Three Australian women leveraging business as a force for good have been propelled to the world stage by the global Cartier Women’s Initiative program.
Lily Dempster, Lina Xu and Ingrid Sealey are representing the Oceania region among the 32 fellows chosen around the world for this year’s program.
Since 2006, the Cartier Women’s Initiative has helped shine a light on the achievements of women impact entrepreneurs and provide them with the necessary financial, social and human capital support to grow their businesses and build leadership skills.
The program is open to women-run and women-owned businesses from any country and sector that aims to have a positive and sustainable impact on society as defined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Who are the three Australian impact entrepreneurs chosen for the program?
Lily Dempster
Founder and CEO of One Small Step, Lily Dempster’s business is a consumer technology profit-for-purpose startup that supports the mass decarbonisation of society by encouraging deep behaviour change across multiple sectors.
The 34-year-old entrepreneur holds an LLB from Australia National University, and her business has reached three UN Sustainable Development Goals: Climate Action, Sustainable Cities and Communities and Good Health & Wellbeing.
Lina Xu
Lina Xu is co-founder and COO of Telecare Australia, a digital platform providing patients with high-quality specialist consultations from the comfort of home, facilitated by a general practitioner or through its hospital partners.
The 40-year-old entrepreneur holds an MBA from Harvard Business School in the US, and her business has reached three UN Sustainable Development Goals: Good Health & Wellbeing, Reduced Inequalities and Sustainable Cities & Communities.
Ingrid Sealey
Director and founder of Teach Well, Ingrid Sealey runs a business working to improve educational outcomes for Australian students with high-impact teacher training.
The 40-year-old entrepreneur holds an MA from Columbia University in the US, and her business has reached three UN Sustainable Development Goals: Quality Education, Reduced Inequalities and Gender Equality.
What funding and support do fellows receive?
This year’s Cartier program features a total of 11 awards, with the winner of each announced during the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards Ceremony, held in Paris, on May 10, 2023.
The first-place awardees will take home USD $100,000 in grant funding, while the second and third-place winners each receive USD $60,000 and $30,000.
That brings the total grant funding per edition to USD $2 million, which is the program’s largest amount to date.
In addition to the grant funding, all 32 fellows will receive tailored mentoring and coaching, visibility, networking opportunities and education courses from the leading business school INSEAD.
For the past 16 years, the Cartier Women’s Initiative has awarded a total of USD $7,440,000 in grant funding and supported 298 women impact entrepreneurs from 63 different countries.
The Cartier Women’s Initiative’s expanding global impact
For the 2023 edition of the program, Cartier has expanded its commitment to supporting businesses that solve pressing global challenges by introducing new regional and thematic awards.
As a result of the regional awards, every year 3 women entrepreneurs from across Australia, NZ and the Pacific Islands will be chosen to take part in the program.
And with this year’s program also increasing its grant funding and raising the total number of fellows to 32, the Cartier Women’s Initiative’s impact is clearly growing.
Following the successful introduction of the Science and Technology Pioneer Award in 2021, the program has added a second thematic award, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award, which seeks to encourage entrepreneurial solutions to close gaps of access, outcome or opportunities for underrepresented or underserved communities.
“Women have always had a pivotal role at Cartier, who has actively supported women entrepreneurs for more than 16 years,” said President and CEO of Cartier International Cyrille Vigneron.
If you are a female entrepreneur with an environmental or social impact business, apply now for the Cartier Women’s Initiative 2024 cohort. Applications close 30th June 6pm CEST.