Just over 15 days ago, an opportunity appeared in the way of the Uruguayans María Pia Campot and Lucia Vanrell: an international contest that supports women entrepreneurs.
Campot and Vanrell share several coincidences. They are scientists, entrepreneurs and now both are semifinalists in the Bayer Foundation contest that aims to empower women in science.
The prize of the contest to which some 1,000 women applied consists of €25,000, personalized training, a global event and opportunities for networking from the hand of the giant Bayer.
“It’s a lot of recognition and a lot of support behind the Bayer name,” Campot told Coffee & Business and explained that as of today there are 30 semifinalists per region (they participate for Latin America). Once this stage concludes on April 18, there will be 20 finalists per region (one part chosen by the public and another by the Bayer jury). “The results of the jury will be on the 28th of this month, so by the end of the month we would know the finalists,” said the founder of Enteria.
“You access a lot of things that you can’t access from here,” said Vanrell from Nanogrow.
Now the Uruguayans are among the best 30, but 15 will be the winners. To go to the final, the semifinalists need the support of the public through the public vote for María Pía Campot and Lucía Vanrell in this link. Voting is not exclusive so it is possible to vote for both.
The ventures: Enteria and Nanogrow
Enteria is a science-based company that tests for microorganisms in the body, at the intestinal and vaginal levels. “From this we find imbalances or things that may be affecting people’s health,” Campot explained.
Nanogrow is a multi-product biotechnology platform that is based on nanoantibody technology —small and stable antibodies— which allows them to be administered in different ways and not only through the bloodstream, as is usually the case with antibodies. “What we do specifically are biological medicines based on these nanoantibodies for skin diseases such as psoriasis or atopic dermatitis or some diseases that cause chronic itching,” Vanrell explained to Coffee & Business. This would achieve the same efficacy as blood antibodies, but in a localized way.
“We have some projects in dogs in the short term, but our main focus is on humans,” explained Vanrell from Nanogrow. Getting to this takes longer development times and financial outlays. “Being in network with this type of laboratory would help us a lot”pointed out the entrepreneur, since partnering with them to bring these developments to the clinic is the center of their business model.
