Cartier | Women's Initiative

Since 2006, the Cartier Women’s Initiative has helped women impact entrepreneurs to reach their full potential by shining a light on their achievements and providing them with the necessary financial, social and human capital support to grow their businesses and build their leadership skills. The program is open to women-run and women-owned businesses from any country and sector that aim to have a strong and sustainable positive impact on society as defined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Fifteen years on, the Cartier Women’s Initiative has supported 262 women impact entrepreneurs hailing from 62 countries and has awarded a total of $6,440,000 in prize money to support their businesses. The fellowship has expanded from funding five fellows in 2007 to 24 fellows in 2021.

Since the launch of the community pillar in January 2019, aiming to support fellows by connecting them with a global network that can provide them with access to relationships, knowledge and capital, more than 320 community members have actively engaged with the community and 62 community events have been hosted.

In 2021, to assess the impact of the program across the globe, The Cartier Women’s Initiative fielded a 40-questions online survey to its 228 former fellows. This survey became the baseline for Cartier Women’s initiative impact measurement.

With the launch of the Impact Report, which put the light on the powerful ripples of positive changes initiated by these women entrepreneurs, Cartier Women’s Initiative is aiming to improve the program and expand opportunities to more women impact worldwide.

Going forward, the program intends to create a global network of diverse allies of the Cartier Women’s Initiative community that can amplify that impact by leveraging their unique strengths: their circle of fellows, their knowledge of the ecosystem, and their ability to activate different players.

To celebrate furthermore the impact of the programme, the Cartier Women’s Initiative has unveiled for the very first time, nine impact awardees – former fellows whose businesses have achieved significant impact.

The Impact Awards cover three categories: Improving Lives, Preserving the Planet and Creating Opportunities, which are based on the United Nations Sustainable Development goals. Three former fellows are recognised in each of these three categories.

The first prize awardee of each of the three Impact Award Categories will be announced during the Impact Awards Ceremony, on 6 March 2022 in the context of the World Reunion at the WorldExpo 2020 in Dubai.

The first prize awardee will take home US $100,000 in prize money, while the second and third runners-up will respectfully receive US $60,000 and US $30,000. Finally, the nine awardees will each receive human capital support.