On Thursday September 12th,
K & L Gates‘ San Francisco Women in the Profession Committee partnered with the Australian American Chamber of Commerce, Business Association Italy America, California-Spain Chamber of Commerce, French American Chamber of Commerce San Francisco, German American Business Association, the Hungarian American Chamber of Commerce and the BABC, to host their first ever San Francisco International Women Entrepreneurs’ Forum. This sold out event was a huge success and presented an excellent opportunity to network and garner some valuable insights from 5 dynamic women entrepreneurs who dared to brave the start-up world. Moderated by Claudia Quiroz from K & L Gates, the panel consisted of Sonia Domeyko (Founder of Swarmin), Janelle Kellman (Founder of KitOrder.com), Susan Coelius Keplinger, (President and COO of Triggit), Pilar Manchón (CEO and Founder of Intelligent Dialog Systems) and Anna Santeramo (Founder MySpinta.com), who set out to discuss the hurdles they have overcome in starting their businesses, the challenges they still face, and how they made it to the top as women entrepreneurs in today’s competitive business world. They didn’t disappoint!

Close to 100 guests followed the inspirational journeys of these determined women entrepreneurs who are all successfully navigating the choppy waters of establishing a business, attracting funding , hiring and firing, adhering to governmental regulations, out-smarting the competition – and all the while staying true to their vision (despite the nay-Sayers). The interactive Q & A session with the panel demonstrated that the audience resonated with the many of the challenges and appreciated the anecdotal narratives as well as their genuine advice and guidance on how to succeed in a start-up world.

The BABC was very pleased to have been invited to participate. Our thanks go out to K & L Gates, their San Francisco Women in the Profession Committee and Maica Gil, International Trade and Business Chapter Director at California-Spain Chamber of Commerce for putting on this fabulous event and to all the participating chambers.