Dr Nora Khaldi wins Woman of the Decade in Business and Leadership award

30 Jan 2017

Dr Nora Khaldi, founder and chief scientific officer, Nuritas. Image: Kieran Harnett

For her work in establishing the Irish medtech start-up Nuritas, Dr Nora Khaldi has been awarded the Woman of the Decade in Business and Leadership Award at the recent Women Economic Forum (WEF).

Since founder Dr Nora Khaldi’s appearance at Inspirefest last year, Nuritas has garnered attention, both in Ireland and internationally, as one of the country’s fastest growing start-ups, combining life sciences and AI to mine DNA and protein data from plant material.

In December, news broke that the start-up had attracted significant investment from none other than U2’s Bono and the Edge to expand the company.

Skilled at turning science into start-up success

This investment followed a total of €5m raised from a number of investors – including Salesforce’s founder and CEO Marc Benioff – as well EU Horizon 2020 funding to commercialise a peptide that could potentially offer a new weapon in the fight against type 2 diabetes.

Now, Khaldi has been awarded the Woman of the Decade in Business and Leadership Award at the recent WEF-EU event.

Held on 28 January in The Hague, the Women Economic Forum brought together more than 400 women and men from across the EU and Europe, along with delegates from across the world, to celebrate the innovators and entrepreneurs that are making a difference in the EU.

With an established background in mathematics and bioinformatics, Dr Khaldi was awarded for her ability to translate groundbreaking scientific research into a growing start-up, as well as her leadership qualities in the role.

‘Women like Nora are changing the world’

Speaking for the WEF, its founder and chairperson Dr Harbeen Arora said of Khaldi’s award win: “Women like Nora are changing the world and we want to support, recognise and celebrate their groundbreaking accomplishments.”

Khaldi also commented on her award, saying: “I am very honoured to have been chosen for this award.

“I think events and organisations such as this are incredibly important, as we need to connect and celebrate innovators that are making the world a better place.”

You can check out Khaldi describing her experiences of being both an entrepreneur and a scientist at Inspirefest 2016 below.

Inspirefest is Silicon Republic’s international event connecting sci-tech professionals passionate about the future of STEM. Book now to get your Early Bird tickets.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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