The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has established a Women in Entrepreneurship scholarship to inspire and support women in their interest and pursuit of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Applications are now open for the $25,000 scholarship, which will support a female student to study the MBA in Entrepreneurship (MBAe) at UTS Business School, starting in February 2021.
The scholarship is generously funded by UTS alumnus Ajay Bhatia, Managing Director Australia at carsales.com.
“Of the top 300 companies here in Australia, only six per cent have female CEOs. Female entrepreneurs face many obstacles, including a lack of funding,” said Mr Bhatia.
“I’m very proud to support this $25,000 scholarship for a female student to join the University of Technology Sydney in pursuing an MBA in entrepreneurship,” he said.
Female founders make up only 22% of the Australian startup ecosystem, according to the Startup Muster survey, which provides a comprehensive snapshot of Australian startups.
Mr Bhatia said he hopes the scholarship will encourage more women to consider a tech start-up, which will create jobs and further support the entrepreneurial framework in Australia.
“Ideally, successful candidates will continue this tradition of philanthropy, once they achieve success in their own business ventures,” he said.
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UTS Business School Dean Professor Chris Earley thanked Mr Bhatia for his vision and generosity, which would enhance opportunities for women entrepreneurs in the future.
“Supporting women who will become the next founders of new enterprises is vitally important, and this scholarship will help them gain the necessary skills and networks to pursue their vision,” said Professor Earley.
“The UTS Startups community currently has 32% female members while they make up about 40% of the MBAe student cohort. We are dedicated to growing this proportion further and encourage any woman who has harboured a passion to establish her own business to apply for this scholarship,” he said.
Sharon Lee, who recently completed the UTS MBAe, took out the top prize at UTS Venture Day 2020 – a UTS student startup pitch competition with more than $80,000 in awards and prize money on offer.
Director of the MBA in Entrepreneurship Associate Professor Jochen Schweitzer said Ms Lee was an inspiration to future entrepreneurship students, and an example of what could be achieved through the MBAe program.
Ms Lee’s startup Asendium automates the generation of compliance documents for financial planners, reducing the compliance burden by 90 per cent.
“It was actually due to the MBA in entrepreneurship that I got the idea to transform the business into a tech company – to make it very simple for planners to use,” Ms Lee said.
As well as having access to the MBAe program with its practice oriented curriculum, individual mentoring and strong connections to Industry, students can join UTS Startups, Australia’s largest community of student entrepreneurs.
Further details about the new scholarship and how to apply can be found here.
Applications close on 18 January 2021.
