Driving change by empowering women impact entrepreneurs
The Cartier Women's Initiative is an annual international entrepreneurship program that aims to drive change by empowering women impact entrepreneurs. Founded in 2006, 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.
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FORCES FOR GOOD

On May 10, 2023 we celebrated the 2023 cohort of our fellows. This year, we highlighted the incredibly diverse forces for good tackling complex social and environmental challenges.

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What We Do

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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.

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Fellowship

The fellowship aims to provide our fellows with peer-, industry-, and academic-based educational programming for skills and leadership development and business growth.

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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.

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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.

Cyrille Vigneron

President and CEO, Cartier

What's New

We are constantly looking for ways to extend opportunities to more impact entrepreneurs worldwide. Here are some exciting updates.

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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.

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NEW REGIONAL AWARDS

For the 2023 edition, we have added two new regional categories: Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania.

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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.

297
entrepreneurs supported since 2006
63
countries with at least one fellow
9 500 000
in financial support since 2006
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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.