Women’s health innovation roundtable planned on June 15 in Bentonville

HealthcareNorthwest Arkansas

by Paul Gatling ([email protected]) June 11, 2022 9:52 am 1,045 views 

Northwest Arkansas entrepreneurs are launching a women-led, women-centric innovation hub to support female founders in the women’s health and wellness space.

April Roy, Natalie Shew and Elizabeth Prenger are the founders behind the tech/health innovation hub FemHealth Founders (FHF). Its goal is to develop a more welcoming ecosystem for female-led tech/health companies to launch, grow and stay in Northwest Arkansas.

“As women founders, we were experiencing a lot of the same pain points while building our scaleable businesses in women’s health and wellness,” the founders said in a statement. “We feel compelled to take action to prevent similar hurdles for fellow fempreneurs who want to make a major impact in the femhealth space.”

Prenger owns the writing and editing business Prose Creative. Shew is the principal of 3P Creative, a consulting firm that supports inventors, businesses and organizations in commercializing technologies and ideas. Roy is CEO and founder of femPAQ Inc., a company that makes emergency kits with menstruation products.

The hub wants to launch 50 women-led health companies in the heartland by 2026. The organization also aims to establish a “female founder only” accelerator component.

“Access to capital continues to be a barrier for many women founders, so we’re driven to fund the companies that are committing themselves to the FemHealth Founders accelerator,” Shew said.

FHF plans its inaugural event on June 15 with a luncheon to highlight who is participating in women’s health and wellness innovation across the heartland and what resources are needed to launch and scale ideas. It’s scheduled from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Collaborative in Bentonville and will include a panel discussion followed by an audience Q&A.

Panelists include:

  • Canem Arkan, managing director, Endeavor Heartland
  • Kristen Davidson, women’s health entrepreneur and pelvic physical therapist
  • Kristin Markell, MD, OB/GYN and integrative medicine, Washington Regional Medical Center
  • April Roy, CEO and founder, femPAQ Inc.
  • Tammy Sun, founder and CEO, Carrot Fertility

In-person attendance is limited to invite-only. However, a link for public viewing is available at this link.