Sandra D'Souza - Founder, Ellect - Start Up Spotlight

Sandra has been advocating for women’s rights ever since she was a teenager. She is the recipient of the Edna Ryan Award for Mentoring (for the advancement of women) in 2008 and was shortlisted for NSW Women Awards in 2018. In 2002 she became part of the executive team with BPW (an NGO called Business and Professional Women) starting out in Vice-President roles in BPW Sydney to State President for BPW NSW in 2006 to 2009 to Executive Director on BPW International between 2012 to 2014. During that time, Sandra was one of Australian Leaders in Commonwealth Business Council.

Sandra is also the only Australian selected to participate in Nasdaq’s Spring 2021 Milestone Makers Program. As part of the program, she was showcased on the NASDAQ Tower in Time Square, New York City along with 12 other outstanding entrepreneurs focused on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal #10, Reduced Inequalities.

On International Women’s Day 2019, Sandra launched Ellect to address the gender gap in business with its global procurement marketplace and supplier diversity program. As a strong advocate for gender balance in business and aware of the barriers women and men encounter in establishing a gender balance, this unique platform offers Corporate Buyers to source and access small business suppliers of diverse backgrounds and every transaction funds gender equality projects.

Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash