Conversation with Wingee Sampaio

Wingee, can you tell us about your background?

My passion for social impact sprouted from my undergraduate days at the University of California at Berkeley, with a specific passion for empowering women and social impact businesses.  After 15 years in the capital markets, I came to the realization that the capital markets have really failed in allocating resources to social entrepreneurs. As a result, I decided to orient my work towards channelling resources to this area. In 2016, I co-authored the first book on angel investing for women, entitled Impact with Wings: Stories to Inspire and Mobilize Women Angel Investors and Entrepreneurs. The chapter I wrote, “Angel Investing as Self Empowerment,” aims to inspire women to use their wealth to create an impact. In addition to my work at Cartier, I currently serve on the investment committee of Next Wave Impact, a social impact venture capital fund investing in social impact early stage businesses.  

Can you tell us about your role as Head of the Cartier Women’s Initiative?

Leading the Cartier Women’s Initiative gives me the opportunity to advocate for all the remarkable women leveraging business as a force for good. My role is to ensure that we use the precious resources that Cartier and the community provide us with to empower women impact entrepreneurs to reach their full potential.

Internally, the initiative is a team of four based in Paris working closely with many local markets around the world.  Externally, we are powered by our strategic partner INSEAD and a host of local ecosystem partners. We also work closely with members of our community and, on average, about 100 volunteers globally contribute to our initiative.    

As a team, these guiding principles form our mission and guide our actions:

1.    We believe women can be extraordinary social change agents and are convinced that business can be leveraged as an important force for good.

2.       We believe in creating opportunities for everyone. Talent is universal but opportunities are not.

3.       We are constantly learning. We leave room for the possibility that there is something we have not learnt yet that could make us even better.

4.       We see beyond ourselves and care for our team, communities that we serve and communities that we are a part of.

I wish to leave you with this one quote by Mahatma Gandhi, which continues to be a daily source of inspiration to me: “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”  In my 41 years of being, I have never felt more aligned with my purpose on a day-to-day basis. 

As a newcomer, can you tell us what a program like the Cartier Women’s Initiative brings to the Maison? 

At the heart of the Cartier Women’s Initiative is the belief that we – as individuals, as businesses – can all be a force for good. This initiative is an opportunity for the Maison to create strong and sustainable social and environmental change via the support we provide women impact entrepreneurs creating solutions that address the world’s most pressing issues as defined by the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The initiative is also a representation of our values.  We see in the women impact entrepreneurs that participate in our programme what our Maison values – open mindedness, curiosity, generosity, respect, sharing, rigor and independence.  Finally, we believe that the initiative can be a source of mutual inspiration and admiration for our entrepreneurs and Cartier employees – by sharing our values with like-minded individuals and letting them know that we see them, acknowledge them and respect them.

The initiative has gained tremendous momentum in the past years. In order to build a common narrative for our programme, which every member of our community can relate to, we have set out to define four strategic pillars that constitute the foundational basis of the Cartier Women’s Initiative.

OUR FOUR PILLARS

-          The Awards programme recognizes 21 talented women impact entrepreneurs who are leveraging business as a force for good.

-          The Fellowship programme aims to equip our fellows with the necessary skills to grow their business and to build their leadership capacity.

-          The Community aims to support our fellows by connecting them with a global network of fellows, coaches, jury members, ecosystem partners, ambassadors, advisors, and investors that can provide them with access to relationships, knowledge and capital.

-          The Thought Leadership curates and brings to light some of the boldest and most thought-provoking ideas that stem from our community of experts, as well as creating primary insights on women impact entrepreneurs.

I invite everyone to visit our dedicated page on our website to read our new vision and mission.

Tell us about the recent changes in the Cartier Women’s Initiative program?

The initiative has gained tremendous momentum in the past years. In order to build a common narrative for our programme, which every member of our community can relate to, we have set out to define four strategic pillars that constitute the foundational basis of the Cartier Women’s Initiative.
OUR FOUR PILLARS
-          The Awards programme recognizes 21 talented women impact entrepreneurs who are leveraging business as a force for good.
-          The Fellowship programme aims to equip our fellows with the necessary skills to grow their business and to build their leadership capacity.
-          The Community aims to support our fellows by connecting them with a global network of fellows, coaches, jury members, ecosystem partners, ambassadors, advisors, and investors that can provide them with access to relationships, knowledge and capital.
-          The Thought Leadership curates and brings to light some of the boldest and most thought-provoking ideas that stem from our community of experts, as well as creating primary insights on women impact entrepreneurs.
I invite everyone to visit our dedicated page on Connect to read our new vision and mission.
 

So what is the plan for the 2020 edition of the Cartier Women’s Initiative?

In 2020, we have made it our priority to focus on the following areas:

-          Reorganizing and optimizing the human capital support that we are providing into a comprehensive fellowship program

-          Expanding the community to include ecosystem partners in key cities and individuals willing to volunteer their time and expertise to support women social impact entrepreneurs.

-          Providing these ecosystem partners and individuals with the tools and opportunities to connect.

-          Curating thought leadership events in Cartier markets where there is an interest

-          Ensuring that we stay true to our mission by assessing the impact of our programme on the fellows and the impact of their businesses on society at large.

In light of the global Covid-19 virus crisis, it is with a heavy heart that we have made the decision to cancel the preparatory training week and Awards ceremony that were scheduled to take place from May 30th to June 5th in Boston. That said, please rest assured that we have been hard at work in planning how we might reach our objectives differently given the current circumstances.  Please stay tuned as we pilot a series of online activities to build further connections between change makers and you'll be able to follow the CWI program on Facebook, LinkedIn,  and Twitter.