This New Summit Is Like Shark Tank for Vegan Female Entrepreneurs

By now, we're all familiar with the downsides to social life in quarantine: You know, not seeing friends, not being able to browse the new arrivals shelves at the library, and luxuriate in savasana in a yoga class as your teacher rings that magical gong thing and the reverberations soothe your soul. One upside? Plenty of time to brainstorm. And brainstorm many have. Whether it’s finally perfecting your kale chips recipe or dreaming up an idea for an eco-friendly business venture, all this extra time on our time has left us with a lot of ideas percolating.

Well, good news, gals, if such cogitations are in the vegan space: Vegan Women Summit, a media and events organization that centers around inspiring and educating rising leaders have announced that the world's first founder summit and pitch competition dedicated to female founders in the plant-based space will take place on Saturday, December 5th. Dubbed VWS Pathfinder, the virtual event strives to find the best of the best ideas in vegan innovation with the winner of the pitching competition walking away with a prize valued at over $50,000 including a $10,000 cash prize sponsored by Purple Orange Ventures, $35,000 of branding services from Evolution Bureau, and global membership to WeWork office space, among other perks.

"Almost half of female founders and CEOs in the food tech industry have encountered bias, particularly gender bias, from investors, while nearly half of all female founders of color have experienced racial bias," said Jennifer Stojkovic, founder of Vegan Women Summit in a press release. "VWS Pathfinder creates a platform to showcase and drive investment to these underfunded and overlooked up-and-coming founders while bringing out the industry's top leaders to inspire and educate this future generation. With founders and CEOs joining from five continents, we are proud to create the much-needed amplification for these voices and will feature a lineup with more than two-thirds founders of color."

To pitch your company, click this link. Just curious to listen or want to be a potential investor? Snag a ticket to the fun here.

In addition to the pitch competition, the event will spotlight CEO panels, founder chats, and breakout sessions to learn about how to build a vegan business. Two dozen CEOS, investors, and founders are expected to be in attendance, including Miyoko Schinner, CEO of Miyoko's Creamery, Daniella Monet, co-founder of Kinder Beauty Box, and Denise Woodard, CEO of Partake Foods.

There’s a good reason you’ve been keeping your irresistible kale chips recipe so tightly guarded. Time to start building that vegan empire, gals.