I was enjoying what I was doing, but was curious on how I could apply what I was doing to a problem that I cared just a little more about. I came into entrepreneurship from a corporate world. I saw my daughters at a very young age experiencing gender bias with toys and activities and couldn’t find a solution. This started as a problem I was experiencing myself. Smart Girls HQ is a STEM career education company focused on helping young girls achieve STEM career literacy. Olukeye has been recognized, along with two Ventureprise Alumni, by Governor Roy Cooper and North Carolina African American Heritage Commission as a STEM Leader during Black History Month 2022. She has continued to scale her company while partnering with campus research as well as work with UNC Charlotte students through the 49er Impact and NSF I-Corps. ABI OLUKEYE Founder, Smart Girls HQ University Business Partner and Ventureprise AlumnaĪbi Olukeye, an adjunct professor in the College of Computing and Informatics, participated in Ventureprise Launch NSF I-Corps Program in 2018 after making the transition from corporate to startup founder. These three UNC Charlotte and Ventureprise alumni are making an impact not only on campus, but throughout the community. The Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellowship is focused on broadening participation in the innovation process and integrating an entrepreneurial mindset across UNC Charlotte's campus. With a vital importance of diverse perspectives and a need for more inclusive leadership in the entrepreneurial sector, Ventureprise has developed two new programs focusing on diversity on campus and in the Charlotte community. The Inclusive Innovation Leadership Academy, a collaboration of Ventureprise and City Startup Labs, is a learning program that educates, empowers and inspires women and other underrepresented minorities to utilize their expertise and potential for social and economic impact and growth while advancing an inclusive environment for entrepreneurs and innovators. While recognizing the importance of entrepreneurial thinking skills and the value it brings to students across campus, Ventureprise has launched a credential program, 49er Impact, to encourage students to make an impact with their ideas while gaining valuable professional development skills through the programming. With core programming, Ventureprise Launch NSF I-Corps provides University innovators with commercialization advice, training and funding to identify potential customers and crucial lab-to-market knowledge. Ventureprise, UNC Charlotte’s innovation and entrepreneurship center, works with students, faculty and community members on commercializing their research, elevating their ideas and incorporating entrepreneurial thinking into the campus academic experience.
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