Meet the finalists of the 1st edition of the WomenEntrepreneurs4Good initiative : Female entrepreneurs powering the Green Transition

The Women’s Forum, Procter & Gamble, and HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship announces the 9 most promising green projects for the first edition of the WomenEntrepreneurs4Good initiative.

PARIS, 16 JUNE 2021 – Selected among hundreds of qualified candidates across Europe due to the strength of their green projects, the 9 finalists of the WomenEntrepreneurs4Good are revealed during the ViVatech 2021, Europe's biggest startup and tech event held this week in Paris.

The Women’s Forum, in partnership with Procter & Gamble and HEC Paris, launched the WomenEntrepreneurs4Good initiative in March 2021, with an aim to provide immediate support for female entrepreneurs during the pandemic, and foster creativity and innovation to drive the green transition in Europe.

More than 200 female entrepreneurs representing over 60 green projects participated in dedicated workshops led by HEC alumni, and conducted customer research to explore the demand for their products and services, improving their business models. This initial phase was followed by two intense days of StartUp Design Sprint where these entrepreneurs presented their research, honed their ideas and finalized their pitches for the Pre-Jury.

On June 7, the 12 semi-finalists pitched their concept and development projects in front of the Grand Jury. Consisting of 5 leading figures from different sectors, the Grand Jury evaluated the projects on the basis of innovation, scalability, team capacity, and concrete impact.

The finalists will be celebrated and have an opportunity to network with venture capitalists, investors, corporates and meet other ambitious female founders from Vivatech on June 18. They will then move to the final stage in July: immersing themselves into a 5-month incubator program, which offers tailor-made business coaching, networking opportunities, technical support, connections and access to an ecosystem of stakeholders and global partners with a variety of resources and business opportunities.

“In this historically crucial moment we must all commit to creating an inclusive, sustainable and resilient economy. I am honored to have participated to the WomenEntrepreneurs4Good initiative as a Grand Jury member and have the opportunity to meet the participants to this first 2021 edition, an incredibly talented group of female entrepreneurs and deeply committed to tackling today’s challenges.” Audrey Tcherkoff, Managing Director at the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society

“At P&G, we are committed to supporting and championing women entrepreneurs and fostering green innovation. I’m thrilled that the accelerator programme will enable these nine promising businesses to grow. My colleagues and I very much look forward to mentoring these incredible entrepreneurs! Alongside our partners, we aspire to see this programme grow in scale and impact so we can create a diverse and dynamic ecosystem of entrepreneurs to drive the green transformation.” Fares Sayegh, Senior Vice President Europe and Global Supply Network Operations at Procter & Gamble

“I was really impressed by the quality of the presentation. The teams that we selected have a great future and we will do our utmost to accelerate their development. You will hear about them!” Eloic Peyrache, Dean and General Director at HEC Paris