Cartier Women’s Initiative 2027: call, how to apply

THELight the way not for yourself, but for those who arrive later. This purpose of Cartier Dialogues, Women Lighting the Pathinside the Cartier Women’s Initiative – the international program of the high jewelery maison which has supported inclusive female entrepreneurship for two decades – a moment to take stock of what has been done so far to offer recognition and support to promising female entrepreneurs and announce the next steps of the project. That is to say, the opening of nominations for the 2027 edition (from April 16) and the awards ceremony of 2026, which will be held on June 10 in Bangkok and will reveal the first, second and third place winners for each of the ten prizes.

On the stage of the event, held in Milan on April 1st (exceptional godmother, Amal Clooney)the message that the brand is relaunching loud and clear today clearly emerged: the Cartier Women’s Initiative it’s much more than just a prize. As Rodolphe Ratzel, Managing Director Cartier South East Europe, recalled, over time the competition has become a platform capable of offering visibility, connections and concrete tools to its “fellow“, who choose to build businesses with a clear social or environmental vocation. From 2006 to today it has supported 360 female entrepreneurs in 67 countries, distributing over 14 million dollars and building an international network of training, mentorship and support.

Cartier’s Women’s Initiative, the 2027 call and how to apply

For those wishing to apply, the call for the 2027 edition will open on 16 April 2026 to 2:00 pm and will close on June 16, 2026 at the same time. The program is open to companies founded or led by women, in any sector and geographical area, as long as they are capable of combining business and impact. In exchange, it offers funding, coaching, access to a global community, visibility and, above all, the legitimacy that can change the fate of a project. Or, at least, speed it up.

Not just rights: Amal Clooney and the global cost of inequality

In the room, many young women, with the attentive air of those who want to seize this brilliant opportunity. But also to listen to Amal Clooney, a lawyer specializing in human rights and international law and co-founder of the Clooney Foundation for Justice. Impeccable in presence (in Elie Saab Autumn Winter 2026/2027 total look), measured in tone, sharp in words: in the center of his opening keynote and of his speech, the very hot topic of female empowerment. How can we restore concrete weight to a word that is so often consumed and abused?

First, give a precise measure to the problem: the gender gap, she said, is not just an injustice, but “a moral and economic catastrophe.” The most serious point, according to Clooney, is the so-called “brain drain”: the dispersion of talent that occurs every time a woman is discouraged, silenced or kept away from decision-making places. And it is perhaps from here that we better understand the profound meaning of the Cartier Women’s Initiative: not to abstractly celebrate female talent, but to prevent its dispersion.

A fundamental passage of his speech was precisely this: rights alone are not enough if there is no compact and powerful network willing to make them effective. “We need more allies: governments, philanthropic organizations and companies,” he stressed. Don’t let yourself be paralyzed by the size of the numbers, choose a problem, a possible change and start from there. “Deciding to help a single person or change a single life is what matters,” he explained. And then: “If more people did it, we would live in a better world.”

The European finalists of the Cartier’s Women’s Initiative 2026

If there is a word that really conveys the meaning of the Cartier Women’s Initiative, it is perhaps precisely the one that the program uses to define the his protagonists, “fellows”. In English it indicates a person recognized as part of a community of peers, selected not only for what they have already built, but for their potential, vision and ability to generate impact over time. It is a lexical nuance that says a lot about the ambition of the project: not a one-off prize, but a system of accompaniment, legitimation and growth.

And it is perhaps here, more than in the celebrations, that the Cartier Women’s Initiative truly reveals its nature, at 20 years old at birth. In the stories of the 3 European fellows of 2026 present at the meeting in Milan, between the 30 finalists expected in Bangkok on June 10th for the awards ceremony: women who they didn’t just have an idea, but they decided to start from an urgency to do good, as well as business.

Women who turn a problem into a business

There is Angela Ursemwhich with Food for Skin he imagined a skincare capable of being born from food industry wasteoverturning the very logic of beauty and remembering, with an almost disarming simplicity, that «we are not just a skincare company; we are here to create a big impact,” she explained, adding that the application process requires rigor but should not lose authenticity: “Do it from the heart,” she advised all the women who attended the event.

There’s the French one Elise Thorelfounder of Marie Curry, a catering and restaurant company that employs refugee and immigrant women, giving them back income, stability and professional recognition, who perhaps left the most human testimony of the day by saying that she hesitated to try again, after an initial refusal, “out of ego”, before listening to that small inner voice that told her not to give up. Because, as he said, in three years everything can change, including the way you look at your leadership.

From skincare born from waste to the menopause app

And there it is Hahyeon Parkcofounder of Omenawhich he chose to build an app for menopause and perimenopause starting from a simple and radical assumption: female pain is not a fate to be normalized. Amal Clooney also underlined the importance of her initiative: her gesture has something particularly powerful because, despite being very young and not yet experiencing that transition firsthand, Hahyeon has decided to take on the problem of other women. This is perhaps the highest form of alliance, taking charge of what does not yet concern you, but which you already know you cannot leave on the sidelines. A very clear and rare way of understanding entrepreneurship as a form of responsibility.

Next to them, Yvonne Bradyfellow of 2014 and today Community Activator of Cartier Women’s Initiative for Europeexplained what makes this program different from many others: the fact that the prize, after all, does not end with the prize. May it continue in a network, in a community, in a shared lexicon of ambition and mutual support. Her advice to future candidates, «Know your numbers» “know your numbers” seemed like the perfect counterpoint to everything else: knowing how to give substance to intuition. As if to say that courage counts, yes, but it is not enough. It must be accompanied by precision, structure and credibility.

Cartier Women’s Initiative: more than a competition, a journey

Don’t just encourage young women to try. The Cartier Women’s Initiative seems to be asking them to do it seriously. With vision, of course. But also with rigor, clarity, awareness, as underlined by the director of the initiative, Kiyo Taga-Witkin. It’s not enough to have a good idea: you need to know how to tell it, defend it, measure it. Cyrille Vigneron, Chairman Culture and Philanthropy Cartier International, also remembered this well, insisting on a concrete point: leadership is not a label to be assigned, but something that is built over time. «Leaders grow, leaders learn», “leaders grow, leaders learn”. And this is perhaps precisely the most contemporary value of the program: not limiting itself to celebrating female talent, but finally giving it tools, credibility and a community in which to grow.

Twenty years after its birth, the Cartier Women’s Initiative continues to do what it promises in its name: not just reward, but initiate. Opening paths, creating networks, giving legitimacy to ideas that would otherwise remain on the margins. Highlight them. And if the most concrete lesson of the day comes from the fellows, the most memorable one perhaps remains entrusted to Amal Clooney: “Have courage: the only sure way to fail is not to try.”