Technology

Alexandra Miszewski

Twenty-seven-year-old Alexandra Miszewski has had to contend with her fair share of doubters. And that’s despite her biotech startup Altera Biosciences raising R29mn in preseed investment last year. A few years ago, at one of her previous businesses, a colleague asked Miszewski whether it was a good idea that the title of founder appeared next to her name on the company’s website and business cards, because it might put the business’ legitimacy in question, given her age.

Then there was a businessman, who having infringed upon a veterinary patent she’d registered, argued in legal documents that a young female entrepreneur had “no space in the industry” and had “no right to operate in a regulated environment”. Miszewski says these experiences only helped to motivate her to work harder. Altera Biosciences, which she founded in 2024 with University of Pretoria professor Michael Pepper, aims to develop a universal donor cell platform, to advance treatments for conditions that could include, but are not limited to, diabetes and cancer.