Yesterday Friday we all discovered the winners of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards (see this previous post for details), five women entrepreneurs (see picture), one from each region of the globe (Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America). When Bernard Fornas, President and CEO of Cartier International, announced the winners, he said that they took 7 hours discussing to make the decision. Not only me, but I guess a lot of people in the WF wondered: what criteria did they take into account for the evaluation?

Today I spoke to Freja Day, from Cartier International, and she told me that the evaluation is very rigorous. The three main criteria are: creativity (the degree of innovation of the overall business concept and idea); sustainability (financial impact of the business, indicating its long-term success); impact (community impact of the business, in terms of job-creation and impact on the immediate or broader environment).

The jury is composed of outstanding individuals of the business world, the non-profit sector and the academic field. There are five jury panels, one per continent, representing a variety of profiles, countries and cultures. The jury members all voted for the projects of the finalists.

Freja also said that the social impact of the project is very important, especially in emerging countries. The analysis of the business plans, showing the sustainability of the projects in the next three, five or ten years, counted a lot as well.

The Award is a long-term project and is going to be repeated. So, women entrepreneurs of the world, prepare your business plans for next year’s Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards!

When I saw her speaking Portuguese while walking around in the Women’s Forum, I was happy to find someone who speaks my native language. Only after I learned that she was one of the “Rising Talents“. Joana Loureiro is a real woman entrepreneur. She is the General Manager of Junior Achievement in Portugal, the world’s largest organisation dedicated to educating students about entrepreneurship.

Joana told me that she knew Junior Achievement in the United States, where she followed a post-graduation course on Management of non-profit organizations. She then had the idea of bringing it to Portugal. Today, Junior Achievement Portugal has already established a network made up of over 600 volunteers and 600 teachers in 13o schools.

The advice she gives to people who think of becoming entrepreneurs are: first you have to try, to experiment. And the other important aspect is that you have to be willing to take risks. She said that in Portugal, for example, people tend to be very averse to risk.

With the importance of entrepreneurship growing in the world, it is quite amazing to see initiatives such as Joana’s in the Women’s Forum. We can hope that more women (and men) would be inspired by her and help create an entrepreneurial culture in other countries too.

When I arrived at this conference I had no idea what an ecological footprint was. After being in the conference I was curious to find out more about this topic (ah, and of course about the Dongtan eco-city, which plans to opens its doors in 2010 and be an environmental, economical, social and cultural sustainable city). OK, it’s not good. According to a website quiz, my total footprint is 15. If everyone lived like me, we would need 8.3 planets. Please check yours, it would probably make me feel better, unless you are really ecologically conscious.

According to a panel with Chris Luebkeman (Head of Foresight for Arup), Livia Tirone (Portuguese architect) and Noni Allwood (Cisco), two important factors are energy and people. Population is increasing by the second and during your lifetime, the planet will increase from 6 to 9 million. In China, 600 million people are expected to move to urban areas in the years ahead.

After hearing all of this information I got worried. But, there is hope, big hope. Sustainable construction (for example, buildings which demand lower energy), lower fuel consumption, recycling, etc. are a reality. So, when you are planning to move, consider about living in a sustainable city. If they are not ready, look for sustainable constructions, buildings which consume less energy. And think about your lifestyle, even if you don’t think it matters, it does. Just look up your ecological footprint and you will know.

Virginie Dangles-Marie always loved animals. Her childhood dream was to be a veterinarian. And she became one. She made her studies at the École Vétérinaire Nationale d’Alfort, in France. But because of difficulties in this profession due to the economic reality, she decided to follow a research master on cancer research, a subjet that also interested her. After the master, she completed a PhD and today she is a prominent researcher on cancer at the Institut Curie, in Paris.

Virginie received the Mitjavil National Academy of Medicine Fellowship award and is also a nominated member of the French Ministry of Agriculture’s National Commission of Teachers and Researchers. She is one of the young women selected in the “Rising Talents” program, launched by JP Morgan and the Women’s Forum with the support of Egon Zehnder International, which aims at creating every year an international network of women between 25 and 35 years old, who have demonstrated particular passion, commitment and social involvement, making them inspiring women for the future.

I asked Virginie — selected this year among the WF’s Rising Talents — what would be her advice for women who wish to pursue a career in science. Her answer was: you must have passion for what you do. Another important thing is that you should try to get the maximum of information you can about the opportunities and possibilities in this type of career, and try to bring this “plus”, this “exotic touch” to what you do.

Today I spoke to another amazing woman, Hasina Kharbhih. She looks like any other charming young woman from India, who talks about her achievements with great simplicity as if she had set up just another NGO. In fact, she is a great innovator who over the last ten years has weaved a web of cooperation between people and organisations who did not understand each other, let alone work together, to help young victims of trafficking.

She founded and heads the Impulse NGO Network and is one of the Women Forum’s Rising Talents. A management graduate from a good university in India, Hasina decided to defy expectations of a successful career in business to found an NGO which started off by helping rural women in the Indian state of Meghalaya gain a livelihood producing handicrafts. Through close contact with rural communities she saw the increasing numbers of young women and children who fell victims of trafficking and forced labour. This prompted her to focus on this larger challenge, and to persuade local government, the police, the media and local communities to work with her to help these young boys and girls. Now she is running a home centre, she trains the police, educates other NGOs and has built up a network of 11 centres in her state to help victims of trafficking.

She has managed her NGO network with the efficiency and systemic view of the best businesses, measuring results and ready to restructure and innovate to improve effectiveness.

Hasina has received enormous recognition from her work on the part of the international community. She is advising the Anti Human Trafficking Unit of the United Nations and has represented India as Commonwealth Youth Ambassador for Positive Living, among others.

She talks with great passion about the need for NGOs to take a holistic view of the problem of trafficking and work together among themselves and with governments and other institutions. She will make this plea to the larger NGOs who are active in this field, and judging by how many she has been able to persuade so far, I have no doubt she will succeed.

Maryanna Iskander belongs to those women who make me feel bad about myself. Kind and brilliant, warm and available, she is one of those who have the courage to dedicate themselves to something meaningful to them and to society, when many others chose the “easy way” of more conventional careers. She is now working as the Vice-President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), which is the largest provider of reproductive health care in the US, and offers birth control, HIV and STD tests and cancer detection services to 3 to 5 millions people, mainly disadvantaged women, in the United States.

When she is asked why she took the step to embrace such career, she answers in the simplest way: “Well, I thought about something I really care about, this is how women usually advance, you know”.  According to her, enabling a woman to control her fertility is at the very root of her participation in society. This is all about female empowerment and having the possibility to make choices: to choose when it is the right time to give birth, given the expectations towards environment, job and life.

The reason why Maryanna made me feel bad when I met her is the way she talks about what she does. Most people try to ease their conscience about making the world a better place by giving a few hours a week after work to a special cause. She chose to make her job of this commitment towards society, like this is the most obvious thing to do. And her job can be really challenging. Although only 3% of the PPFA activities are related to abortion, this is enough to raise constant and strong opposition in the US. Maryanna faces this situation with confidence and lucidity: “Women’s health shouldn’t be a political issue”.

What would be the next step for her then? Stay passionate and committed as a full-time activity, and maybe run an organisation by herself one day.

At the first glance one can understand why Maud Fontenoy had been chosen to be one of the WF “Rising Talents“. Maud has been through incredible projects, she is the first woman to have sailed around the world against winds and currents in 2007. She is also the first woman to have crossed the Atlantic and pacific Oceans rowing. Maud has been awarded Chevalier de l’ordre National du Mérite as recognition of all her successful projects.

When asking her the difficulties of being a woman in such ambitious projects, she first answered, “my arms were not muscular enough”. More seriously, Maud told me that as a woman she may have been under a bit more pressure because people looked more at her in those activities where men represent usually the majority.

Maud is handling many new projects. She is trying to share all what she discovered around the world, particularly with children. The creation of an educational programme called “Jeunes aventuriers” to teach young children to respect the environment they live in has been one of her important moves for the ecological cause. She wrote two books about her world tour depicting her life on board. One of those, “Le sel de la vie“, is very personal. Maud has been involved in projects and associations for a long time. “I created my first association when I was 21″ but she now enjoys developing projects that have a greater impact within France and the rest of the world because the cameras are focusing on her, and that offers her a good platform for passing her messages along.

Talking with her, people would notice that she speaks a lot with her hands. I guess that is quite normal for a woman with Italian origins that rowed all over the Earth. That gives “the message I’m trying to deliver more intensity and a greater impact” and it is also a way to illustrate her sentiments when talking to children.

“I’m almost 50 – half the world’s population didn’t even exist when I was born.”
Chris Luebkeman, Director for Global Foresight and Innovation, Ove Arup, UK

“We are not running out of energy resources. We are not running out of capital. But we are running out of time.”
Fatih Birol, Chief Economist and Head of the Economic Analysis, Division, International Energy Agency, Turkey, on climate change.

“Women are not worse than men at office politics, we just don’t want to play it. We’re more direct. We find the whole political game offensive.”
Deborah Hopkins, senior advisor and managing director at financial giant Citi.

“The right of interference is today not only legal but desired, indeed almost imperative.”
Bernard Kouchner, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the moral imperative in foreign policy.

“We would be lying to ourselves if we think that fixing climate change will be for free.”
Fatih Birol, Chief Economist and Head of the Economic Analysis, Division, International Energy Agency.

“The Women’s Forum for Economy and Society should be renamed the ‘Women’s Forum for Economy, Society and the Environment’.”
Sheri Xiaoyi Liao, President, Global Village of Beijing, China

“Men should never take the gentleness of a woman for weakness. Often, the gentler they look, the stronger they are.”
Runa Khan, Executive Director of the Bangladeshi humanitarian NGO “Friendship”

Tensie Whelan from the Rainforest Alliance sees a paradigm shift in the making. Until now businesses have maintained a mentality of bottom line versus sustainability. Now, some businesses are looking at reinventing their technologies and processes to improve the bottom line while also addressing the environmental concerns of society and individuals. Tensie Whelan calls it the revolution of design.

She says this is happening because of the influx of a young generation of CEOs who are more environmentally aware, of companies becoming more international and their brand valuable but vulnerable, and of governments not always effective so that NGOs have turned to businesses.

The examples of L’Oreal and Renault show how sustainability can be one of the foundations of business performance. Alice de Brauer from Renault believes measurement of the impact of a sustainable business is crucial. It is essential to get the financial community – so far a laggard in this process – see the business value of sustainability. It is also essential for consumers to see the value proposition of a sustainable product.

Making a business sustainable can bring potential, from cost reductions to a stronger brand and a differentiation advantage. It can also create new markets and motivate employees. But to be successful it needs to look at the entire value chain, and it must develop effective metrics to measure and communicate progress to consumers, investors and employees.

So perhaps it is not so useful any more to talk about corporate social responsibility, which focuses on business obligations instead of opportunities. We should rather talk about a revolution of design, where innovation within and outside companies is accelerated to change products and processes. In this environment, organisations which can anticipate trends and address unspoken social and consumer demands first can gain tremendous advantage while also attracting the best talent. This is a much more effective way to talk about the role sustainability can play in a business. It puts innovation and business opportunities centre stage, which is where they belong.

The “Women for Education” prize, organized by the Elle Foundation and the Women’s Forum with the support of Renault, La Poste and in collaboration with the NGO Aide et Action, has just been awarded to Chekeba Hachemi (photo) and her NGO , Afghanistan Libre, an organization working for the economic, social and political development of young Afghan girls and women in Paghman, in the Kabul province.

The operation “Women for Education” (more info on the Elle Foundations’ blog) was launched last May in both Elle magazine (France) and nine of its international editions around the world. Three projects were finally chosen among 50+ that were submitted. The other two finalists were microcredit and vocational training for women in Benin, presented by ECIDEC; and a social entreprise for reintegration of girls and adolescents victims of sexual exploitation in Laos, presented by AFESIP.

It is so amazing to think that so many influent women are actually packed in here for a few days. Even though you can’t actually tell  who’s who (unless scruitinizing everyone’s pass, which might not be the best way to fit in), you definitely KNOW every single woman here has done somthing meaningful and important, whether in advertizing, publishing, business or even circus (and that makes me feel pretty much like a tourist here, but that’s a different story) . And that’s what’s so great about this whole forum thing : If they had decided to create a “Men’s Forum for Economy & Society” instead, I guess the entire city of Deauville wouldn’t be enough, and they would have needed a much much bigger place to hold it (probably some huge city in Brazil or something)

We asked the WF participants about trust — see these two previous posts. But what about us? What does trust mean to the WF bloggers?

“Trust is believing that something you think is true.. is true.” - Margit

“I don’t trust anybody don’t ask me” - Coralie

“Trust is the bond that keeps people together” – Manasi

“The relationship you build between you and people. It is the basis of all relationships to me.” - Camilla

“Trust is confidence and be aware of the other and expect the other to be aware about you.” – Ivonne

“Feeling that  are shared values with somebody.” - Annachiara

“Confidence without fear” - Bonnie

“Honoring your commitments” - Natiq

“ Trust is believing in another person, taking a chance and seeing their potential”– Joysy

“Trust is the cornerstone of human relations. Trust is such a subjective notion that it requires the most personal feelings” – Louis

“Trust has to be something pretty like a personal demanding state of mind.” – Jonathan

“Trusting someone is knowing you can rely on that person, on his honesty or competencies.” – Gersende

Italian photographer Mario Farinato has been pointing his camera at the Women’s Forum for three days. We asked him to share a few of his “atmosphere” shots.

At the conference center’s media entrance:

The makeup lounge:

The massage/relaxation pod:

A bouncer at the Men’s Corner entrance?

Actually, the one above is a Photoshopped picture. Proof: she got in (although the muscular rugbymen on TV don’t seem to interest her that much):

Here’s the wall representing the Women’s Forum sponsors and partners, in the entrance hall of the congress center. Thank you to them all for their support!

An interview with Laura Liswood, senior advisor, Goldman Sachs, on why fashion is not a form of communication. Watch the video interview on 360FashionTV.

When I was invited to the forum’s 3rd edition, I immediately noticed an interesting place for me not to feel absolutely exotic: the men’s corner; a little dark stall where minority men who dare attend the event can freely gather together (at least that is what I thought at that time). Every women were supposed to be prohibited from that place built on a club-style basis with a giant TV screen and leather armchairs. A sort of forbidden city in which the men could compound in case of any sudden feminine attack.

After the two first days I must confess the organizers were right but on the other way around what they had imagine: men have been ferociously attacked by hordes of women that seemed to consider the little square the best in the all Deauville CID (our host resort). So much so that men began to cautiously avoid the men’s corner.

But manliness had not enunciated its last word. The battle was going to its apogee on this afternoon. The forum comprehensive program was announcing the arrival of Carlos Ghosn (CEO of Nissan & Renault), Frank Brown (Dean of INSEAD), Olivier Marchal (Bain&cie) and JP Tricorie (CEO of Schneider). Yes, in the twenty-square-meter thing. Of course the idea was to enable these well-known economic figures to meet the happy few other men in Deauville and talk between men about something like how and why women matter in business.

That’s not saying much that the she-army would fight tooth & nail to evacuate the poor guys who dare to try to attend the conference planned specifically for them.Here’s come a genius idea from an organizer: let’s change the place for the conference: a very classical feint in war period. The women would headed like a whirlwind into the men’s corner, while, we, happy and victorious would celebrate peacefully our victory in good company. The machiavelic plan worked out, only one thing mattered: discretion. (you know Guitry? If you’re man, rush to that: “Of course women can keep a secret, they only need to be several of them”).

How The James Bond stronghold was attacked

Men rushes into a first floor conference place, hidden behind a big totem that advertises the event. But there was a previous conference that was taking place there. And guess what, the men’s gathering in front of a door was noticed by passing women that was hanging around. In less than five minutes, streams of red-headed, blonde or dark, asian, indian, american, european and african women were surging toward us, perched on stiletto heels, full of rage for the attempt to elude them. We could hear from the depth of the pit the victorious rumour moving upward. Our guests were already arriving to the James Bond room and the James Bond girls were following them in an unbelievable uproar.We tried diplomacy in order not to surrender immediately.After hard peace talks we agreed on the following rule: three women should have at least one man to assail the place.

Let’s make it clear they didn’t respect the treaty as soon as they were numerous enough inside to put us down: powerful women are crual and pitiless.

As there were so few chairs for these numerous women present, they began to sit onto the fitted-carpet, leaving shoes and pushing their peers just as if in a mud battle. Indeed women wanted to eye their hero intently.The conference started in a strange way: M. Ghosn, who probably meant to be sincere, explained that diversity was compulsory in order to achieve effectiveness in companies but had to be meticulously prepared, and so that in his executive there were no women so far. Here we were and I really thought at the time we were on the verge to a nuclear war. I grabbed my bag and rushed to the door. Actually I am too young to die and I cannot bear physical torture. Thus I ran toward the door in an desperate attempt to save my life as the popular discontent voices were coming up. Were the bodyguards ready to evacuate the unlucky Nissan CEO? Never mind, every man for himself in hard times.

The diplomatic crisis was managed by Bond, James bond (his friends also call him Carlos Ghosn). My colleague Camilla, much stronger than I and determined to cover the event, has already posted her summary of the risky debate those four men dare to host. A strong historical moment. That’s how a private men’s clandestine meeting was ruin in Deauville, October 12^th 2007 by the vikings of modern times, I mean, women.

An interview with Caroline Mille-Langlois, from Orange, on the three qualities that are essential for women to climb the corporate ladder. Watch the video interview on 360FashionTV.

by Alix de Poix

Tree blue fishes and nine pink fishes in the same pond, creating nearly from scratch the Women’s Forum’s first live blog! Here comes to Deauville the third student’s delegation, the bloggers of the Women’s Forum 2007. Were only missing our two friends from North America, due to climate (travel) difficulties. Diversity of gender, colour, religion, nationality, age, the team is definitely representative of the Forum.

Four ‘nannies’: Alix, Barbara and the two Brunos, with Orange support and last year student’s delegation representative, Gersende, to set the brief: Authorisation given to go everywhere, nearly no control on their creativity, Simple rules given: respect of the individuals and transparency of the information.

And watch what has happened!

We gave them our trust and they enacted it, getting all the interviews they wanted to have.

They are both hard workers and smiling; smiling to one another, and smiling to life. Talented, but modest, still dreaming and already acting

Behind the surface, rock dancing teacher, singer, writer, non for profit activist, etc. Like cats, they have multiple life and talents and do not need to go to a second life experience to experiment new avenues and live their dreams. “How can you change the world, if you go linear?” said one of them.

They are the kids we all like to adopt – of course our own kids are the best - but with an extended family view, they are most welcome, in my tribe, or in your’s.

And if I replace, if we replace, the word adopt by the word mentor, all of us have a role there!

It is our responsibility to transmit to the next generation our values and our experiences. It is also an honor and a privilege to be in contact with that generation. Mentoring is a win-win fulfillment, for the taker and for the giver!

It is not a nice to do but a need to do; it reinforces the brick and mortar of what we call Civilisation and contributes to its sustainability.

It is maintaining a chain and a continuum. It is putting humanity on the word evolution, it is accepting to share with them, it is accepting to give up parcels of our power, and if we start doing it on an individual basis, maybe one day, we can hope to be able to do it on a more global basis, on a country basis, enabling the diminution of the divide between the north and the south, the well off with the without anything.

I’m sure you know what a Girls Night looks like. Well, try to imagine one, multiply it by 500, and you’ll know what the Women’s Forum looks like. I’ve never learnt so many tips about waxing techniques, moisturizers and shoe-style within such a short period of time. What do women do when they think nobody’s watching? They spend a significant part of their time gossiping and talking about their fellow’s lack of taste in fashion. But that does not prevent them from being highly competent if not the best in what they do. People often forget that part. Stereotypes can be useful; they also can be true and help you to apprehend your social environment. I am not criticising the fact that people can have stereotypes – if somebody is good at putting people in little boxes, that’s me. But the real problem arises when they influence your action and may jeopardize somebody’s career.

That was the whole point of the conference moderated yesterday by Julia Harrison. According to a recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers presented by Marie-Jeanne Chèvremont-Lorenzini, the cultural perception of their gender is the main barrier women have to face in their professional life. Laws and education clearly affect the way they are perceived by their environment, and as such, indirectly impact their career. Women’s abilities and competences are often questioned; but perhaps the questioning should be reversed in favour of our deep and unconscious social beliefs: are we right when we think women are not able to deal with their professional, social, family and personal lives? Women have a couple of role models proving it’s possible. That’s not much, I agree. But as long as they’re properly doing what they’re asked to do, and as long as they’re asking for more, stereotypes should not matter.

This is a woman’s right to be both brilliant and superficial.

In the Men’s Corner yesterday Friday, the question of why CEOs should be serious about sex was raised again. The interest of the audience in what the speakers had to say about this and in the speakers themselves was so big that the Men’s Corner had to move to the James Bond room (no pun intended). The Men’s Corner transformed into a room crowded with ladies and even the James Bond room was not big enough for all the people who wanted to attend. In the end, we had an interesting configuration, with three men standing in front of an audience mostly composed of women, some of them seating on the floor and with their shoes off.

The three speakers, Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Renault and of Nissan, Frank Brown, Dean of INSEAD, and Jean-Pascal Tricoire, CEO of Schneider Electric, France, were provoked by the journalist and editor of Les Echos Virginie Robert, who was very sharp and asked for precise answers.

All of the three speakers said that gender is an important question for their companies. Frank Brown reported that the percentage of women at INSEAD is around 28% and they are trying to increase this number in the next years. I interviewed an alumni student from this business school in 1977 and she told me that in her class they were 20 girls out of 220 students, which corresponds to 9%. This means that there has been a great progress in the last 30 years, but there is still a big space to raise this percentage.

Jean-Pascal Tricoire said that gender diversity started being a more important issue for the company in the last 10 years, more strongly in the last 5 years. Companies such as Schneider, a leader in electricity and automation management, have a historic of having less women, but they are making initiatives to raise this number. They began to give much more attention to the statistics of gender in the company and are making initiatives to recruit and retain more women.

Carlos Ghosn called attention to the fact that, when it comes to choose a woman to the executive committee, sometimes there are simply not women on the list. He thinks that the important thing to do is to prepare women so that they acquire the competencies to be on the list. Some women, he said, are just so competent that they are going up for themselves. Others, who are not very confident, need more coaching. He also said that today, if they have to choose between a man and a woman with the same competencies for the executive committee, they would certainly choose the woman. But he believes that the business plan is essential. He even proposed a study. He is willing to finance a study that proves that more diverse groups makes the company more profitable. Anyone interested?

UPDATE - See also The man’s version on the Men’s Corner, offering a different take by one of our male bloggers on the same event.

According to Marie-Christine Lombard, CEO, TNT Express division, there are five factors that helped her succeed and that she thinks women should take into account when figuring out how to achieve their professional dreams:

• education
• early international exposure; especially in this globalized world
• take risks; think of what you want, not what others think you should want
• no sacrifice on private life; it will be hard and tough but it is possible
• market yourself; communicate your ideas, sell yourself

Taking risks is not always easy, actually it’s very hard. But sometimes you have to go with your gut feeling and go for it. I’ve heard plenty of comments in this forum about how sometimes women have to be pushed for a promotion and on the contrary, that if they are too pushy, it’s bad. So, where is the middle point? When should you push, when should you hold back and wait? There is no correct answer for that, everyone is different and everyone has a different style. Feel proud of your accomplishments, market yourself as the best solution and believe that you can do it. This could be a way to crack that thick heavy glass ceiling or as Laura Liswood said on Thursday, “There’s no such thing as a glass ceiling for women, it’s just a thick layer of men.”

“Darfur met our expectation of horror. But what we hadn’t thought about before we went is that it might also meet an expectation of joy. The spirit of the women of Darfur is amazing - I don’t have words to describe how magnificent it was.”
Caryl Stern, President, UNICEF, USA