Courage in Action: Inside the WomenEntrepreneurs4Good Journey
“Courage: Bold Move for A Better World” was the theme of this year’s Women's Forum Global Meeting, a fitting backdrop for recognizing entrepreneurs who take audacious action to drive real impact. This is exactly the kind of entrepreneurs the Women Entrepreneurs 4 Good (WE4G) program supports. Launched in 2021 by the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society in partnership with HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute,, later joined by Bank of America, Bredin Prat and Rexel, WE4G is a purpose-driven accelerator dedicated to empowering early-stage women-led ventures focused on green innovation and social impact. Every year in November, the 10 laureates of the program get a chance to pitch their project at the Women’s Forum Global event, the culmination of an incredible journey powered by the partners’ respective ecosystems. Let’s follow in these women’s entrepreneurs footsteps.
WE4G 2025 Cohort: Meaningful Solutions From All Over The World
WE4G addresses persistent challenges faced by female founders, such as limited access to capital and networks. This results in a growing interest globally, with the overall program receiving in 2025 more than 450 applications of women from 58 different nationalities. For the 2025 cycle, over 110 projects advanced through an intense three-day Startup Sprint, made of market and customer research coaching, and business model support, leading to the selection of 10 finalists. This year’s laureates represented groundbreaking solutions spanning sustainability, healthcare, education, and tech:
- Jamii Life: Redefining care work and designing care systems rooted in dignity and fairness. (country)
- Pigmentoco: Revolutionizing the textile industry with waterless pigment technology.
- Cognitii: Democratizing special needs education with AI and human expertise. (India)
- EcoPulp PH: Producing biodegradable food and beverage packaging from fruit peelings and discarded leaves.
- Teens Safe Space: Creating safe, privacy-first digital environments for youth in Europe.
- Journy: Simplifying product data sharing to enable consumers to make sustainable choices and track sustainability.
- Koaloo.Fi: Helping companies elevate business resilience and ESG performance by transforming supply chains.
- MOBIKLINIC (YoKlinic): Bridging the healthcare gap in East Africa using tech-enabled compassionate care solutions.
- Soma App: Making quality education accessible to every child via an AI-powered gamified learning platform. (Kenya)
- Femworld Foundation: Tackling menstrual health and hygiene in India through the SAM (Sustainable Affordable Mindful) Project.
A Day of Intensive Preparation at Station F
The program culminated in Paris, starting with an intensive pitch preparation session at Station F on Wednesday, November 5th. The entrepreneurs participated in pitch training sessions with representatives from key partners, including Bank of America, HEC Paris, and the Women’s Forum. This year, each partner’s representatives were separated into different rooms, allowing the founders to move around and pitch their projects at least twice. This structure provided them with feedback and constructive advice from various perspectives, and helped them refine their pitch and presentation before the final competition the next day.
The day’s activities also included a visit to Station F and a powerful fireside chat with Dr. Marcelle Laliberté. This discussion focused on navigating biases to achieve legitimacy and belonging in the innovation system, particularly for women founders. She emphasized that while unconscious biases are natural human functions that cannot be eliminated, understanding them—such as the snap judgments based on perceived warmth and competency—is prevalent for strategic interaction.
A major challenge highlighted is the “prevention-promotion” bias in fundraising, where women typically face questions about risk mitigation (prevention), whereas men are asked about growth and competitive advantage (promotion). The key practical tool offered is learning how to flip prevention questions into promotion statements to reclaim the narrative. “This bias is especially critical given that women-led ventures are 63% less likely to receive funding”, she stated. Ultimately, she encouraged continuous self-reflection using a social identity map, prioritizing the "self" bucket (at least 10% of time) in the work/life balance framework, and leveraging courage and empathy to counter external and internal challenges.
The Grand Pitch at The Women’s Forum Global Meeting
November 6th officially launched the WF’s global meeting as well as the culmination of the WE4G program. Nine of the finalists flew into Paris to present their solutions on the global stage at the Women's Forum Global Meeting, an event that attracted 1,500 participants, 154 speakers, representing 25 countries.
Fueled by everything they had learned the day before, the nine finalists gathered their courage and stepped on stage. Five minutes was all they had to convince both the audience, and the jury panel made of:
- Juliette Crouzet from Bredin Prat,
- Vanhnary Songvilay from Bank of America Business
- Marzena Silka-Etienne from Rexel
- Sarah Lemaire from Publicis
- Inge Kerkloh-Devif from HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute
Each entrepreneur explained why their project mattered, showing the vision, sharing the data, and proving the impact, viability, scalability of their solution.
All nine female founders nailed the exercise, but only two remained victorious:
- Jury Prize Winner: Cognitii, awarded by Inge Kerkloh-Devif (HEC Paris) and Vanessa Songvilay (Bank of America).
- Audience Prize Winner: Pigmentoco, presented by Marzena Silka-Etienne (Rexel) and Juliette Crouzet (Bredin Prat).
Congratulations to them!
Pigmentoco’s founder Amal Chebbi declared:
“I dedicate this moment to my daughters, my family, my country Tunisia, and to every woman who feels the fire to innovate, to disrupt, and to go beyond the limits the world quietly tries to place on her.”
WE4G: A Growing Initiative and The Birth of a Powerful Community
The WE4G experience didn’t stop right after the pitch competition. On the next day, on November 7th, all nine laureates attended a dedicated breakfast sponsored by Bank of America held on Friday at the Ritz Hotel. This special event brought together the 2025 nine laureates, alumni from previous cohorts, as well as the program’s sponsors.
During the breakfast, Bank of America prompted the participants to discuss the “bold actions” or courageous moves they had recently undertaken with their startups. The event also served two key purposes:
The presentation of the WE4G Impact Report, covering all four cohorts, highlighting the program’s success. Key achievements include:
- 100% of respondents stayed in entrepreneurship;
- Over 200 jobs created;
- 61% of respondents secured new funding post-program.
- €5.47 million raised from private investors
The launch of the WE4G alumni group, which will be led by Anna Vallée, an alumna of the first cohort. HEC Paris will support this group by providing events and resources, and partners like Bank of America will be able to post relevant content to the community.
