They can be considered successful entrepreneurs: each one pioneered an area of knowledge that is usually dominated by men, and faced the “pain and delight” of being a woman on this journey.
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And to inspire you, young entrepreneur who dreams of shining in the business world, here is advice from each of them:
Laís Fonseca is CEO and founder of tech health, QBem specializing in data intelligence for the healthcare sector.
Graduated in Administration and Public Policy with an MBA from MIT Sloan (2019), the businesswoman has worked in management positions in the government sphere, and consultancy in large companies, specializing in digital transformation for the patient journey. She founded Precavida.
“I believe that entrepreneurship is about solving problems and creating solutions that directly impact other companies and people in their daily lives. Undertaking, in my view, consists of putting together a good team, since investments are attracted through a good team. Unlike most men, women need to work harder to achieve a prominent position within companies, and in the sector I work in, healthcare, there is still a lot of space for women to conquer. In healthcare companies, I observe a cultural and historical gap: there are many women on the front line and some in middle management, but the majority of medical directors are made up of men. It is important to recognize the importance of including women in leadership, because it is men who in most cases still open the way for women in middle management to reach positions of female entrepreneurial leadership. So, executives need to be aware of this and promote this equity action.”
Laís Fonseca
Sandra Nalli (42), CEO and founder of Mechanic's School, social impact edtech that trains mechanics. Created a free app that connects students with the market
Escola do Mecânico has 10 chains of its own and 26 franchises in Goiás, Minas Gerai, Paraná, Pernambuco, Rio De Janeiro, Rio Grande Do Sul, Santa Catarina and São Paulo.
“I suffered a lot of prejudice, especially when I became a mechanic at the company I worked for, I was the only woman working as such, especially in the interior of São Paulo, in a super conservative city. They asked me “if I had a driver’s license”, things like that, and I needed to be convinced and prove that I had the capacity to be there. It was difficult, but I did it. The responsibility and emotional burden that I placed on myself were gigantic. I couldn't go wrong. I studied more than men, and I did more than men. My advice is that women have everything in their hands to win and are competent in everything they do. She can be whatever she wants to be. It's not men's fault that things are like this, that prejudices are perpetuated, it's the ingrained cultural and structural model. We have to raise and educate different boys, because the problem is at the base. The first step is to choose the area that you identify most with and make a good business plan.”
Sandra Nalli
Flavia Deutsch Gotfryd (on the left in the photo) is the founder and CEO of Theia, a healthtech focused on preconception, prenatal, childbirth and postpartum through an online care platform.
Having worked at institutions such as JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, Flavia joined fintech Acesso right at the beginning, where she led Product, Marketing and Sales teams. He met his partner Paula during his MBA at Stanford University.
“Don’t fall in love with the solution itself. And yes, find a problem that you are unhappy with and want to dedicate your body and soul to solving. Entrepreneurship is a long-term marriage and a Russian roulette of emotions, so it’s important to have that north star of why, to guide you along the way.”
Flavia Deutsch Gotfryd
Paula Crespi is co-founder and COO of Theia.
Before founding the healthtech, Paula worked for years leading new product and innovation strategy at Whirlpool and was the first – besides the founders – in the GuiaBolso business team (Brazilian fintechs) where she led Products and Marketing. Paula met her partner Flavia during her MBA at Stanford University.
“I believe that female entrepreneurship is capable of transforming the world and the way business is done, especially healthcare. All the entrepreneurs I know are absurdly concerned with creating businesses that generate value for the world and with building very diverse teams with super-positive work cultures. Imagine if everywhere was like this? Make a difference to make this happen. And women's day, for me, is a day of reflection and visibility about our fight for a more just and equal society for women, and especially minority, black and trans women, for example. We’ve made some progress, but we still have a long way to go”
Paula Crespi
@curtonews Hey! Do you, woman, want to undertake? O #CurtoNews ♬ original sound – Curto News
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