Wednesday 15th October 2015. Sydney, Australia. Assistant innovation minister, Wyatt Roy, will be hosting a Women’s Business Roundtable event this Friday alongside Minister for Women and Employment, Michaelia Cash and the Prime Minister’s wife, Lucy Turnbull. The breakfast event will involve more than 50 women in business from across Australia, including “mumpreneur”, Gemstar Technology Founder and Managing Director, Gemma Manning.
Gemma has been a long-standing advocate for innovation and women in business and continues to juggle a successful career with being a mum to two young daughters. “I originally decided to go into business to afford me more time with my children. Little did I realise how much work was involved in starting a business. So while the business has afforded me flexibility, it has also created more work … with many more late nights and weekend work than originally expected”, says Gemma.
The special summit will give a platform for women to share ideas amongst other leading business women. Gemstar is dedicated to harnessing the innovation talent here in Australia and looks forward to playing an important role in encouraging more women to start-up or scale up their businesses with the right support. Ms Manning comments “I feel very honoured to be part of such an honest and influential conversation. I’m lucky that I have had the help and support of family and friends in my personal business endeavours, and now I want to help support and unearth talent amongst my female counterparts, especially within the tech sector, and we all need to work together to do this.”
Gemstar Technology was recently invited to by the Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF) to TechVenture in Singapore, where the company showcased companies including CarbonTrack, Progressclaim.com.au and BLRT. The company has a clear vision to bridge the gap between Australia’s growing tech sector and the trade, investment and market opportunities that exists in SE Asia. It was the first time in the conference’s history that Australia’s tech sector was showcased.
The new Prime Ministers focus on women and innovation has been well received by the Australian public. Media campaigns, and funding of networking and exchange programs are all strategies that the government has so far been advised t implement. “I have only ever wanted to inspire my daughters. I want them to grow up knowing that it is ok to follow your dreams. I want to teach them that if they put their minds to it they can achieve anything,” Ms Manning.
This article was first published in Gemstar Technology.