Five iL2L alumni from five nations have been invited to give the youth report on the findings at the 2013 annual Women’s Forum in Deauville, France. This year’s program’s theme is competition, cooperation, and creativity. Delegates will look at open digital innovation and the role women uniquely play in this arena. The program also examines the digital effect on Europe and what the future holds. The following Gen Y report comes to you from The Global Women's Forum on the Economy and Society.
On the eventing of October 17, 2013 at the Global Women’s Forum in Deauville, France, I attended the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards ceremony. The Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards are an international business competition that rewards exceptional women-run, socially conscious start-ups. Six remarkable women, each from a different part of the world, won an award for their businesses. Each woman’s project gears their intelligence, energy, and passion to starting businesses that help others.
Latin American laureate Gabriela Maldonado creates educational materials for children as well as training for teachers and parents. From the North American finalists, Priyanka Bakaya won the award for the technology she developed to convert plastic waste into fuel. Leonora O’Brien from Ireland won her Cartier Women’s Initiative Award for her cloud-based platform that allows pharmacists to record and report adverse drug effects. The Sub-Saharan Africa laureate, Bilikiss Adebiyi, won for her company that uses low-cost cargo bicycles to collect recyclable garbage in Nigerian slums. From the Middle East and North Africa category, the winner was Sima Najjar, who produces online quality ‘how-to’ videos in Arabic. Last but not least, Namita Banka from India won an award for her environmentally friendly bio-toilets.
In his speech at the beginning of the ceremony, Cartier CEO Stanislas de Quercize quoted writer Samuel Johnson, “to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life”. He joked that for the laureates the saying could be modified to “to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business life”. These six laureates show the importance of a career will not only be measured in terms the success of a business; they show that the true value is in the effect an initiative has on the world and the people who live in it.
Elizabeth Woodward, iLIVE2LEAD Ambassador for the U.S., is a junior at Brown University, where she studies History and Comparative Literature. At Brown, Elizabeth is a Managing Director of the University's Ivy Film Festival, the largest student-run film festival in the world. As a passionate journalist and political advocate, she has interned at Vanity Fair magazine, in New York Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney's district office, and writes for Brown's College Hill Independent. Outside of Brown, Elizabeth and her mother manage a program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that offers educational and vocational opportunities to adolescent girls.
iLive2Lead is a youth leadership-training program based in Washington, D.C., that conducts training in various nations in each region of the world. iL2L brings the most exceptional young leaders together for International Leadership Summits and works with them to develop social initiatives which they lead back in their home nations, thus creating global examples of social responsibility and a ripple effect of impact worldwide.
Photo copyright Julien KNAUB/ABACA PRESS. Courtesy of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards. All rights reserved.
a global affairs media network
The Gen Y Reports from The Global Women's Forum: The Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards
October 22, 2013
Five iL2L alumni from five nations have been invited to give the youth report on the findings at the 2013 annual Women’s Forum in Deauville, France. This year’s program’s theme is competition, cooperation, and creativity. Delegates will look at open digital innovation and the role women uniquely play in this arena. The program also examines the digital effect on Europe and what the future holds. The following Gen Y report comes to you from The Global Women's Forum on the Economy and Society.
On the eventing of October 17, 2013 at the Global Women’s Forum in Deauville, France, I attended the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards ceremony. The Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards are an international business competition that rewards exceptional women-run, socially conscious start-ups. Six remarkable women, each from a different part of the world, won an award for their businesses. Each woman’s project gears their intelligence, energy, and passion to starting businesses that help others.
Latin American laureate Gabriela Maldonado creates educational materials for children as well as training for teachers and parents. From the North American finalists, Priyanka Bakaya won the award for the technology she developed to convert plastic waste into fuel. Leonora O’Brien from Ireland won her Cartier Women’s Initiative Award for her cloud-based platform that allows pharmacists to record and report adverse drug effects. The Sub-Saharan Africa laureate, Bilikiss Adebiyi, won for her company that uses low-cost cargo bicycles to collect recyclable garbage in Nigerian slums. From the Middle East and North Africa category, the winner was Sima Najjar, who produces online quality ‘how-to’ videos in Arabic. Last but not least, Namita Banka from India won an award for her environmentally friendly bio-toilets.
In his speech at the beginning of the ceremony, Cartier CEO Stanislas de Quercize quoted writer Samuel Johnson, “to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life”. He joked that for the laureates the saying could be modified to “to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business life”. These six laureates show the importance of a career will not only be measured in terms the success of a business; they show that the true value is in the effect an initiative has on the world and the people who live in it.
Elizabeth Woodward, iLIVE2LEAD Ambassador for the U.S., is a junior at Brown University, where she studies History and Comparative Literature. At Brown, Elizabeth is a Managing Director of the University's Ivy Film Festival, the largest student-run film festival in the world. As a passionate journalist and political advocate, she has interned at Vanity Fair magazine, in New York Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney's district office, and writes for Brown's College Hill Independent. Outside of Brown, Elizabeth and her mother manage a program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that offers educational and vocational opportunities to adolescent girls.
iLive2Lead is a youth leadership-training program based in Washington, D.C., that conducts training in various nations in each region of the world. iL2L brings the most exceptional young leaders together for International Leadership Summits and works with them to develop social initiatives which they lead back in their home nations, thus creating global examples of social responsibility and a ripple effect of impact worldwide.
Photo copyright Julien KNAUB/ABACA PRESS. Courtesy of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards. All rights reserved.
