The Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards want to empower more female entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams

INSEAD, the graduate business school, is one of the world’s most acclaimed destinations for MBA scholars and has been supporting the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards since its inception in 2006.

And the reason for this backing is that “entrepreneurship is very important. It is one way to innovate”, according to Ilian Mihov, dean of INSEAD. “Entrepreneurs change the business models and give rise to new product designs.”

This mindset, along with Cartier’s “unwavering mission” to drive change and accelerate the growth of female entrepreneurship around the world, backs the long-standing prestigious awards.

This year, 2,800 applications were received from 14 countries, and the finalists span six sectors – health, environment, education, culture, electronics and technology.

“Historically, men can plug in very quickly. Though the number of female entrepreneurs has increased in the last years, they are still significantly lower. If you go outside advanced economies, this network is virtually nonexistent. So what we want to do is help create this network for women,” Mihov points out.

Cyrille Vigneron, president and CEO of Cartier, attests that “when we created the awards over a decade ago, our aim was to support [women’s] initiatives and build a network to help their ideas grow. Today, this vibrant ecosystem federates hundreds of people around the world whose generosity and commitment are an inspiration to us all.”

Mihov agrees. “Eighty per cent of the past laureates’ companies are still in operation. There are some that have grown quite significantly. And now with the new set-up I think there will be more impact,” he says.