Get to know high-impact female founders from 10 countries
From leading the charge on digital currency across Africa, to changing the way doctors perform surgery globally, Endeavor Entrepreneurs are pioneering bold, creative solutions that are transforming their communities — and entire industries. This Women’s History Month, get to know the game-changing, high-impact female founders at the head of some of the most exciting scale-ups around the world.
ARGENTINA
Agustina Fainguersch and Luciana Reznik, Wolox
Inspired in name by the game “Age of Empires,” Wolox is a software company that provides technological solutions to startups, entrepreneurs, and companies seeking support in their innovation efforts. Along with their five other co-founders, Agustina and Luciana have pioneered an innovative structure, rotating leadership of Wolox every few years. Today, Wolox employs more than 400 people and has developed more than 200 products serving clients across Latin America and the US. Read more.
BULGARIA
Sabina Gyosheva, BY FAR
Sabina co-founded luxury shoes and leather goods company BY FAR with her twin sister Valentina and best friend Denitsa Bumbarova in 2016. Worn by celebrities including Beyonce, Michelle Obama, and Gwyneth Paltrow, BY FAR shoes has quickly earned a cult following among fashion’s elite. Known for her tireless ambition, Sabina is also a dedicated role model in Bulgaria’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, often mentoring and encouraging up-and-coming founders to strive to become leaders in their fields globally. Read more.
EGYPT
Noha Khater, AlMouneer
An eye surgeon-turned-entrepreneur, Noha founded AlMouneer in 2014 to preserve the vision of diabetic patients through personalized quality services and care, creating the first specialized diabetic eye care clinics in Egypt and the Middle East. Today, the company has expanded to include a Research and Education arm, has launched an NGO to raise awareness on the impact of diabetes on quality of life, and serves more than 20,000 patients across Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, and Ghana. Read more.
LEBANON
Nadine Hachach-Haram, Proximie
A surgeon by trade, Nadine founded telehealth platform Proximie to enable the global transfer of surgical expertise in a compliant, scaleable, and interactive manner. Dubbed the “Future of Surgery” by CNN and widely adopted by major medical institutions and NGOs around the world, Proximie uses advanced telecommunication and augmented reality technology to provide live instruction for surgical procedures that would typically rely on in-person guidance. Read more.
MALAYSIA
Vivy Yusof, FashionValet
While living in London with her husband (and co-founder) Fadza, Vivy became enamored with the ease and variety of online shopping. Pooling their savings, the duo founded FashionValet (FV) to bring the same convenience back home to Kuala Lumpur. Their scrappy approach was enormously successful. Within just a few years, FV now hosts over 500 designers and operates four privately owned labels, as well as two retail stores in KL, and one in Singapore. With nearly 2 million Instagram followers, Vivy has also leveraged her platform to share her entrepreneurial journey widely, inspiring the next generation of female founders. Read more.
U.S.A.
Jaclyn Baumgarten, Boatsetter
Founded in Miami, Boatsetter provides a marketplace where owners can list their boats and renters can reserve those boats for recreational outings, with captains available on every vessel for a worry free boating experience. With Jaclyn at the helm as co-founder and CEO, Boatsetter has blazed through milestones, including generating $3MM in revenues, raising $27MM in capital, and successfully acquiring two companies. Her success story has resonated around the region, inspiring future founders and making a case for South Florida’s high potential for scale-up companies. Read more.
NIGERIA
Elizabeth Rossiello, AZA Finance
The fintech sector is known to be male-dominated, volatile, and rapidly evolving; but as founder and CEO of AZA (formerly BitPesa), Elizabeth has firmly cemented her place in the digital currency narrative. With $15MM recently raised, Elizabeth has resourcefully scaled AZA, a company that provides faster and cheaper currency trading solutions for frontier markets, facilitating more efficient payments to and from Africa. Read more.
THE PHILIPPINES
Abetina Valenzuela, Equilife Medical
Growing up around her family’s import and trade business, Abetina was shocked to find that many of the hospitals her father sold medical supplies had more demand for resources than local suppliers had in stock, resulting in patients’ needless deaths and suffering. Determined to make a difference, Abetina founded Equilife Medical, making critical care needs more available and affordable by offering medical device rental, on-site operating staff, and maintenance services to intensive care units and homecare patients. Their team of over 180 professionals care for 50 hospital ICUs, which helps more than 40,000 ICU patients every year. Under Abetina’s leadership, Equilife is improving healthcare for many while curbing costs for providers. Read more.
U.A.E.
Dana Liparts, Ecocoast
Dana believes in sustainable capitalism, and is not afraid to admit it. She co-founded Ecocoast in 2009 with a vision to become the global leader in marine sustainability. The company hasn’t shied away from tackling big problems, designing technology that enabled the first Ocean Cleanup System in the world geared toward cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Today, Ecocoast is the largest manufacturer of marine protection barriers in the world; and, through its work with The Ocean Cleanup, is having an impact on a global scale. Read more.
URUGUAY
Agustina Sartori, GlamST
Agustina is the CEO at GlamST, an AR Technology company in the beauty space. Recently acquired by beauty giant Ulta, GlamST’s technology allows people to try on makeup through Augmented Reality representing finishes, color and texture of the products very accurately. As a pioneer in AI and tech in Uruguay, Agustina also dedicates her time to paying her success forward as a mentor to entrepreneurs looking to raise capital, inspirational speaker, and active member of LatAm focused entrepreneurship groups including Latinas in Tech and Stanford’s LBAN program. Read more.