Having Opened Applications For Its 2024 Edition, Cartier Women's Initiative Is Aiming To Bring Together More "Forces For Good" The Cartier Women's Initiative envisions "a world in which every woman impact entrepreneur driving social and environmental change can achieve her full potential."

"Whether you believe in human rights, or just prosperity, it is a good idea to try to unshackle half the population of the world."

Amal Clooney made this statement during her speech at the 2023 Cartier Women's Initiative awards ceremony held in Paris in May, and these words by the acclaimed Lebanese-British barrister are a reflection of the principles that drive this annual international entrepreneurship program founded by the French Maison, Cartier, in 2006.

The Cartier Women's Initiative envisions "a world in which every woman impact entrepreneur driving social and environmental change can achieve her full potential," and it seeks to support women-run and women-owned businesses from around the world that aim to have a strong and sustainable positive impact on society as defined by the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Female impact entrepreneurs working in any country and in any sector are welcomed to apply for the program every year, and the selected applicants are then provided with the necessary financial, social, and human capital support to grow their respective enterprises, as well as build their leadership skills. Since its launch, the Cartier Women's Initiative has supported a total of 297 impact entrepreneurs hailing from 63 countries around the world, who have collectively been awarded US$7,440,000 in grant funding.

Having been able to attend this year's Cartier Women's Initiative awards ceremony in Paris, I got to speak with Sophie Doireau-Tiberghien, who is the CEO for the Middle East, Africa, and India at Cartier, to better understand the objectives and aspirations with which the Maison runs this program. According to Doireau-Tiberghien, who is known to be one of key driving forces behind Cartier's participation in the Women's Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, the Cartier Women's Initiative is yet another indication of the Maison's innate belief in the benefits the world stands to gain if it enables its women.

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Sophie Doireau-Tiberghien, CEO for the Middle East, Africa, and India at Cartier. Image courtesy Cartier.

"The fact is that when women thrive, humanity thrives," Doireau-Tiberghien says. "We have the strong belief that empowering women will empower the world, and that it will benefit everyone, both women and men." Doireau-Tiberghien, a Legion d'Honneur winner who has been working at Cartier for 15 years now, goes on to tell me that the program is something that she has been especially fond of all through her tenure at the company, and she's particularly proud about the fact that its cohort for this year, which awarded a total of 32 fellows, had 11 hailing from the regions under her purview.

But while the 2023 edition of the Cartier Women's Initiative has just come to an end, work has already begun on its next instalment. Applications are now open for the 2024 edition of this program, with Wingee Sampaio, Global Program Director at Cartier Women's Initiative, saying that this signals the start of a process that will keep running until the announcements of the winners next year.

"By the end of June, we'll end up with hopefully lots of applications, but, typically, across the 11 program categories that we have every year, we receive around roughly 1,100 applications," she says. "But we don't really look at the success of our program by the number of applications, because that is just how you roll your eligibility criteria- if you want a lot of applications, you'd just have less criteria. And so, for us, it's actually really trying to figure out, given the resources that we have, given what the program can do for a woman impact entrepreneur, about which group will benefit the most from this, which group is the most in need- that's why we created those resources to begin with. So, those two goes hand-in-hand, what we're good at, as well as what is needed, and, like all entrepreneurs, we're also trying to solve for a product-market fit."

Wingee Sampaio, Global Program Director at Cartier Women's Initiative. Image courtesy Cartier.

When asked if there are any particular characteristics that are common among all of the fellows of the Cartier Women's Initiative so far, Doireau-Tiberghien replies by first pointing towards their genuine want to make something better in the world around them. "Regardless of the field, be it information technology, environment, healthcare, or others, they all realize that there is a lack in something around them," she continues. "And then, when it comes to figuring out who could fill that gap, they think, 'Why not me?'"

Confidence and courage thus become key traits of the entrepreneurs that are a part of this program, despite the non-ideal circumstances they may often find themselves in, or the challenges they might find stacked up against them. But, as Doireau-Tiberghien puts it, they still have an unrelenting thirst to make change happen, and for that, they are ready to move mountains as well.

A cursory look at the Cartier Women's Initiative fellows this year will be enough to understand what Doireau-Tiberghien is talking about. Consider, for instance, Khadija Elbedweihy, founder of Egypt-based startup, PraxiLabs, one of the winners in the MENA category this year. As a university student, Elbedweihy had struggled with the lack of access to traditional labs in Egypt to aid her education, and she soon found out that this is a problem faced in many parts of the world. That's what led her in 2016 to launch PraxiLabs, which builds immersive virtual lab experiences that are accessible, usable, and affordable for educational institutions and schools.

Related: When Women Win: How The Middle East Is Showcasing Female Success Across Entrepreneurship And Tech

Khadija Elbedweihy, founder, PraxiLabs. Image courtesy Cartier Women's Initiative.

Another example, also from the MENA region, would be Saudi Arabia's Renad Aljefri, who, after finding it difficult to access to home-based therapeutic services for her child with special needs in the Kingdom, launched an online platform called Ad Astra Therapy that allows families to search for such offerings. Since its launch in 2020, Ad Astra Therapy today operates in more than 59 Saudi cities and towns, with its offering now using by more than 1,600 families across the country, and Aljefri is currently hoping to scale her enterprise to other Gulf nations, and then beyond the MENA region as well.

Sampaio adds here that the Cartier Women's Initiative would be especially beneficial for women impact entrepreneurs who'd like to see their enterprises grow beyond the borders in which they currently operate. "I think that just given where Cartier is, given our reach, and what the resources of the program are, it makes sense for an impact entrepreneur who eventually has ambition for global change, or maybe learning global best practices of their work, etc.," Sampaio explains. "And so, maybe in the immediate timeframe, their business may expand, let's say, from Dubai to the Middle East, and then from Middle East eventually to some selective market- if that's their eventual growth path, then our program's probably the right thing for them… All of the visibility, the grant funding, the education, the network, that we provide, it's all global. So, if you are an entrepreneur who's trying to get access to that, then it's the right program for you."

Renad Aljefri, founder, Ad Astra Therapy. Image courtesy Cartier Women's Initiative.

Now, it's one thing for the Cartier Women's Initiative to offer support to female changemakers- but it's another thing altogether for such women to actually make use of the opportunity that's being presented to them. It is, unfortunately, not uncommon for several greatly deserving and highly capable women to doubt themselves. Research has noted how women often lag behind men in confidence, and so, to those doubting themselves, and wondering if this program is for them, Doireau-Tiberghien insists that it is, and that they should dare to apply for it.

"Yes, it's for you," Doireau-Tiberghien declares. "As long as you have a business that is doing something to make the world better, to have a positive impact on it, then, yes, this program is for you. You have to dare to be a part of it, because most of the time, it's the self-confidence that we often don't have as women that keeps us away from capitalizing on opportunities like these."

Again, Sampaio agrees with Doireau-Tiberghien, and her advice for women who might be doubtful about participating in the Cartier Women's Initiative is quite simple. "Oh, just do it," Sampaio says. "Just do it. What's stopping you?"

The Executive Summary: Sophie Doireau-Tiberghien, CEO for the Middle East, Africa, and India at Cartier, shares her advice for women in business

1. Never forget who you are and what you stand for "Stay true to yourself, stay true to your values. This is the most important."

2. Aim to strike a balance between your work and your life "Your personal life, for me, is the rock on which you can build to be efficient at work."

3. Seek mentors and colleagues who will both challenge and support you in your career "The more you grow, the more you can be isolated. So, it's so important to have mentors and a team [around you]."

To submit your application for the Regional Awards of the Cartier Women's Initiative, please head to this website: https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/regional-awards

All information regarding the Cartier Women's Initiative application/registration can be found on this link: https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/awards

Related: Having Announced Its 2023 Fellows, Cartier Women's Initiative Is Now Welcoming Applications From Women Impact Entrepreneurs For The 2024 Edition Of The Program