Imagine an all-girls start-up competition for kids. Launched in Montreal in 2014, Technovation Montreal is an initiative that exists in many countries. It’s a competition pitting young girls aged 10 to 18 against each other around the creation of a mobile app. Curious to find out more, I went to meet the person who has been behind the project in Montreal since its inception and who co-founded it: Stéphanie Jecrois.
It was on a Friday morning when the first snow fell that I met Stéphanie in a café in the Jean Talon district of Montreal. Taking the time to meet people face-to-face is a blessing these days. I can imagine that Stéphanie Jecrois has a very full agenda. In fact, the City of Montreal’s international relations advisor also heads up an international competition: Technovation Montréal. It was during a trip to the United States in 2013 as part of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), which invites foreigners to meet their American counterparts, that Stéphanie met Anar Simpson, a member of C100, an organization that brings together Canadians working in technology, based in Silicon Valley. Anar is also an international ambassador for the Technovation program. This meeting was a turning point in Stéphanie’s life. The seed was sown and will germinate in 2014, when the Montreal version of Technovation is launched.
Technovation uses technology to bring girls together and develop their entrepreneurial spirit
Every year for the past five years, young girls have joined the program to build a mobile application from A to Z. The selected project is then presented to the parent company in San Francisco, along with the other mobile applications created in 13 countries around the world. The competition is made possible by the support of a number of partners. First and foremost, tech companies, who provide financial and logistical support, but also the mentors who accompany the young girls in their teams for six months.
For the founder, it’s much more than just a mobile app competition. She explains: “Technovation not only popularizes the use of technology, but also enables these young girls to come together and develop their entrepreneurial spirit”. Stéphanie, like the other girls taking part in the program, does not come from a technology background. In fact, it was through Technovation Montréal’s initiative that she was able to carve out a place for herself in the Montreal tech ecosystem. The competition is first and foremost an opportunity to explore something completely new. It offers young girls the chance to work on a project in its entirety, in the same way as a business start-up.
Stéphanie was a member of the board of directors of the Jeune Chambre de Commerce Haïtienne de Montréal (JCCH) for four years. She was even President during her last year of involvement. This experience confirmed a feeling she already had: accompanying and supporting entrepreneurs is highly gratifying, and she loves it! Whether at the JCCH or Technovation, Stéphanie is in her element.
When Technovation Montréal was launched in 2014, the women and girls in tech movement was in its infancy. Finding partners required more effort. Today, with some forty mentors for the 6th edition, which starts soon, compared with ten or so five years ago, and around sixty young girls, Technovation Montréal is seeing its community grow and consolidate every year. The experience offered to these young girls enables them to build their self-confidence. They get out of their comfort zone, learn to confront their ideas and manage a project.
Today, Technovation is present in cities across Canada, from Vancouver to Toronto to Ottawa, and the organization continues to grow. The Montreal initiative is entirely voluntary. To take it to the next level, the team hopes to add dedicated full-time members in 2020. This is a great opportunity for Technovation Montréal to diversify, and why not launch the new Technovation Families program, which offers families the chance to use artificial intelligence tools to solve problems in their community.
