Award giving ceremonies are more popular than ever

(eTN) – Very unusual and unique is the Cartier Women’s Initiative Award in its ambition, and it is meant to shed light on budding entrepreneurs from all around the world, unknown to media, and to s

(eTN) – Very unusual and unique is the Cartier Women’s Initiative Award in its ambition, and it is meant to shed light on budding entrepreneurs from all around the world, unknown to media, and to suppport them in a tangible and compresensive way is how Bernard Fornas, President and CEO of Cartier International described the award at the Women’s Forum Global Meeting 2010 in Deauville, France.

The Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards are an annual international entrepreneurship competition for women and is a joint project with the Women’s Forum. This year’s event focused on the slogan, “Change – Make it Happen.”
Five Laureates from 5 continents are awarded each year and each receives US$20,000 in coaching support for a full year, along with an executive trophy designed by Cartier. This year’s winners were selected from an applicant pool of 600 projects, with the finalists representing 11 different countries.

For the first time, the Cartier Trophy went to a tourism project and the winner, Gouthami, founder of “Travel Another India,” stands for responsible tourism ventures and rural development in India. Gouthami was utterly touched when receiving the award and said that it has made up for all the hard work and very tough times she went through.

Her project, “Travel Another India,” promotes rural destinations for frazzled India city travelers. The company locates an appropriate village and provides training, support, and marketing to the community for the first 3 years to get them started on the right foot.

After 17 years of working with NGOs in rural communities throughout India, Gouthami has concluded that the best way to eliminate poverty is through business and not aid. She also has long-term goals for these responsible tourism ventures and has developed a revenue model that involves a fixed comission for the first three years to find the required support for villages.

The Cartier Women’s Initiative Award was created in 2006 by Cartier and the Women’s Forum for Economy and Society in partnership with McKinsey & Company and INSEAD, one of the world’s leading and largest business schools, with three campuses in Europe, France, Asia (Singapore), and the Abu Dhabi in the Middle East.

Women matter said the Kinsey Report. Female leadership is a competive edge for the future to adress the global challenges that corporations will face in the near future. Women represent over half of the global talent pool – it is clear that they should be at the forefront of the economic and socials scene, says the new study from McKinsey. Gender diversity is not just a social concern. Among a variety of levers that corporations can use to address the global trends, one lies in leadership’s capacity to manage effectively and capture the global opportunties, says the report.

There is nothing to add to this statement… except for, just make it happen.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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