Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award
Cartier Women's Initiative
Funding Amount
$30,000 - $100,000
Matching Funds
Funding Cycle
Application deadline is June 30, 2023
*Annual grant and will re-open in 2024*
Description
Financial Capital Support
- US$ 100,000 grant for each first-place awardee
- US$ 60,000 grant for each second-place awardee
- US$ 30,000 grant for each third-place awardee
Human Capital Support (Fellowship)
Our fellowship program focuses on several key areas of human capital support for women impact entrepreneurs and offers a combination of 1:1 training and collective workshops.
- 1:1 training in specific business areas
- 1:1 advice sessions with subject matter experts in CWI Community
- Community peer learning and networking sessions
- Online and in-person leadership communications and media training workshops
- In-person INSEAD Women Impact Entrepreneurship Program
- 1:1 leadership capacity executive coaching by The Women’s Impact Alliance (formerly The Coaching Fellowship)
Social Capital Support
Throughout the program, we strive to highlight the social and environmental impact created by our fellows and bridge connections between women impact entrepreneurs and their supporters
- International exposure & media visibility
- Access to an online & offline community of 700+ experts and peers
- Ongoing support for the development of the fellows’ businesses"
Who Can Apply
Embedded diversity, equity, and inclusion impact: The business should demonstrate that its main purpose is to work towards closing gaps of access, outcome or opportunity for underserved or underrepresented communities. Underserved or underrepresented communities might vary according to geographies. These communities suffer from discrimination based on different dimensions of diversity such as age, gender, sexual orientation, abilities (physical and mental), ethnicity, geographic location or religion. This list is not exhaustive. Gaps of access, outcome or opportunity, as they relate to levels of income/income inequality, are also eligible but the applicant should seek to address they are related to existing discrimination based on internal dimension(s) of diversity. Otherwise, the business would be a better fit for the Regional Awards
For-profit: The business should be designed to generate sufficient revenue to support its operations and return some level of profit to its owners. Non-profit enterprises are not eligible. That said, the business does not have to be profitable at the time of application
Early-stage: The business should have a proven business model and be in the initial phase of its development and growth (between 1 and 6 years of licensed/registered operations as of the date of application). This means that businesses applying to the 2024 edition must have been incorporated between June 2017 and June 2022
Revenue generation: The business should be generating revenue from the sales of its products and/or services for at least 1 year as of the date of application, recurring according to your business cycle. For businesses applying to the 2024 edition, this means that they need to have been generating revenue since June 2022
Fundraising: The business should not have raised more than US$2 million in dilutive funding as of the date of application. Dilutive funding is any kind of funding that requires you to give away a piece of your company, including not only future profits, but possibly control. The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award caps the funds raised in order to ensure that the businesses selected fall within a similar range of development. Please note that businesses that have not raised any external funding are also encouraged to apply
Leadership: The applicant must fill one of the main leadership positions, for example as CEO, COO, CTO, General Manager, or Managing Director of the business
Ownership: The business must be majority owned by its founders and team members at the time of application. The applicant must be part of the founding team and must own a share greater or equal to that of each of their co-founder(s). Sole proprietorships are ineligible for the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award. Entrepreneurs across all sectors and geographies are encouraged to apply. While the other regional and thematic awards of the Cartier Women’s Initiative focus on supporting women, this pilot award is open to all genders
Additional Eligibility Requirements
To apply, you need to complete the online application form and provide the supporting documentation listed below
Compulsory
- Your resume
- Your business registration document
- Your business financial statements for the most recent financial year (unaudited acceptable)
- Your pitch deck: we are not looking for a specific format, just submit an existing pitch deck that accurately describes the impact of your business. This can be an investor presentation or a product presentation (no more than 15 pages max.)
- A one-minute video of yourself in which you answer the following questions:
- What is your motivation behind solving the problem that you have identified?
- What is the impact you wish to create through your solution?
- What do you wish to gain/contribute to the Cartier Women’s Initiative community?
Optional
- Your business’ impact framework (Theory of Change)
- Your business’ competitive landscape
- 3 additional attachments of your choice: image of product, brochure, press, article, research, etc
(These documents must be submitted with the online application and cannot be sent separately)
Resources:
https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/resources
FAQ:
https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/faq
How to apply:
https://www.cwi-portal.com/submit/258077/2024-diversity-equity-inclusion-award
Location(s)
Worldwide
Additional Information
N/A
