6 Females win 2013 cartier women entrepreneur awards

The 2013 Cartier Women Entrepreneur Awards were unveiled Thursday with six distinguished business women from around the global being nominated as the laureates of the year. The announcement was made at a major awarding ceremony Thursday evening by jury leaders in Deauville in northwestern France, on the sidelines of the ninth Women's Forum global meeting. The six laureates, selected out of 18 finalists from six continents around the world, are honored for their creativity, financial sustainability and social impact of their businesses. They won the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards trophy, which includes one year of personalized coaching and 20,000-U.S.-dollar funding. Among the three finalists from the Asia-Pacific region, Namita Banka, an India female entrepreneur was awarded for promoting and marketing her ecological bio-toilets project. The other five winners were from Guatemala, the United States, Ireland, Nigeria and Jordan. Dedicated to providing special taxi service to the disabled and the senior, Doris Leung, an entrepreneur finalist from China's Hong Kong, told Xinhua that although she didn't win the title, her business project is widely praised by juries. She hoped to continue her business so as to influence more people to care and improve social services to the disable and the aged population. "The Awards recompense women who rise to the challenge of matching social impact with economic value. From innovative waste management to education and healthcare, their businesses champion a spirit of enterprise built on values of generosity and responsibility. Cartier is honored to accompany them and committed to encouraging their passion for new ideas," said Stanislas de Quercize, president and chief executive officer of Cartier International. In an interview with Xinhua, the Cartier president said by setting up the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards, the company aims to pay tribute to women's entrepreneurship and their passion. "We want them to be a role model, we want them to be with visibility," he said. The Cartier Women's Initiative Awards were created in 2006 as a joint partnership project by Cartier, the Women's Forum, Mckinsey & Company and INSEAD business school. The first laureates were awarded in 2007.