Luxury brand Cartier has announced the 33 fellows selected for this year’s Cartier Women’s Initiative, including two Australians and one New Zealander.
Cartier, which launched its Women’s Initiative (CWI) back in 2006, has recognised 33 women impact entrepreneurs for 2024 for their achievements and solutions to pressing global challenges.
The winners of the CWI Awards will be announced in Shenzhen on May 22nd. First place awardees are granted US$100,000, second place awardees are granted US$60,000 and third place awardees are granted US$30,000. All 33 fellows, however, will have access to tailored mentoring and coaching, media visibility, networking opportunities and education courses from business school, INSEAD.
“We provide the necessary skills and knowledge to support entrepreneurship and its community creates space for connections between the hearts and minds of entrepreneurs and between entrepreneurs and their supporters,” Wingee Sin, Global Program Director of the Cartier Women’s Initiative, says.
“Every year we have the chance to hear from thousands of entrepreneurs from around the world through their applications, our community and ecosystem engagement events. Every year we prove that women are courageous business leaders that can be a formidable force for good, solving the pressing social and environmental challenges of our times, while being financially sustainable. They face the barriers of what seems impossible and yet do it anyway. They are successful, live to their full potential and help others live up to theirs.”
In the years since its launch, the CWI has supported 330 women, and awarded a total of US$9.5 million in grant funding to support fellows’ businesses.
Two Australians, Alison Harrington, founder of Resparke, and Frances Bilbao, founder of Mums Matter Psychology, were named as fellows, as well as Simran Kaur, founder of Girls That Invest, from New Zealand.
Here’s the full list of CWI fellows for 2024
| NAME | AWARD CATEGORY | COMPANY | COUNTRY OF ORIGIN |
| Marlene Molero Suárez | FELLOWS FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN | Elsa | Peru |
| Mercedes Bidart | FELLOWS FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN | Quipu | Colombia |
| Isabela Chusid | FELLOWS FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN | Linus | Brazil |
| Jessica Menon | FELLOWS FOR NORTH AMERICA | Equilo | USA |
| Julia Taylor | FELLOWS FOR NORTH AMERICA | GeekPack | USA |
| Kyla Bolden | FELLOWS FOR NORTH AMERICA | Wiz Kid Learning | Canada |
| Mira Nameth | FELLOWS FOR EUROPE | Biophilica | UK |
| Amaia Rodríguez | FELLOWS FOR EUROPE | Gravity Wave | Spain |
| Laura Harnett, | FELLOWS FOR EUROPE | Seep | UK |
| Victoria Munguti | FELLOWS FOR FRANCOPHONE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA | Heptapay | Rwanda |
| Jessica Long | FELLOWS FOR FRANCOPHONE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA | Maad | Senegal |
| Isabelle Kamariza | FELLOWS FOR FRANCOPHONE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA | Solid’Africa | Rwanda |
| Titilope Adewusi | FELLOWS FOR ANGLOPHONE AND LUSOPHONE AFRICA | 9IJKIDS | Nigeria |
| Claire van Enk | FELLOWS FOR ANGLOPHONE AND LUSOPHONE AFRICA | Farm to Feed | Kenya |
| June Muchuku | FELLOWS FOR ANGLOPHONE AND LUSOPHONE AFRICA | Plumbee | Kenya |
| Rania Gaafar | FELLOWS FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA | Adva | Egypt |
| Shahira Yahia | FELLOWS FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA | Chitsoan Egypt | Egypt |
| Salma Bougarrani | FELLOWS FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA | Green Watch | Morocco |
| Emily Yu | FELLOWS FOR EAST ASIA | Ginger Ah | China |
| Jiwon Park | FELLOWS FOR EAST ASIA | Saib | South Korea |
| Xintong Du | FELLOWS FOR EAST ASIA | Voicechanger | China |
| Ira Guha | FELLOWS FOR SOUTH ASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA | Asan | India |
| Mansi Jain | FELLOWS FOR SOUTH ASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA | DigitalPaani | India |
| Marina Tran-Vu | FELLOWS FOR SOUTH ASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA | Equo | Vietnam |
| Alison Harrington | FELLOWS FOR OCEANIA | Resparke | Australia |
| Simran Kaur | FELLOWS FOR OCEANIA | Girls that Invest | New Zealand |
| Frances Bilbao | FELLOWS FOR OCEANIA | Mums Matter Psychology | Australia |
| Ninna Granucci | FELLOWS FROM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PIONEER AWARD | Green Spot Technologies | France |
| Lynne Lim | FELLOWS FROM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PIONEER AWARD | Nousq | Singapore |
| Monika Tomecka | FELLOWS FROM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PIONEER AWARD | UFRACTION8 | Scotland and Poland |
| Sadriye Gör | FELLOWS FROM DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION AWARD | BlindLook | USA |
| Erica Cole | FELLOWS FROM DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION AWARD | No Limbits | USA |
| Akshita Sachdeva | FELLOWS FROM DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION AWARD | Trestle Labs | India |
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