What We Do
Awards
Our regional and thematic awards recognize and fund talented impact entrepreneurs from around the world who are leveraging business as a force for good.
Fellowship
The fellowship aims to provide our fellows with peer-, industry-, and academic-based educational programming for skills and leadership development and business growth.
Community
The community gives fellows lifelong access to a vibrant group of impact leaders, creating opportunities for engagement, relationship-building, and the development of social capital.
Thought Leadership
We aim to drive an active conversation about women impact entrepreneurs through content curation and research partnerships.
The best thing you can do in business is to empower women. It changes everything.
What's New
We are constantly looking for ways to extend opportunities to more impact entrepreneurs worldwide. Here are some exciting updates.
CWI LOAN FUND
In 2022, we launched the CWI Loan Fund, managed by Beneficial Returns. The fund provides loans up to $200,000 to fellows in select geographies at preferential interest rates, in order to accelerate their growth and post-COVID recovery, enhance financial resiliency and prepare them for conventional investors.
NEW REGIONAL AWARDS
For the 2023 edition, we have added two new regional categories: Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania.
NEW THEMATIC AWARD
For the 2023 edition, we launched the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award, which has been created to encourage entrepreneurial solutions designed to close gaps of access, outcome or opportunities for communities that have been underrepresented or underserved. While the other regional and thematic awards of the Cartier Women’s Initiative focus on supporting women, this pilot award is open to all genders.
15-YEAR IMPACT REPORT
To mark the fifteenth anniversary of the Cartier Women’s Initiative, we look back on the program’s evolution and its impact. Going forward, our role is to create a global coalition of allies that can amplify that impact by leveraging our unique strengths: our community of fellows, our knowledge of the ecosystem, and our ability to activate different players in the space.
INSIGHTS FROM THE IMPACT REPORT
To assess the impact of the program, we fielded an online survey to our former fellows. Here are some key takeaways.
Accelerating Growth
Fellows overwhelmingly reported that the program boosted their self-confidence (90%) and gave them a sense of belonging (90%). They also frequently cited improvements in visibility (78%) and business strategy (66%).
Weathering the Storm
Many fellows successfully pivoted during the pandemic and emerged stronger than ever. Ninety percent of surveyed businesses were still in operation in 2020 and thirty percent of businesses reached more than 10,000 users.
Pioneering Innovation
Fifty-three percent of fellows surveyed report providing a product or service that is new to the world and 25% offer a product or service that is new in their country.