“WIT-LA’s 9th Summit of the Americas Event Highlights Women in Global Trade with Technology”
Los Angeles, June 8, 2022 - Women in Technology-Los Angeles and Women In International Trade-DC hosted an event in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Commerce at the 9th Summit of the Americas on June 8th, 2022. Focusing on Empowering Women in Global Trade with Technology, the event hosted keynote speakers and a panel. The keynote speakers included Lieutenant Governor of California Eleni Kounalakis, Consul General of Mexico in Los Angeles Marcela Celorio, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere Global Markets Ian Saunders. These speakers were followed by a panel including CEO and Founder of Agtools, Martha Montoya. Other panelists included Director of Trade Developoment for the Port of LA Marisela Caraballo DiRuggiero, National Accounts Manager for DHL Express Kristina Matthews, and the Director of Global Trade of Getting to Global Simona Racek. The moderator Kristine Pirnia, an Export Controls & Sanctions Practice Leader at Sandler, Tracis & Rosenberg P.A, led the panel as each woman took the stage to present how technology has empowered women in their different sectors.
Deputy Assistant Secretary Saunders shed light on the statistic of woman with small businesses. Specifically, Saunders said, “There are approximately 12 million women business owners in the U.S. Women entrepreneurs start and own nearly half of all American businesses and generate $1.8 trillion in revenue.” However, these “women are also more likely to have limited access to digital technologies and lower levels of technology skills.” During the panel, Martha Montoya described her journey of discovering the lack of resources within the production world, which caused her transition to the agtech space. Montoya expanded upon Agtools’ contribution to supply chain and how important this technology is for family farms, especially for the woman. “90-95% of farms across the world are family run,” said Montoya. “Behind every family farm, a woman is running the operations.” Through her presentation, Montoya explained that technology and data keeps everyone informed allowing for better and more profitable decisions to be made. Agtools uses the 76 variables that families have to keep in mind when running their farms. Using the data that Agtools relays helps relieve the stress of everyday decisions. One of the keynote speakers, the Consul General of Mexico in LA, Marcel Celorio remarked that “Woman are and have always been a critical part of the trade and business environment. And I know there is no ceiling too high for us to shatter and no supply chain disruption that we can’t take on.”
Moderator Kristine Pirnia asked Montoya, “Is it difficult to convince woman to use this technology that Agtools has created?” To which Montoya replied, “Woman understand that data and technology is important, so they embrace it. They know that this technology will help advance their life.”
About WIT-LA
Women in International Trade Los Angeles (WIT-LA) exists to promote the professional development of women in international trade and business and to raise public awareness of the importance of international trade to economic development. WIT-LA accomplishes this by offering a wide range of programs to enhance and enrich your professional development. These top-notch programs include events on honing job skills designed to advance your professional growth and expand opportunities in global trade.
About Agtools www.ag.tools Agtools, Inc. – a Microsoft Machine Learning and AI Award Winner – is a rapidly growing SaaS business intelligence solution company driving efficiency within the global food and agricultural supply chain. At a billion transactions per second, agtools® offers a solution to the challenge of accessing real-time data needed for short- and long-term business decisions which are causally related to revenue, costs, and overall efficiency. The company offers data and analytics for farmers, buyers, distributors, retailers, government agencies, financial firms, and other stakeholders to manage volatile and high velocity product categories. Agtools® leverages endless sector knowledge for improving bottom lines. The company is headquartered in Orange, Calif.
Media Contacts, Agtools Inc.
Charles Harrison Tel: 714-272-0637 charles@ag.tools
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