due to the complexity — however it is a body of knowledge that can be learned by everyone. Women like to be taught by women that they can identify with. Leadership and role models play an integral role.”

Allyson Cikor, co-founder of the VR game and application studio Simulacrum Interactive, instructor at Lethbridge College and facilitator of upcoming WESTEM programming encourages women to pursue careers in tech.

“Tech is an integral part of our lives in the modern world,” she said. “It affects daily things like the way our food is produced, but also the way our whole economy and society functions. Something that can have that sort of impact over all of us should be developed by a diverse set of voices who can bring a fresh perspective and a drive to solve the problems that face them.”

To learn more about WESTEM and how you can take advantage of the amazing offerings, visit westem.ca.