Ventures are thrilled to welcome Vanessa Garrard as the new Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR) for the Empower pre-accelerator program.
With an impressive track record of founding 25 companies, Vanessa brings a wealth of experience and insight to this role.
“I understand the fundamental challenges that women face when raising capital, scaling, and exiting their businesses.”
“This is why I am excited to join the Ventures Empower program.”
“I believe that by sharing experience, business insights, and networks, we can help other women in founding and scaling their businesses,” Vanessa said.
As a guest speaker for the last two cohorts, Vanessa is no stranger to the Empower program. Her positive experiences inspired her to take on this new role.
“Having been involved as a speaker and meeting the participants of two of the cohorts so far, I can see the value that the program provides to the founders going through the program. I am keen to roll up my sleeves and help more.”
In her new role, she aims to ensure founders have strong business plans in place from the start.
“My primary goal as EiR is to work with the founders to have sound business plans in place so they can get their businesses set up right from the start for optimum success,” she said.
Vanessa’s extensive experience allows her to offer participants a unique perspective—both as a founder and an investor.
“I have a wealth of experience in founding, scaling, raising capital, exiting, and investing in businesses. I can provide insights from both the founder and investor lens to help these companies set up for growth and success.”
To aspiring entrepreneurs, Vanessa offers two pieces of valuable advice.
- Be coachable and broaden your network
Be coachable, listen to the advice of experienced entrepreneurs, broaden your network of other founders to bounce off, and have a network that you can be honest with and chat through opportunities and challenges.
- Stay focused
There are always opportunities and shiny balls in business that can take your attention away from a business plan. Create a strong business plan and focus and execute on that plan.
Vanessa is keen to work with the next cohort of women entrepreneurs.
“I'm excited to meet the next cohort of women coming through the program, and I'm looking forward to working with them to provide the tools, business insights, and connections to help them scale and succeed with their ventures.”
Empower Manager, Beth Lawrance says she is looking forward to having Vanessa join the program.
"Vanessa has an exceptional wealth of knowledge and experience and I am excited for her to be able to share this with our Empower founders."
"For early-stage founders, the Empower program offers the most amazing opportunity to get the support and knowledge to move their startup forwards more confidently and to make informed business decisions," Beth said.
The value of Empower also comes from the entrepreneurial community participants get exposed to.
"We frequently get feedback from participants that before joining Empower they felt quite isolated in their startup journey, but that having a cohort of like-minded people around them creates a fantastic support network that goes beyond the 10 weeks of the program."
The Empower program is one of several initiatives delivered by UQ Ventures that are supporting women founders and creating a pipeline for more women to excel in the Brisbane startup ecosystem. If you would like to know more about how you can get involved in these programs as a startup founder, mentor, or supporter, please email Beth at b.lawrance@uq.edu.au.
Are you an early-stage founder looking to elevate your startup?
The Empower program is a transformative 10-week experience to help you accelerate your startup. You'll join a cohort of inspiring founders and get the support, knowledge, and confidence you need to reach your business goals.
