Cartier Women's Initiative Regional Awards

Who qualifies

• Woman in a main leadership role (CEO, COO, CTO, General Manager, or Managing Director)
• Woman owns a share greater than or equal to that of any co-founder
• Business generating revenue for at least 1 year as of application date
• Annual revenue between $50,000 and $5,000,000 USD
• Employs between 5 and 250 team members
• Has raised no more than $2,000,000 USD in dilutive or potentially dilutive funding
• Business has been in licensed/registered operations for 1 to 6 years as of application date
• Strong and sustainable social and/or environmental impact aligned with at least one UN Sustainable Development Goal
• Applicant is at least 18 years old
• English proficiency at CEFR Level B2 or higher
• Any country and sector eligible — US founders compete in the North America region

Hard requirements

• Must be incorporated
• Demographic eligibility: women-owned
• Women ownership required
• Minimum $50,000 annual revenue
• Minimum 5 employees

Is the Cartier Women's Initiative legit?

Yes. Cartier has run this international program for women entrepreneurs since 2006 and lists past winners by region. No application fee is mentioned.

• Who runs it: Cartier, as an annual international program
• Since: 2006
• Regional awards: $100,000, $60,000 and $30,000 for first, second and third place
• Taxes: Fellows pay any tax due on the grant

Sources: cartierwomensinitiative.com · page 2 · page 3. Last checked at the funder on October 18, 2026.

Past Cartier Women's Initiative winners

Recent North America winners:

• Julia Taylor, GeekPack, North America · 2024 Regional Awards, North America, First-Place
• Jessica Menon, Equilo, North America · 2024 Regional Awards, North America, Second-Place
• Kyla Bolden, Wiz Kid Learning, North America · 2024 Regional Awards, North America, Third-Place
• Wendy Owens, Hexas Biomass Inc., North America · 2023 Regional Awards, North America, First-Place
• Ania Wysocka, Simply Rooted Media Inc., North America · 2023 Regional Awards, North America, Second-Place
• Kayla Castañeda, Agua Bonita, North America · 2023 Regional Awards, North America, Third-Place

Names as published by Cartier Women's Initiative (source). GrantCompass is not affiliated with Cartier Women's Initiative.

What it covers

What the Cartier Women's Initiative application asks

The call for the 2027 edition was open from April 16 to June 16, 2026. Its applicant guide published every question in advance: these written answers, plus tables of impact metrics, customer segments, revenue streams and milestones, a 1-minute video, and uploads of two years of professionally prepared or audited financial statements, the company registration document, a cap table, your resume and a pitch deck of about 15 slides.

1. Please describe your company in one sentence. (150 characters)
2. What problem are you solving and for whom? (1,000 characters)
3. How is your solution uniquely addressing this problem? What is the big picture and vision? (1,000 characters)
4. What evidence of demand for your solution do you have from your customer segments? (500 characters)
5. Please describe your competitive landscape and your competitive advantage (1,000 characters)
6. Please describe your business model. (1,000 characters)
7. What resources are required to achieve these milestones and how will you secure them? (1,000 characters)
8. What systems, tools and processes do you use for project and milestone management? (500 characters)
9. Please list the top 2 risks associated with your business model. (500 characters each)
10. Please describe your team and how it delivers your unique solution. (1,000 characters)
11. What would being part of the Cartier Women's Initiative program mean for you and your company? (1,000 characters)
12. How have you contributed so far to the Cartier Women's Initiative vision and mission? (1,000 characters)
13. Please disclose and describe your use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to prepare this application. (500 characters)

The next call has not been announced. Use the Watch box below to get one email when it opens. Source: the 2027 Regional Awards Applicant Guide (cartierwomensinitiative.com).

How to apply

1. 1

   Verify eligibility and prepare impact narrative

   Confirm your revenue, funding raised, team size, and years in operation against the hard criteria. Map your business model to at least one UN SDG with specific evidence. This groundwork typically takes the most time.

   ~4 hrs

2. 2

   Complete the online application at cwi-portal.com

   The application requires detailed business information, founder background, financial data, impact metrics, and essay responses describing your social/environmental mission. Applications are only accepted through the official portal.

   ~12 hrs

3. 3

   Due diligence and jury review

   Five finalists per region/category are selected for detailed due diligence before the jury makes final selections. Finalists may be contacted for additional information.

   ~2 hrs

4. 4

   Fellows announced and awards ceremony

   Fellows are announced publicly. The awards ceremony for the 2026 cycle was held in Bangkok. Fellows receive not just the cash prize but also mentorship, media exposure, and access to Cartier's global network.

Deadline & timing

The 2027 award cycle (confusingly labeled as the '2027 edition') accepted applications from April 16 through June 16, 2026. Fellows are announced in early 2027. The 2026 fellows (30 total) were announced March 26, 2026 at an awards ceremony in Bangkok. New cycles typically open in April each year.

Programs that stack well

• Amber Grant for Women
• Tory Burch Foundation Fellows Program

Related programs

This program is not taking applications today — these are

Alternatives computed from the live GrantCompass catalog on November 1, 2026 — all 170 open grant programs · filter the database.

Explore more funding

• All 660+ US funding programs