
Vigneron (right) with Tsvetanova and the Blitab

Toksvig (left) chats with Mihov (second from right) and guest speakers in a panel discussion on the obstacles faced by women in entrepreneurship The ventures were indeed impressive in their idea, execution and potential for scale. Erin Keaney, the American founder of Nonspec, produces prosthetic limb kits for amputees for under US$200; Julia Romer of Germany invented an electricity-independent refrigerator under her company, Coolar, for storage of vaccines in remote regions; and Cameroonian Melissa Bime is behind Infiuss, a digital supply chain platform that operates a database of blood types available in connected hospitals and transports blood to patients in need. Each story came from a personal place and shared a common thread — the women took on these causes because they were driven by empathy and a sense of responsibility to their families, friends or communities. There were gasps, laughter, tears and applause as they related the gruesome, dismal or sad encounters that motivated their enterprises. Tolksvig returned to the stage visibly teary after all the finalists had finished telling their stories. “I’m having a heck of an evening,” she said, preparing to announce the winners. “I’m crying, I’m laughing. It’s a heck of an evening.”
- Asia-Pacific :
Swati Pandey, India
Arboreal Agro Innovations
An industrial-scale, vertically integrated producer of stevia, a 100% natural substitute for sugar
- Europe:
Kristina Tsvetanova, Austria
Blitab Technology
A tactile tablet for the blind and visually
impaired
- Latin America:
Paula Gomez, Brazil
Epistemic
A device that alerts patients and caregivers of an oncoming epileptic seizure up to 25 minutes in advance
- Middle East & North Africa:
Siroun Shamigian, Lebanon
Kamkalima
An online platform that uses artificial intelligence and data analytics to help one learn and teach Arabic
- Sub-Saharan Africa:
Melissa Bime, Cameroon
Infiuss
An online blood bank that collects and dispatches blood donations to hospitals.

by Michelle Zhu Following the conclusion of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards 2018, applications are now open for the 2019 edition, which will see Cartier granting over US$1 million ($1.37 million) in prize money to women entrepreneurs worldwide — making it the largest and most generous competition for women entrepreneurs in the world and across all sectors of industry. In the 2019 edition of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards, the competition is expanding to a seventh region. Additionally, Asia-Pacific will be divided into two separate regional entities, namely Far East Asia (China, Korea and Japan) and Southeast Asia (India, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and so on) so as to increase the programme’s impact. Twenty-one finalists will be selected to represent these seven regions, out of which seven laureates will be selected to win US$100,000 in prize money each. The remaining 14 finalists, placing second, will receive US$30,000 in prize money each. Cartier is currently accepting applications for the 2019 edition of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards until Aug 31. Both the hosting city and the finalists will be announced in February 2019. For more information about the application process and eligibility criteria, visit www.cartierwomensinitiative.com.