Unlock Her Future Prize | Emboldening women entrepreneurs and new ideas

Unlock Her Future Prize | Elena Foguet of The Bicester Collection on encouraging women start-ups and why they are bringing the Prize to South Asia next

Prizes and awards facilitate and embolden new ideas. These creative innovations and larger thinking can come from anywhere around us, and in fact, the more varied the voices, the more diverse the problems that are tackled.

It is with this aim that The Bicester Collection (the collective behind 11 shopping villages around the world, including Bicester Village in England) launched ‘Unlock Her Future Prize’ last year. The start-up competition, which is part of their Do Good programme, awards four women social entrepreneurs with innovative early stage ideas in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The winner gets up to $100,000 in cash prizes each, as well as human capital and mentoring to grow the ideas.

What sets the Prize apart from existing ones by luxury brands such as Cartier, Rolex, and Veuve Clicquot, is the wide net it casts. For instance, past winners became essential mentors for the class of 2024’s eight finalists; last year’s winner Nuhayr Zein’s plant based leather alternative products was showcased at the Egypt Fashion Week and Dubai Design Week; and Sara Llalla, founder of Ecocentric, an online marketplace that aims to eliminate single-use materials through a sustainable ecosystem, attended COP 28. This year, with 954 applicants enrolling, the audience got a front row seat to a spectrum of ideas — from Colombia-based Valentina Agudelo’s Salva Health that uses AI for early breast cancer detection, to Brazil’s Thamires Pontes who has harnessed seaweed as an alternative to petrochemical materials in clothing.

On the eve of the announcement of the winners last month, I sat down with Elena Foguet, business director of The Bicester Collection, to understand the initiative and its role in cultivating more women in leading businesses.

What germinated the Prize and why?

When it came to taking on a positive project and commitment, we wanted to look at those in the world who have less visibility and whose voices are not heard loud and clear — women and children. That is why the Do Good programme endorses them. Women impact communities and consider the growth of everyone around them with their brilliant ideas; they only need the opportunity.

There are several such Prizes around the world. How do you differentiate Unlock Her Future?