Three Australian female entrepreneurs are on the precipice of having their life-changing work funded to the tune of USD $100,000 (approx. AUD $150,000) after being named finalists in the Cartier Women’s Initiative’s first ever Oceania category.
Lily Dempster, Lina Xu and Ingrid Sealey are among the 33 fellows nominated from around the world for the initiative, which recognises businesses driven by a common conviction: solving the most pressing global challenges. This year’s theme is Forces For Good, aiming to drive collaborations and effect changes at a systems level.
Dempster, 34, is the founder of One Small Step, a consumer technology profit-for-purpose start up that supports the mass decarbonization of society by encouraging deep behaviour change across multiple sectors.
Xu, 40, founded the digital healthcare platform Telecare, which provides patients with high-quality specialist care from home—a game-changer for patients in remote or rural communities.
And Sealey, 40, is behind the training platform Teach Well, which aims to improve educational outcomes for students with high-impact teacher training.
“Women have always had a pivotal role at Cartier, who has actively supported women entrepreneurs for more than 16 years,” said Cyrille Vigneron, President and CEO of Cartier International.
“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.”
Now in its 16th year, the Cartier Women’s Initiative has supported 298 women impact entrepreneurs, hailing from 63 companies, awarding more than USD $7 million in funding to support their businesses. This year, the grant funding has increased to USD $2 million.
All 33 fellows are guaranteed funding, with the second and third place recipients receiving USD $60,000 and $30,000 respectively. They’ll each also receive tailored mentoring and coaching, media visibility, networking opportunities and education courses from the world-class business school INSEAD.
“Our vision is a world in which every women impact entrepreneur can realise her full potential,” Wingee Sampaoi, who leads the Cartier Women’s Initiative, told marie claire Australia last year.
“I spent the first 15 years of my career in the capital markets, with the last role being in corporate innovation, which gave me a lot of exposure to entrepreneurship. The role uncovered for me the enormous potential entrepreneurs can have on the world in terms of social and environmental impact, and at the same time, it was clear that women were missing in all these opportunities. This led to my passion in women impact entrepreneurship, and that was seven years ago now!”
The winner of each category will be announced on May 10, during the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards Ceremony in Paris.
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