Startup SIG: Margarita Quihuis, Indigo Financiera, Womens Te...

2007-11-19 19:00:00 - 2007-11-19 21:00:00

A social entrepreneur and mentor capitalist, Margarita Quihuis's career has focused on innovation, access to capital and entrepreneurship. Her accomplishments include directorship of Astia (formerly known as the Women's Technology Cluster) where her portfolio companies raised $67 million in venture funding, seed stage venture capitalist, Reuters Fellow at Stanford and Chairman and President of Hispanic-Net.

Her current efforts include access to development capital through the productive use of remittances for the unbanked both in the United States and in developing countries through her program, Indigo Financiera.

In 2004, she was recognized by Women's eNews as one of their '21 Leaders for the 21st Century' for her efforts in increasing access to capital for women entrepreneurs and was named as one of WITI's Women to Watch in 2003. In 2007 she was named 'One of The 100 Most Influential Latinos in Silicon Valley.'

Ms Quihuis has served as a consultant to the US State Department on entrepreneurship. She has been widely quoted in the Asian Venture Capital Report, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, US News & World Report, Forbes ASAP, Red Herring, CNN and CBS MarketWatch.

Ms. Quihuis is the founder of 1st Wednesdays, the network for women in venture capital. From 1995 to 2000, she served as a board member of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, and was a member of the screening and coaching committees for Springboard 2000, the venture capital conference for women. Ms. Quihuis is a past board member of NanoSig, a Northern California based organization dedicated to the commercialization of nanotechnology. She currently sits on the boards of Agent Software, Women's eNews, Instituto Pro Musica de California and the James Burke Institute and is a member of the advisory boards for Mira This, Tierra Natal and Merrill Lynch's Latino Advisory Council. She was also part of the founding working group for the Business Women's Initiative on AIDS.

$15 at the door for non-SDForum members, no charge for SDForum members.