Deadline: 30-Jun-22
Nominations are now open for the Cartier Women’s Initiative annual international entrepreneurship program that aims to drive change by empowering women impact entrepreneurs.
The program is open to women-run and women-owned businesses from any country and sector that aim to have a strong and sustainable social and/or environmental impact.
Their regional and thematic awards recognize and fund talented impact entrepreneurs from around the world who are leveraging business as a force for good.
Categories
- 2023 Science & Technology Pioneer Award
- Launched in 2021 and open to women impact entrepreneurs from any country and sector, this award highlights disruptive solutions built around unique, protected, or hard-to-reproduce technological or scientific advances.
- 2023 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award
- Open to all genders, this new thematic award has been created for the 2023 edition to encourage entrepreneurial solutions designed to close gaps of access, outcome or opportunity for communities that have been underrepresented or underserved.
- 2023 Regional Awards
Benefits
The three fellows from this category will receive:
- Financial Capital Support
- US$ 100,000 grant for each first-place awardee
- US$ 60,000 grant for each second-place awardee
- US$ 30,000 grant for each third-place awardee
- Human Capital Support
- Their fellowship program focuses on several key areas of human capital support for impact entrepreneurs and offers a combination of 1:1 training and collective workshops.
- 1:1 training in financials, storytelling, impact measurement, etc.
- 1:1 advice sessions with subject matter experts in the Cartier Women’s Initiative community
- Community peer learning sessions
- Online and in-person leadership communications and media training workshops
- Online knowledge sessions, group coaching, and in-person INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Program and/or INSEAD Executive Education Program (pending admission based on INSEAD’s eligibility criteria and selection process)
- 1:1 leadership capacity executive coaching by The Coaching Fellowship
- Social Capital Support
- Throughout the program, they strive to highlight the social and environmental impact created by their fellows and bridge connections between impact entrepreneurs and their supporters.
- International exposure and media visibility
- Access to a global community of 500+ experts and peers
- Ongoing support for the development of the fellows’ businesses
Eligibility Criteria
- The company needs to be “for-profit” meaning that it should be structured in such a way as to be self-sustainable by generating sufficient revenue to sustain and grow its activity in the long run. They do not accept applications from non-profits. That being said, they do accept applications from for-profit companies that give back a portion of their revenues to charities – as long as the company’s primary goal is to generate revenue.
- For the Regional Awards, ‘early stage’ means the business should have a proven business model and be in the initial phase of its development and growth (between 1 to 6 years of licensed/registered operations). Please note that normally they focus on less than 5 years, however, as they did not have a call for applications in 2021, they are exceptionally extending for one extra year.
- For the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award, ‘early stage’ means the business should have a proven business model and be in the initial phase of its development and growth (between 1 to 7 years of licensed/registered operations). They also cap the funds raised to US$2 million in order to ensure that the businesses selected fall within a similar stage of development.
- For the Science & Technology Pioneer Award, ‘early stage’ means the business must have at least a proof of concept, a prototype or be in the process of producing one (minimum Technological Readiness Level 4) and must not be commercializing its final product/service for more than 5 years.
- They accept applications from businesses that are headed by several cofounders.
- They accept only early-stage businesses that have been registered as independent companies and are not affiliated in any way with an established corporation or a similar women’s initiative program.
- Businesses that have formerly participated in the program are not eligible to apply to the Cartier Women’s Initiative a second time and will be automatically rejected. Furthermore, any cofounder of a business that has formerly participated in the program is also ineligible.
For more information, visit https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/awards