The Cartier Women’s Initiative Regional Award 2027 for women impact entrepreneurs. – Opportunities For Africans

Application Deadline: June 16, 2026 at 2pm Central European Summer Time (CEST).

Applications are actually open for the 2027 Cartier Women’s Initiative Regional Award. The Regional Awards acknowledge women impact entrepreneurs from world wide who’re leveraging enterprise as a pressure for good. 

Requirements

• The Regional Awards of the Cartier Women’s Initiative are trying for women-owned and women-led impact-driven companies. Entrepreneurs throughout all sectors and geographies are inspired to apply.
• Applicants with disabilities are inspired to apply, and each effort shall be made to incorporate them appropriately.
• To be thought-about for this award, the applicant and the applicant’s enterprise should meet the next eligibility standards:
• Positive impact: The enterprise ought to reveal that it has realized constructive impact in its trade and that it has the potential to understand much more impact because it scales. It ought to contribute to at the least one of many United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a set of 17 world objectives set by the United Nations for the 12 months 2030 as a common name to sort out a variety of social, financial and environmental challenges.
• For-profit: The enterprise must be designed to generate adequate income to help its operations and return some stage of revenue to its house owners. Non-profit enterprises will not be eligible. That mentioned, the enterprise doesn’t need to be worthwhile on the time of application.
• Stage: The enterprise ought to have generated annual income between $50,000 USD and $5 million USD in its final closed fiscal 12 months as of the date of application and will make use of between 5 and 250 workforce members (i.e. full-time staff, part-time staff, seasonal employees, or contractors).
• Fundraising: The enterprise mustn’t have raised greater than $2 million USD in dilutive or probably dilutive funding (i.e. fairness, quasi-equity like SAFE or Convertible Notes) as of the date of application. Dilutive funding is any sort of funding that consists of a switch of the possession of your organization on the time of the funding or sooner or later underneath specified phrases. Businesses that haven’t raised any exterior funding are additionally inspired to apply.
• Leadership: The applicant have to be a lady and fill one of many fundamental management positions, for instance as CEO, COO, CTO, General Manager, or Managing Director of the enterprise.
• Independent entity: The enterprise entity and its funds have to be impartial from the founder(s). Moreover, it have to be an authentic creation, wholly conceived of by the workforce; a very new idea, that means it can’t be a spin-off or franchise of an present idea.
• Ownership: The enterprise have to be included and majority owned by its founders and workforce members on the time of application. The applicant have to be part of the founding workforce and personal a share better or equal to that of every of her co-founder(s). 
• Legal entry age: The applicant have to be at the least 18 years of age on the day of the application deadline (June 16, 2026).
• English proficiency: A very good command of the English language is required. 
  

Benefits

The fellows, representing the highest three impact companies from every of the 9 areas, will obtain:

FINANCIAL CAPITAL SUPPORT

• $ 100,000 USD grant for every first-place awardee

• $ 60,000 USD grant for every second-place awardee

• $ 30,000 USD grant for every third-place awardee

HUMAN CAPITAL SUPPORT

Human capital help is structured right into a fellowship program, which features a mixture of 1:1 coaching and collective workshops.

• Leadership communications and media coaching workshops

• In-person INSEAD Women’s Impact Entrepreneurship Program

• 1:1 coaching in particular enterprise areas

• 1:1 government management teaching by The Women’s Impact Alliance

SOCIAL CAPITAL SUPPORT

Throughout this system, we try to focus on the social and environmental impact created by our fellows and bridge connections between women impact entrepreneurs and their supporters.

• International publicity and media visibility

• Support and mentorship by jury members throughout the fellowship

• Access to a lifelong group of 500+ energetic group members

• Ongoing help for the event of the fellows’ impact companies

Time Commitment

 The applicant should decide to taking part within the fellowship program from January 2027 to December 2027.

Phase 1. Communication and Stance (January to May):

• • 2 days of on-site filming that includes the man and their enterprise
• • Approximately 20 hours of group workshops

Phase 2. Celebrate and Connect (May / June):

• • A 2.5-day in-person Women’s Impact Entrepreneurship program with INSEAD
• • Followed by 4.5 days of Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards Week

Phase 3. Skills and Leadership (June to December):

• • Approximately 28 hours of particular person enterprise and management teaching

In addition, fellows are required to report on their impact for three years following the completion of their fellowship.

Key dates: 

• The on-line application kind shall be open from April 16 to June 16, 2026 at 2pm Central European Summer Time (CEST).
• First spherical of notification emails shall be despatched out in August 2026. All candidates shall be notified by December 2026.  

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Regional Award