May 24-26,

2021

- Virtual

- Other Ceremony

2021 Awards Ceremony

The strides that women impact entrepreneurs have made are already considerable. But with more people by their side, they can reach new heights. With our collective support, their actions can build up to a tide of change, making the world a better place for generations to come.

Introduction

For the first time in decades, the world has retreated in its progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Worse still: if we do not act, the Covid-19 pandemic could push us into a lost decade of global development. There are several routes to getting back on track. Entrepreneurship, philanthropy, corporate programs and not-for-profit initiatives, to name a few. We know that meeting the global goals has always required innovative thinking. But today, more than ever, it also requires new alliances and radical collaboration.

2021 AWARDS CEREMONY

Meet the bold women who are selected as the fellows for the 2021 edition of the Cartier Women’s Initiative.

“Every generation has the opportunity to renew the values, systems, and structures that define their societies, and to jettison those that no longer serve.”

Jacqueline Novogratz

Founder and CEO, Acumen

Featured Speakers

Jacqueline Novogratz

Founder & CEO, Acumen

Tiffany Dufu

Founder & CEO, The Cru

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Former Trader, Expert on Risk and Uncertainty, Best-Selling Author

Ellen Ochoa

Astronaut; Director of NASA Johnson Space Center (2013-2018)

Over the past year, the world has been gripped by the impact of multiple, interconnected crises – COVID-19, climate change, inequality – which show us that we are at an unprecedented moment in history, in which human activity has become a dominant force shaping life on earth. Increasing pressures which humans have put on nature for many decades have brought the world to an existential moment which calls for great transformation. In this keynote, Ulrika Modéer assesses the opportunities opened by pandemic for all societies to make key changes in how we live, work and cooperate – changes which have the power to put people and planet on a safe, equitable and sustainable pathway out of our existential climate emergency while bringing an end to poverty and inequalities.

SPEAKER

Ulrika Modéer, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA). Ms. Ulrika Modéer officially began her role on 20 August 2018 as UNDP’s Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy. In this role she leads the organization in nurturing and growing key relationships with Member States, and new and emerging partners, as well as lead UNDP’s communications and advocacy, as it works to realize the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals. Ms. Modéer previously served as Sweden’s State Secretary for International Development Cooperation and Climate and has been instrumental in reshaping the country’s international development cooperation to support the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

The 17th Sustainable Development Goal - Partnerships for the Goals - requires a commitment to building multi-stakeholder partnerships to mobilize and share knowledge, expertise and technology. And in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, a collective approach is more crucial than ever. Who are the people and organizations driving radical, cross-sector collaboration across the full spectrum of forces for good? What impact have they had, and what are the lessons they have learned? How are they spreading their model to inspire others?

SPEAKERS

Mellody Hobson, President & Co-CEO, Ariel Investments; Member of the Board of Directors for the Starbucks Corporation. Mellody Hobson is president of Ariel Investments, the Chicago-based investment-management company. She serves on the boards of Estée Lauder, Starbucks, the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum, the Chicago Public Education Fund, and the Sundance Institute
Olivia Leland, Founder and CEO, Co-Impact. Olivia Leland is the Founder and CEO of Co-Impact, a global philanthropic collaborative launched in 2017 that sources and supports locally-rooted coalitions working to achieve systems impact at scale in the Global South, with a core focus on advancing gender equality and women’s leadership. Olivia has more than two decades of international experience in government, philanthropy, and the non-profit sector. She served most recently as the founding director of the Giving Pledge, has worked for several microfinance NGOs, and consulted in the areas of strategy development, multi-sector collaboration, and advancing gender equality.
Stephanie Benedetto, CEO and Co-Founder, Queen of Raw. Corporate attorney turned fashion tech and sustainability entrepreneur, Stephanie is the Co-Founder of Queen of Raw, a marketplace to buy and sell unused textiles, keeping them out of landfills and turning pollution into profit. Prior to Queen of Raw, Stephanie worked as a lawyer in the fashion, media/entertainment, and technology industries. An advocate for women in business and sustainability, her companies have been featured in NPR, Good Morning America, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and WCBS. Stephanie is a 2020 Inc. Female Founders 100, NASA/NIKE/IKEA/DELL LAUNCH.org Innovator, a Grand Prize WeWork Creator Awards Winner, a Cartier Women's Initiative Laureate, and an MIT Solve - Circular Economy Solver.
SESSION LEAD

Anna Ryott, Anna Ryott is a business activist with a goal to change the world to a better place through business, capital and creativity. She is founder of HEART17, a global initiative to accelerate the UN SDG’s. Globally she is known as a thought leader and for investing in businesses focusing on sustainability. She is also principal at Summa Equity and the board of UNDP SDG Impact Steering Group, Dagens Industri Newspaper, Axel Johnson AB, Löfbergs Lila and Cake Motorbikes. Previous Anna Ryott was CEO of Swedfund – the Swedish development finance institution. Anna Ryott was named as Sweden’s most powerful female change maker by Veckans Affärer and was awarded with HM Konungens Medal for “Significant contributions to Swedish society and industry”.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb coined “antifragility”, the capacity to leverage random events and shocks as an opportunity. In a world where uncertainty is the norm, the antifragile not only survive but thrive. In this session, speakers examine recent global events through the lens of antifragility and discuss possible implications for the future of work and entrepreneurship. They explore how to build an antifragile society and promote localized problem-solving in an increasingly interconnected world. They also discuss how to honor and enable the work of entrepreneurs, “the tinkerers of history” whose iterative mindset epitomizes antifragility.

SPEAKERS

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Former Trader, Expert on Risk and Uncertainty, Best-Selling Author. Taleb spent 21 years as a risk taker (quantitative trader) before becoming a researcher in philosophical, mathematical and (mostly) practical problems with probability. Taleb is the author of a multivolume essay, the Incerto (The Black Swan, Fooled by Randomness, Antifragile, and Skin in the Game) covering broad facets of uncertainty. It has been published into 43 languages. In addition to his trader life, Taleb has also written, as a backup of the Incerto, more than 50 scholarly papers in mathematical statistics, genetics, quantitative finance, statistical physics, philosophy, ethics, economics, & international affairs, around the notion of risk and probability.
Cyrille Vigneron, President & Chief Executive Officer, Cartier. Mr Vigneron was appointed to the Board in 2016 and is a member of the Senior Executive Committee. He is a graduate of ESCP – Paris. On 1 January 2016, he succeeded Mr Stanislas de Quercize as Chief Executive Officer of Cartier. Prior to his new role, Mr Vigneron was President of LVMH Japan and worked with Richemont from 1988 to 2013: principally with Cartier, rising to become Managing Director of Cartier Japan, President of Richemont Japan, and finally, Managing Director of Cartier Europe
MODERATOR

Katrine Marçal, best-selling author on women and innovation. Her first book Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner? has been translated into more than 20 languages. Margaret Atwood called it "a smart, funny and readable book on women, economics and money". It was named one of The Guardian's books of the year in 2015. BBC also named Katrine one of its 100 Women in 2015.

“In a world that constantly throws big, unexpected events our way, we must learn to benefit from disorder.” (Nassim Nicholas Taleb). If there’s anything the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us, it’s that embracing volatility as the norm can help entrepreneurs come out stronger when they face the unprecedented. In this segment, we feature Covid-19 responses from fellows and explore how their antifragility has supported the most vulnerable in these challenging times.

SPEAKERS

[2020 Fellow] Temie Giwa-Tubosun, LifeBank, Nigeria. LifeBank is a medical distribution company that uses data and technology to discover and deliver essential medical products to hospitals in Nigeria.
[2020 Fellow] Lisa King, Eat My Lunch, New Zealand. Eat My Lunch's mission is to ensure no child goes to school hungry, using a buy-one-give-one model to give lunches to children in need.
[2021 Fellow] Olga Kitaina, CEO and Founder, Alter, Russia. Alter is a science-based service helping people to find a right and professional psychotherapist with proper method and specialization.
[2021 Fellow] Yetunde Ayo-Oyalowo, Founder, Market Doctors, Nigeria. Market Doctors delivers healthcare services to people in the informal sector at their doorstep without disrupting their economic activities.
Moderator

Maria Shriver, Award-Winning Journalist, Author, and Founder of Shriver Media and The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement. Maria Shriver is a mother of four, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist, a seven-time New York Times best-selling author, an NBC News Special Anchor and the founder of the nonprofit The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement. Always curious about the world, Maria has devoted her life to reporting and interviewing some of the biggest changemakers of our time. In addition to her work for NBC News, she is also the founder of the media enterprise Shriver Media, which produces award-winning documentaries and films, bestselling books and a beloved popular weekly email newsletter called “The Sunday Paper.” Shriver’s life and career are driven by her fervent belief that everyone has the ability to be an “Architect of Change”.

How does one pioneer innovation? How can scientific progress be leveraged to meet demands generated by 21st century challenges? Each of the three Cartier Women's Initiative Science & Technology Pioneer Award fellows share a social/environmental problem that they are obsessed with - and their solution to fix it.

SPEAKERS

[2021 Fellow] Prof. Dr. Rana Sanyal, Co-Founder & CSO, RS Research, Turkey
[2021 Fellow] Dr. Christina Gyenge, Founder & CEO, Agora Energy Technologies Ltd., Canada
[2021 Fellow] Dr. Orianna Bretschger, CEO, Aquacycl, USA

Jacqueline Novogratz left a career in international banking to spend her life on a quest to understand global poverty and find powerful new ways of tackling it. She is celebrated for her work on the “moral imagination", which is an ethical framework for changemakers that emphasizes shared humanity, opportunity, choice and dignity for all. In this keynote, she discusses how women impact entrepreneurs and their enablers can develop moral leadership practices to guide their work, and help build a world where anyone can reach their full potential.

SPEAKER

Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Acumen. She founded Acumen in 2001 with the idea of investing philanthropic patient capital in entrepreneurs seeking to solve the toughest issues of poverty. As a pioneer of impact investing, Acumen and its investments have brought critical services to hundreds of millions of low-income people worldwide. Jacqueline and her team also launched Acumen Academy to instruct others in global social change, and several for-profit impact funds designed to invest at the intersection of poverty and climate change. Jacqueline is also the New York Times best-selling author of The Blue Sweater and Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World.

The traits that were associated with being a successful entrepreneur - competitiveness, cutthroat-ism, knowing how to “move fast and break things” - are being supplanted. Anthropologists and business leaders are hailing a new era in entrepreneurship, where traits like transparency, empathy and humility are key. Often, this helps entrepreneurs pursue sustainability and a healthy corporate culture alongside profitability. In this session we asked our fellows to share their story through one personality trait that they consider as decisive in their entrepreneurial journey.

SPEAKERS

[Community Spirit] Seynabou Dieng, 2021 Fellow, Founder & CEO, MAYA Sarl, Mali
[Curiosity] Mimi Wu, 2021 Fellow, Co-Founder and Director of Myanmar Recycles, Myanmar
[Drive] Basima Abdulrahman, 2021 Fellow, Founder & CEO, KESK, Iraq
[Patience] Jenifer Clausell Tormos, 2021 Fellow, Founder & CEO, Develop Diverse, Denmark
[Team Spirit] Andrea Barber, 2021 Fellow, CEO & Co-Founder, RatedPower, Spain
[Trust] Tomilola Adejana, 2021 Fellow, Co-Founder & CEO, Bankly, Nigeria
[Transparency] Barbara Granek, 2021 Fellow, Founder & CEO, FishTag, USA & Brazil
[Unconventionality] Rebecca Hui, 2021 Fellow, Founder & CEO, Roots Studio, USA
[Nonconformism] Ellington West, 2021 Fellow, CEO and Co-Founder, Sonavi Labs, USA

A key figure in the world of Diversity & Inclusion is the sponsor: a more senior, experienced, and better-connected individual who is invested in their protégé’s career vision. Sponsors actively champion their protégés and often use their own platforms, networks and reputation to give them greater exposure. How do supporters go the extra mile to become sponsors? How can men actively participate in and support sponsorship for a diversity of protégés? How can women impact entrepreneurs build “collaboration capital” and actively ask for help when they need it?

SPEAKERS

Mercedes Abramo, President and CEO, Cartier North America. Mercedes Abramo was appointed president and CEO of Cartier North America in June of 2014. She began her career at Cartier in 2008 as director of the flagship Fifth Avenue Mansion after a successful career in the luxury hospitality industry. She then served as assistant VP of New York retail, overseeing all New York boutiques, and then as VP of retail for all of North America. She has more than 20 years of retail, hospitality and luxury goods experience, having held management positions with Loews Miami Beach, Ritz Carlton Hotels and Tiffany & Co. In her current role, Ms. Abramo oversees the strategy and operations for Cartier North America. She is the first female and the first American to hold this position in North America.
Ilian Mihov, Dean and Professor of Economics, INSEAD. Professor Ilian Mihov was appointed Dean of INSEAD on 1 October 2013. He is concurrently the Rausing Chaired Professor of Economic and Business Transformation. His expertise is in macroeconomics with a focus on monetary policy, fiscal policy and economic growth. He is a fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research and vice president of the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research. Currently he is a board member of the Singapore Economic Development Board, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, Singapore American School and other advisory boards. In 2018 he won the UN Women (Singapore Chapter) HeForShe Leader Award for his outstanding service and contributions towards gender equality at INSEAD
Susana Garcia-Robles, Senior Partner, Capria Ventures; Senior Advisor to the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America. Susana Garcia Robles is a recognized expert on finance innovation on emerging markets, an investor in seed and VC funds, and a builder of entrepreneurial ecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean. She is a Senior Partner at Capria Ventures and Senior Advisor to the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America. An avid supporter of ecosystems, she is a co-founder of the Argentinean VC/PE association/ARCAP and the Colombian VC/PE association /Colcapital. In 2012 she co-founded WeXchange, the first pitch competition and platform for LAC women entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors. In 2019 she co-founded WeInvest Latam, a network of women investors. She continues mentoring entrepreneurs and early stage fund managers.
Session lead

Sylvia Ann Hewlett, CEO, Hewlett Consulting Partners; Bestselling Author. She is also the founder and Chair Emeritus of the Center for Talent Innovation. In her scholarship and consultancy work Hewlett has focused on the “value of difference” and the challenges and opportunities faced by women, people of color, LGBT employees and other previously excluded groups. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Century Association. Hewlett is the author of 17 Harvard Business Review articles and 16 critically acclaimed books, including Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor, Executive Presence, and The Sponsor Effect. She has been recognized as the Most Influential International Thinker by HR magazine and honored by Google with its Global Diversity Award.

Serendipitous moments are not pure coincidence - serendipity is the ability to find valuable insights or assets that one didn’t set out to find in the first place. In this session, each fellow shares the story of a person – or a moment – that unexpectedly sparked a change in their entrepreneurial journey, and explains how to create your own “career luck”.

SPEAKERS

Sabina Bharwani, 2021 Fellow, Founder & CEO, Hello World, USA
Natalie Chan, 2021 Fellow, Founder & CEO, OWN Academy, Hong Kong, China
Rafa Cavalcanti, 2021 Fellow, CEO & Founder, CloQ, Brazil
Rana El Sakhawy, 2021 Fellow, Founder & Managing Director, MonkiBox, UAE
Manal Hakim, 2021 Fellow, Founder & CEO, Geek Express, Lebanon
Rebecca Percasky, 2021 Fellow, Co-Founder & Director, The Better Packaging, New Zealand
Edwina Sharrock, 2021 Fellow, Founder & CEO, Birth Beat, Australia

The practice of intentionally investing in women has existed since the 1970’s, but the term “Gender Lens Investing (GLI)” only emerged about a decade ago. There is a strong business case for investing in women entrepreneurs, and for investing in businesses that engage with women at every step of the value chain – as leaders, partners, suppliers or consumers. How can we promote the business case for GLI? What does the GLI landscape look like today, and what are some of the best practices for intentionally investing in women?

SPEAKERS

Suzanne Biegel, Founder of Catalyst at Large and Co-Founder of the GenderSmart Investing Summit. Suzanne is a globally recognized expert on gender-smart investing. Her work has influenced hundreds of funds and institutional investors, and billions of dollars of capital to move with a gender lens. Her work spans research, field building and consulting on gender-smart investing. She is the co-author of Project Sage, the global market scan of PE, VC, and private debt vehicles with a gender lens. Suzanne also co-teaches Getting Gender Smart at Duke University. She sits on a number of advisory boards. She recently co-led the DFI Gender Finance Collaborative, and advises on the 2x Challenge and the now DFI 2X Collaborative.
Laura Huang, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School. Laura Huang’s research examines interpersonal relationships and implicit bias in entrepreneurship and in the workplace. She is the creator and co-founder of Project Emplify, an initiative dedicated to addressing inequality and disadvantage through personal empowerment. Her award-winning research has been featured in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, and Nature, and she was named one of the 40 Best Business School Professors Under the Age of 40 by Poets & Quants, and to the Thinkers 50 Radar list as one of the leading management thinkers in the world. Her first book is entitled Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage.
Stefanie Thomas, Head of Investments at the Impact America Fund, Cartier Women’s Initiative Jury Member. Stefanie is one of six operators deploying capital in early stage technology ventures at Impact America Fund (IAF). Stefanie joined IAF to combine years of transactional experience with a passion to drive more equitable capital in venture. Stefanie has centered her efforts around network effects that propel the work of bootstrapped entrepreneurs. Prior to IAF, she co-founded two social enterprises and led development for an evergreen impact investment fund at a private university. In 2014, a 6,000 mile road trip to work with entrepreneurs across the US led to her deepened involvement in building more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems and amplifying the economic imperative for venture investment in overlooked markets.
Session Lead

Raya Papp, Founding Partner at SAGANA, a global impact investing and advisory firm where she focuses on Healthcare and Gender-Smart Investing. Raya co-authored the “Gender Lens Investing Landscape - Asia” report and partners with Cartier Women’s Initiative to support their program for women impact entrepreneurs. She was Co-Head of Asia Pacific at LGT Impact managing the region's investment portfolio. She ran the Social Enterprise Team at Impact Investment Exchange Asia and served as interim Director of Water for Cambodia. Raya began her career on Wall Street holding various positions in corporate finance and M&A at Morgan Stanley, Thomson Reuters and Deutsche Bank. She worked at Priceline.com, closing two rounds of private equity and the IPO

People often ask Ellen Ochoa if she always wanted to go to space. But when she was a little girl, nobody thought a woman could be an astronaut! That didn’t stop Ellen Ochoa from growing up to be the first Latina in space and the second woman director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. In this keynote, she touches on the issues that have defined her historic career: the importance of role models for women in STEM, and how to cultivate perseverance, motivation, and a desire for self-discovery.

SPEAKERS

Ellen Ochoa, Astronaut; Dir. of NASA Johnson Space Center (2013-2018). Ellen Ochoa is the first Latina ever to go to space. She’s also only the second female Director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center—where she led the human space flight enterprise for the nation from 2013 to 2018. Ochoa is a trailblazer like no other. She’s a history-making astronaut, a brilliant inventor, a gifted corporate leader who left her mark on the culture of NASA, a role model for women executives, a hero of the Latinx community, and a lodestar for discussions about females and minorities pursuing scientific and technical fields. Ochoa is the recipient of NASA's highest awards, the Distinguished Service Medal and the Presidential Distinguished Rank of the Senior Executive Service.

Women’s representation in dominant narratives shapes perceptions about what they can or cannot do. How can we promote cultural narratives that support an entrepreneurial spirit at every step of a woman’s life? Who are the people challenging prevailing norms, defining new values, and changing the story? How does representation affect a woman’s ability to realize her full potential? And how can we embrace diversity in all its forms?

SPEAKERS

Yara Shahidi, Actor, Producer, and Change Agent. Yara Shahidi is an award-winning actress, producer, change agent, and breakout star of ABC’s Emmy-and Golden Globe-nominated series black-ish. Shahidi is the executive producer and lead of its Freeform spinoff series, grown-ish, playing character Zoey Johnson. Off-screen, Yara is a full-time student at Harvard University where she is earning a B.A. in Social Studies and African American studies. She is a champion for inclusive media programming and an advocate for equity. In 2019, Shahidi expanded her relationship with ABC by signing a multi-year producing deal with business partner and mother, Keri Shahidi, under the moniker: 7th Sun Productions. Next up, Shahidi will take on Tinker Bell in Disney’s live-action Peter Pan & Wendy.
Moderator

Erica Lovett, Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Cartier North America. Thought leader, strategist and community builder, Erica Lovett creates sustainable change around diversity, equity and inclusion within the workplace and throughout the brand experience. Lovett supports the development of individuals and brands, working with talent from early career to senior executives to strengthen employee experience, company culture and brand reputation. Lovett is currently the North America Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Cartier. She is the first diversity and inclusion leader to join the company and is responsible for all aspects of DE&I. Lovett has been recognized by the National Diversity Council as one of the 2020 Top 50 leaders in Entertainment and The Root 100’s Most Influential African Americans in 2020.

2021 Awards Ceremony

Introduction

2021 AWARDS CEREMONY

Featured Speakers

Jacqueline Novogratz

Tiffany Dufu

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Ellen Ochoa

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