Cartier Women’s Initiative Is Calling On New Zealand Businesses To Stand Up

A unique opportunity shapes a grant that counts financial, human and social capital as a drawcard for impactful businesses to thrive.

In today’s luxury environment, providing a commitment to social responsibility issues is a fundamental component to ensuring that best business practice is embedded within a company’s values, along with staying relevant to its discerning customers.

For French high-jewellery brand Cartier, its longstanding support of female entrepreneurs continues to help shape the way in which women-led businesses are valued globally. To date, it has provided much-needed support to 298 women impact entrepreneurs since it launched its Cartier Women’s Initiative in 2006.

The annual international entrepreneurship programme has proven to be one of the more successful examples of social responsibility, focusing squarely on empowering women impact entrepreneurs and businesses that have a strong sustainable social and/or environmental impact.

This week, Cartier announced its continued commitment to developing and growing the programme, with 33 fellows. Get to know them here.

These changemakers hail from 23 countries, and have created successful market-based solutions to global challenges, in sectors as diverse as healthcare, education, food systems, and climate solutions, to name just a few.

This year’s awards also receives the backing of high-profile ambassadors along with a significant increase in grant funding amounting to USD $2 million, the largest the awards has ever granted.

Even more pertinent to the local market is the launch of the Oceania Awards, celebrating finalists from Australia and New Zealand for the first time as a standalone category. Three finalists have been named in the inaugural Oceania category this year: Lily Dempster of tech start-up One Small Step, Lina Xu of healthcare digital platform Telecare, and Ingrid Sealey of education management provider Teach Well.

The Oceania category rounds off regional categories that include another newly launched category this year — Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa — along with Latin American and the Caribbean, North America, Europe, Anglophone and Lusophone Africa, Middle East and North Africa, East Asia and South Asia and Central Asia.

The three Australian candidates join 30 other fellows from around the globe vying for a total of 11 awards comprised of nine regional awards, along with another newly launched award, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award, the only award open to all genders.

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The inclusion of this particular award feels relevant for the times, seeking to encourage entrepreneurial solutions to close gaps for access, outcome, or opportunities for communities that have been underrepresented.

The first-place award of each of the 11 awards will be announced during the awards ceremony on May 10 in Paris, with first-place awardees receiving USD $100,000 in grant funding, while the second- and third-place awardees receive USD $60,00 and USD $30,000 respectively.

While this year’s fellows do not include any New Zealand contenders, the opportunity is now open for potential local candidates to apply for the 2024 edition, online now.

Previous New Zealand finalists include Rebecca Percasky from Better Packaging, who was the South East Asia and Oceania winner in 2021, and social entrepreneur and founder of Eat My Lunch and AF Drinks Lisa King, who was a South East Asia and Oceania finalist in 2020.

Speaking to Viva at the time, King welcomed the experience of learning from the invaluable training sessions during lockdown.

“It’s been an amazing amount of coaching that you just don’t receive locally, particularly because it’s been such a hectic and crazy time for us changing the way we do everything,” she told Viva at the time. “It’s been a valuable opportunity to have expertise on the other side challenging us with what more we could be doing.” King now serves as a jury member for the newly created Oceania-specific category.

“Women have always had a pivotal role at Cartier,” explains president and CEO of Cartier International Cyrille Vigneron. “We are thrilled, this year, to further expand our recognition of changemakers across the world with our two new regional awards and our new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award.”

This year’s theme — Forces for Good — reflects the ever-evolving awards and how Cartier is adapting to the needs of applicants from around the world, aligning with Goal 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals — ‘fostering partnerships and recognising the power of collaborative effort.’

In addition to the unique opportunity and, of course, the hefty prize money, tailored mentoring continues to be a major drawcard for finalists involved, exposing businesses to a truly global community with networking opportunities and education courses from leading business school INSEAD.

For anyone interested in applying for the 2024 Cartier Women’s Initiative edition, the call for applications for the 2024 edition is now open and ends on June 30, 2023, at 6pm CEST.

Visit Cartierwomensinitiative.com. For more information and for a full, detailed list of entry criteria requirements, read more here.