Apple Entrepreneur Camp's alumni talk about developing apps

Marking five years of its Entrepreneur Camp development program, Apple has highlighted three creators who are working to solve real-world problems through the App Store.

The 2023 Entrepreneur Camp was split into two parts with one week for under represented business founders, and one for female founders. In both cases, the aim of the online event is to promote diversity and inclusivity in the technology industry.

In a new profile of successful Camp alumni, Apple says that its "ethos [is] that apps for everyone should be made by everyone." The three women profiled range across AI, fitness and education.

Creating apps to make a better world

Entrepreneur Camp 2019 alumni Jo Aggarwal, is the CEO and founder of Wysa. It's an emotionally intelligent chatbot, written with therapists, that has helped millions of people across 95 countries.

"We set out to solve for global mental health and give people a safe space to work through their thoughts and emotions, building resilience irrespective of stigma, race, gender, access to a therapist, or diagnosis," said Aggerwal. "Language can also be a barrier, and in an effort to make Wysa's support more inclusive, we are launching Wysa in Spanish to create more equitable access to marginalized communities."

Then 2022 graduate Jenny Xu, created the game Run Legends, which fuses together her passions for gaming and running.

"When I started out in the gaming industry," said Xu, "I felt like I was the only one doing what I was doing... I grew up playing a lot of story-based interactive fiction — artistic games that make you come away having learned something about life, and I think that's a genre that's predominantly popular with women."

"With Run Legends, even though it's a battle game, it isn't a game that makes people feel really aggressive when they're playing it — they can feel empowered," she continued. " Now that I've raised some money and shipped some games, I try to give back and show that it's possible to build games that aren't just shooters, but games that actually make the world a better place."

Lastly, Edna Martinson from the 2023 Entrepreneur Camp's intake, developed an education app called Boddle to help "tackle learning gaps and boost [children's] confidence in the classroom."

"My perspective as a woman in this field has really shaped our team and how we connect with our community, especially since most elementary school teachers that we serve are women," says Martinson. :We've had a blast doing virtual career days on Zoom, showing kids how we made Boddle, and introducing them to game design."

"It's super rewarding to see the excitement on little girls' faces when they find out a woman cofounded Boddle," she continues. "It shows them they can be leaders in tech too."