In celebration of International Women’s Day, Visa Inc. is announcing the third annual Everywhere Initiative with a focus on female entrepreneurship and a sponsorship of Girl Starter, a technology company that provides platforms to amplify girls in entrepreneurship and business leadership. Visa helps to shine a light on women in technology, both by inviting women entrepreneurs to participate in Visa’s Everywhere Initiative and by sponsoring an upcoming episode of the new TLC network series, “Girl Starter.”
“The sponsorship of Girl Starter continues to move the needle on our commitment to empowering women in the workplace,” said Lynne Biggar, chief marketing officer, Visa. “At the same time, it allows us to bring even more start-up-led innovation into the fold at Visa, ultimately creating better business solutions for all of our clients and partners.”
“At Girl Starter we believe in supporting young women who have an entrepreneurial spirit and are fostering change in the world around us,” said Jeannine Shao-Collins, CEO and co-founder of Girl Starter. “We’re thrilled to be working with Visa, an established brand that is not only innovating the future of payments but also the future of the workforce by promoting universal acceptance of everyone, everywhere.”
Visa’s Everywhere Initiative Kick-off Event in Austin
The kick-off of Visa’s third annual Everywhere Initiative in North America celebrates female entrepreneurship with a live pitch competition in Austin. Five women-led start-ups will pitch ideas that leverage Visa APIs to help merchants grow their businesses. The event will be held on Saturday, March 11 in Austin at Visa’s Everywhere Lounge. The start-ups include BeautyLynk, CNote, Loop & Tie, Soko, and Traveling Spoon.
The live competition will be judged by Visa executives, cast members of the upcoming TLC network series, “Girl Starter” and Ingrid Vanderveldt, chairman and CEO of Empowering a Billion Women by 2020 (EBW2020). All participants will receive an annual membership to the EBW2020 One Club, and the winner will receive $25,000 and the opportunity to run a pilot program with Visa.
