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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Our Awards recognize women impact entrepreneurs from around the world who are leveraging business as a force for good. 

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The fellowship program is the human capital support provided to our fellows. It aims to equip our fellows with the necessary skills to grow their business and to enhance their leadership by drawing on the experience and expertise of industry leaders, academics, ecosystem enablers and entrepreneurs, while also enabling peer learning.

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Fellows will have many high-visibility speaking opportunities throughout their Cartier Women’s Initiative journey. This foundational program, delivered online to all fellows, in groups and individually, focuses on the essentials of high-performance communications.

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What's included:

• INSEAD Women's Impact Entrepreneurship Program: The INSEAD Women's Impact Entrepreneurship Program is a 3-day executive leadership program that deepens fellows’ knowledge on how to manage, scale, finance and measure their impact based on their positioning on the impact entrepreneurship life-cycle. Live cases methodology allows fellows to learn about each other’s businesses and receive practical suggestions from experts and peers.
• 1:1 Customized Training: Based on jury feedback and action plans, developed during the INSEAD Program, fellows choose their preferred human capital development track. Examples include training in impact measurement, strategic finance, fundraising and investor management, revenue growth and sales strategy, organizational management.
• Leadership Coaching: Over 6 months, each fellow receives 8 hours of intensive 1:1 leadership coaching sessions with a certified coach. The Women's Impact Alliance coaches work with the fellows to help them achieve their personal and professional goals. Rather than directly advising the fellows, the coaches guide them and help them realize their strengths.
• Wellbeing Journey: Impact entrepreneurs, like all of us, need support to cope with emerging challenges, develop the capacity to be well despite experiencing fear, anxiety, frustration, and many other emotions, and practice self-care. No matter what challenges or obstacles we face, it is essential to remember that we must take good care of ourselves to care for others. Different events and activities will be organized around self-care and well-being throughout the fellowship journey.

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Timeline:

• Jan - May: Communication and media training, visual assets production and well-being activities.
• Jun: In-person induction, INSEAD Women's Impact Entrepreneurship Program, Awards Week and Ceremony.
• Jul - Dec: Customized training, executive leadership coaching and well-being activities.

The company needs to be “for-profit” meaning that it should be structured in such a way as to be self-sustainable by generating sufficient revenue to sustain and grow its activity in the long run. We do not accept applications from non-profit entities. That being said, we do accept applications from for-profit companies that give back a portion of their revenues to charities – as long as the company’s primary goal is to generate revenue.

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Furthermore, we also accept applications from business structures such as B corps and Community Interest Companies (CIC) so long as they are not dominantly reliant on donations/grants. It should be further noted that if more than 30% of your financing comes from donation /grants and/or that you have a perpetual need for donations/grants, then your chances of making it past the preliminary screening are very slim.

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For Regional Awards, the business should have generated annual revenue between $50,000 USD and $5 million USD in its last closed fiscal year as of the date of application and should employ between 5 and 250 team members (i.e. full-time employees, part-time employees, seasonal workers, or contractors). The business should not have raised more than $2 million USD in equity or quasi-equity financing.

For Science & Technology Pioneer Award, the business should be at least a TRL4, should not have been commercializing its final product/service for more than 5 years, and should not have raised Series A round as of the date of application. 

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If you are applying to the Regional Awards, you need to have at least 5 team members. Team members can include full-time employees, part-time employees, seasonal workers and contractors. We are looking for businesses with sufficient traction and human resources to start scaling their impact.

Follow the link for more information and please cite Ripple Opportunities in your application.