The Cartier Women’s Initiative will host its annual “Impact Awards” ceremony at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan, where it will honor 10 women described as “impact entrepreneurs,” who are working to solve global challenges through sustainable, social and environmental impact.

The Cartier Women’s Initiative (CWI) is an international entrepreneurship program that drives change by empowering women. These 10 finalists are part of an 18-year tradition that has helped support the success of women entrepreneurs throughout the world. During the course of the awards and mentoring program, CWI has supported 330 women impact entrepreneurs hailing from 66 countries and has awarded more than $12.2 million in grant funding to support their businesses. All of it is all driven by a stated common conviction of “solving the most pressing global challenges.”

The 10 finalists this year will each receive $100,000.

The 2025 awards ceremony will be held May 22 at the Cartier Women’s Pavilion at the World Expo, taking place through October 13 in Osaka. The pavilion’s theme is “When Women Thrive, Humanity Thrives.” It is a continuation of the Cartier Women’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. The pavilion in Osaka carries the same name and mission in order to "shine a light on women’s indelible contributions to society and the impact they create around the world,” the French luxury brand said in a statement. The pavilion has been opened for a month but the official opening ceremony will be held on May 21.

June Miyachi, president & CEO of Cartier Japan, has a leading role with the Women’s Pavilion and the CWI. By email, she answered questions related to the role of the Cartier Women’s Pavilion and the luxury brand’s impact when it comes to empowering women through the CWI program.

June Miyachi: The tag line “When Women Thrive, Humanity Thrives” is a continuation from the motto of the Women’s Pavilion at Expo2020 Dubai. We wanted to add a layer to this edition with the Japanese motto “ 〜ともに生き、ともに輝く未来へ〜 ” translated as “Living Together, Designing Together, For the Future,” emphasizing the importance of togetherness.

The mission of the Women’s Pavilion in collaboration with Cartier is to create a legacy that can be passed on to future generations.

Women have always played a pivotal role for Cartier. As early as with the appointment of Jeanne Toussaint as creative Director in 1933 Cartier has a longstanding commitment to women’s empowerment. Through initiatives like the Cartier Women’s Initiative and Cartier Philanthropy, the maison actively supports initiatives that benefit women

Within the exhibition itself, the “Puzzle Box” area of the Pavilion has been created in partnership with UN Women. By partnering with UN Women, Cartier leverages its platform to amplify women’s voices and foster global partnerships for lasting societal change.

It felt pressing for the Expo and Cartier to share the purpose of ‘contributing to building a better society.’

JM: Stepping into the Women’s Pavilion is to enter a space where personal stories, global challenges and collective hope come together.

It is an intimate experience with real stories, designed to make the broader human issues feel like their own. Curated by acclaimed contemporary artist and the Women’s Pavilion’s Global Artistic Lead, Es Devlin, the exhibition invites visitors to see life through the eyes of three exceptional women from three continents.

As a first act when the visitor enters the pavilion, they are asked to donate their name, this marks a first step towards committing to shift perspective. The Women’s Pavilion is a muti sensory experience with audio, visual and tactile cues, engaging the visitor to participate and feel deeply connected to the stories and data that are shown.

JM: The Expo has been opened for over a month already, we can share with pride that we are thrilled with the daily footfall. We have received the most heartwarming comments from the visitors.

We hope that for each visitor the vision of the Women’s Pavilion will grow beyond their visit, beyond the six months of the Expo and they will be inspired to come together to drive change in their communities.

On the Women’s Pavilion’s second floor, the WA space will serve as a venue and a communal space where conversations, panels, and exhibitions will unfold around key global challenges. Open to the public, the WA space hosts a series of engaging sessions throughout the six-month Expo, bringing together international leaders, visionaries and experts to address pressing global challenges through discussions on six pivotal themes – Mother Nature, Business & Technology, Education & Policy, Arts & Culture, Philanthropy, and Roles & Identities.

The WA space embodies the Women’s Pavilion’s deeper purpose to be a global forum where ideas transcend borders, where diverse voices converge to spark action, and where long-held paradigms are courageously reimagined. In the tradition of World Expos, from Dubai to Osaka, this is a motor for progress. At the Women’s Pavilion design becomes dialogue, architecture becomes advocacy, and conversation becomes catalyst.

By bridging personal reflection with global action, the WA Space embodies the life of the Women’s Pavilion beyond the 6 months of the Expo.

JM: The Expo is a place where people from all over the world come together. We can gather global wisdom, discuss issues and seek solutions. I believe there is much that Japan can absorb from the rest of the world by leveraging the Expo, and it is also an opportunity to broadcast Japan’s presence on the world stage.

If I think specifically about Osaka, of course I must mention the work created between lead architect Yuko Nagayama and landscape designer Toshiya Ogino. Together they wished to create a sense of harmony between the building and its environment. The vegetation of the pavilion, which is inspired by the local greenery, will return to the mountains of Kansai following the closing of the Women’s Pavilion.

We have been engaging actively with local schools and universities to bring students within the Women’s Pavilions and the WA space to come together and share how the vision of the Women’s Pavilion can live beyond the walls of Expo.

We hope the Women’s Pavilion will raise awareness within Japan and show how coming together towards common goals and collaborating on them can accelerate progress.

JM: We have been conducting programs aimed at the next generation, such as implementing a joint research project with the University of Tsukuba over the course of three years, on the theme of diversity, and establishing a scholarship for Japanese female students aiming to obtain postgraduate degrees at overseas universities, in order to nurture future leaders.

On the occasion of this celebration event, we will implement a program entitled the “Cartier Youth Program,” which targets high school students and aims to cultivate future leaders. Twenty students are scheduled to participate. We hope that by having the Cartier Women Initiative Impact Awards in Osaka that it will create momentum for more applicants from Japan to participate in the “Cartier Women’s Initiative” program.

JM: We all live our lives while fulfilling some kind of role. I want young women in Japan to push forward, always being true to themselves, valuing their own growth and fulfillment, without letting anything hold them back.

JM: With its inauguration the Women’s Pavilion affirms its mission to be more than a symbol, it is a living and breathing platform for progress. Guided by the values of unity, creativity and hope, the Women’s Pavilion aims to leave a lasting imprint, not only on Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, but globally.