Awards
Top Woman Entrepreneur in Cloud Innovation
SAN FRANCISCO — Charu Sharma, Founder of Next Play’s Ellen.ai application that personalizes career and leadership development for enterprise employees, will be recognized by CloudNOW as a Top Woman Entrepreneur in Cloud Innovation and will be speaking alongside Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook and Hadi Partovi, founder of Code.org, among others. Sponsored by Facebook, Intel and Google, the ceremony was hosted by Facebook Production Engineering at the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California on Jan. 29. Previous winners have included the President of Code.org as well as female tech executives from Intel, Netflix, Cisco and Walmart.
“I am deeply honored to be recognized with such an esteemed set of peers and all the more energized to level the playing field in the workforce by creating equal access to career advancement and mentorship opportunities for everyone,” said Charu Sharma, Founder of NextPlay.ai, backed by LinkedIn’s SVP Engineering, 500 Startups and Techcrunch’s former CEO.
Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) Certificate
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – SkinCatering, LLC., an all-natural skincare brand with two spa locations in Springfield and Holyoke, Mass., catering to the health and well-being of their busy clients naturally, announced today that they have been awarded with the national WBENC Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) Certificate. WBENC’s world-class certification represents America’s most prestigious corporations with standout brands and validates that the business is 51 percent owned, controlled, operated, and managed by a woman or women.
“We are making purposeful strides to create the foundation to allow women to own a franchise location of SkinCatering concept spas,” said Chief Visionary Officer and Owner Leanne Sedlak. “I believe this certification is important for any woman considering going into business with us and opening their own SkinCatering branch.”
Expansion
MassChallenge
HOUSTON — MassChallenge, Central Houston and the City of Houston announced yesterday that MassChallenge, a global network of zero-equity startup accelerators, will launch its newest program in Downtown Houston. MassChallenge Texas in Houston will be located at GreenStreet and support up to 25 early-stage startups through a zero-equity, six-week bootcamp in the summer of 2019.
“Houston is one of the most innovative cities in the world because of its high density of entrepreneurs, international access, corporate excellence, and top universities,” said Mike Millard, Managing Director of MassChallenge Texas. “I am excited to make Houston the first expansion destination for MassChallenge Texas. Through the MassChallenge model, our region will support early-stage startups from across the Lone Star State and from around the world in two Texas cities this year.”
Launch
Globally Affordable Degrees
WASHINGTON — Nexford University, a one-year-old startup, is gearing up for its Series A funding to launch globally affordable degree programs. Students in the U.S. can earn a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) for $120 per month. Nexford, based in Washington DC, is an accredited university with a startup mentality now in the process of raising money to enhance the learner experience, benefitting students across the globe. On Feb. 1, the online university opened its virtual doors to its first cohort of BBA and MBA learners. MBA student Damilare Ogunmola said: “Nexford’s online content is a major advantage – it means I don’t have to move abroad to get a great American education.”
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