The annual Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards (CWIA), launched in 2006, grants $20,000, media exposure, networking opportunities and a year of business coaching to six female-run social enterprises—one from each major region.
A highlight of the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society is the CWIA ceremony and the glamorous after party. After a week of interviews and pitches to the jury, the 19 finalists of the 2012 CWIA, chosen from 1,000 applicants across 80 countries, put on their finest for the ceremony. The event was hosted by Women’s Forum president, Véronique Morali, and Cartier’s then-CEO, Bernard Fornas.
The award for the Middle East and North Africa went to Iba Masood, whose online career portal gradberry.com caters to young job seekers in the Gulf Region. The youngest winner celebrated her 23rd birthday the next day. The biggest surprise of the night was saved for last: an extra $20,000 was awarded to finalist Michèle Boisdron-Celle of France. Her company, Onco Drug Personalized, has developed means to guard against the toxicity of chemotherapy treatment. The donation will save 600 cancer patients’ lives.
Following the ceremony, hundreds turned out to fête the winners at Deauville’s seaside casino. The theme of the evening was growth in Africa, also a major focus of the Women’s Forum. African belly dancers, drummers and singers took to the stage against a backdrop of jungle animals. Partygoers nibbled on roasted swordfish with green beans from Kenya, couscous from the Maghreb and Ugandan peanut soup. They danced to a mix of African and western sounds until the early hours of the morning.
Sub-Saharan Africa CWIA Winners
Elizabeth Scharpf, an American management consultant in biotech and pharmaceuticals, and Julienne Ingabire, a Rwandese businesswoman, were CWIA’s sub-Saharan Africa winners. They founded Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), which addresses women’s health issues in Rwanda.
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“A lack of affordable sanitary pads in developing countries, like Rwanda, puts girls at a distinct gender disadvantage,” says Scharpf, CEO of SHE.
International pad brands are expensive in Rwanda, which means that girls and women from low-income brackets miss school or work to avoid embarrassment. SHE produces low-cost pads from local materials, which are sold by local entrepreneurs. Initial pilots yielded positive results. SHE’s pads will be 35% cheaper than locally-made brands and 70% cheaper than international ones. The company has cut distribution costs by 15% and hopes to slice consumer costs further by lobbying parliament to exonerate sanitary pads from Rwanda’s 18% sales tax.
In 2010, Lindsey Stradley partnered with two students at MIT Sloan School of Management to establish Sanergy. Their first product is the Fresh Life toilet: a hygienic and inexpensive ($200 apiece) individual unit. It offers privacy and collects waste through a water-free system, which is transported to Sanergy’s processing plant to generate biogas and organic fertilizer.
Nthabi Sibanda’s project, Puo Educational Products, produces bilingual books to preserve the continent’s languages and cultures. Sibanda develops African learning material to reconnect children to their heritage and further their language skills.
“We differentiate ourselves by opting for a bilingual medium. Children gain great social and cognitive benefits from speaking two languages,” says Sibanda.
Nominations for the 2013 Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards open in March.
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