The Bicester Collection Brings the Unlock Her Future™ Prize 2025 to South Asia to Support the Next Wave of Female Social Entrepreneurs

For its third edition, the annual entrepreneurship programme aims to drive change by identifying and supporting women social impact entrepreneurs from South Asia.

LONDON, Jan. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Unlock Her Future Prize, an annual start-up competition for female social impact entrepreneurs powered by The Bicester Collection, is making its debut in South Asia in 2025, following its success in MENA in 2023 and LATAM in 2024.

Each year the global initiative travels to a different part of the world to identify and support women to launch and scale system-changing start-ups. The 2025 edition of this prestigious prize welcomes applications from women from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, aged at least 18, with an inspiring start-up idea that will generate a positive and sustainable impact on society, as defined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Applicants' start-ups can be either at the idea/validation stage, where they have a big idea for a new product or service with a tested prototype that is being validated, or at the launch/growth stage, for start-ups operating under three years and with less than US$1 million in revenue.

The winners will each receive a business grant of up to US$100,000 to launch and scale their start-up, an executive education programme with our academic partner, Oxford University's Saïd Business School, bespoke leadership coaching to achieve their personal and professional goals, access to expert mentors and exposure through The Bicester Collection's global network.

The Unlock Her Future Prize launched in 2022 following staggering research that showed if men and women were equally represented in entrepreneurship, global GDP could rise from 3% to 6%, equivalent to up to $5 trillion (The Boston Consulting Group). Yet, according to Harvard Business School, fewer than 3% of women-led businesses receive venture capital funding.

Now in its third year, as part of The Bicester Collection's DO GOOD philanthropic programme, the Unlock Her Future Prize continues to build on its positive global impact and further advance gender equality across the world, championing tomorrow's changemakers by supporting their business ventures and targeting the funding gap.

With grants of approximately US$600,000 committed and eight start-ups already launched and making a positive impact in their communities and beyond, the winners of the Unlock Her Future Prize 2025 South Asia Edition will join a prestigious alumnae network of social impact visionaries. They include Valentina Agudelo, Colombia(Salva Health), Thamires Pontes, Brasil (Phycolabs), Leydi Cruz, Bolivia (Agrimet), and Annie Rosas, Mexico (BlueKali) and Young Changemaker Kristal del Valle, Guatemala, from the 2024 LATAM Edition, and Noor Jaber, Lebanon (NAWAT Health), Sara Lalla, Iraq/ UAE (EcoCentric), Nubayr Zein Egypt/ UAE (Leaukeather), and Fella Bouti, Algeria (EcoTashira) from the inaugural 2023 MENA Edition.

"At The Bicester Collection, we're dedicated to creating destinations where experiential retail meets purpose. With flagship locations across Europe, China and the US, we unite our guests and partners to drive meaningful change and make the lives of others better. Unlocking the potential of women, both locally and globally, is central to our mission. Female entrepreneurs need access to capital, education and influential networks. Through our philanthropic programme, DO GOOD, we provide the tools to help them succeed. The Unlock Her Future Prize empowers women to launch businesses, transform communities and create sustainable growth that leaves a lasting legacy for generations to come." Chantal Khoueiry, Chief Culture Officer at The Bicester Collection

"Ashoka is committed to build a world where everyone has the power to give, contribute to change and be a changemaker ! We are also witnessing a historic moment of advancing leadership roles of women and girls in our society. We are very excited about this timely and much needed partnership with The Bicester Collection to help women entrepreneurs to create an 'Everyone A Changemaker' society and be role models for all aspiring female changemakers." Shruti Nair, Leader, Ashoka Innovators for the Public, South Asia

"We are delighted to be partnering with The Bicester Collection for this initiative and to support the development of female entrepreneurs who want to make a difference. I'm passionate about giving women an equal chance when it comes to founding their start-up and this competition is an important milestone in a long-term mission by so many of us across organisations to create a level playing field. I look forward to welcoming the finalists of the Unlock Her Future Prize 2025 South Asia Edition to the Oxford entrepreneurial ecosystem and taking them on the next stage of their journey." Kathy Harvey, Associate Dean, Oxford University's Saïd Business School

Finalists for the Unlock Her Future Prize 2025 South Asia Edition, presented in partnership with The Bicester Collection, Oxford University's Saïd Business School and Ashoka South Asia – the leading global voice on social impact, will be chosen by a Selection Committee of international business leaders and social impact experts. They will then be invited to a pitch day in the region in October, where they will present their start-up to an assembly of judges comprising high-profile women from South Asia.

The winners will be announced in November 2025 during a ceremony in the UK with Bicester Village, forming part of The Bicester Collection's thirtieth anniversary celebrations.

Applications for the Unlock Her Future Prize 2025 South Asia Edition are now open until 10 March 2025. For more information and to apply, visit: https://www.thebicestercollection.com/en/do-good/unlock-her-future-2025/

@TheBicesterCollection #DOGOOD #UnlockHerFuture

About The Bicester Collection

Created in 1995, The Bicester Collection has reimagined the boundaries around the worlds of luxury retail, hospitality, live music and sports entertainment, curating extraordinary experiences for the world's most discerning guests. Located in Europe, China and the US, The Bicester Collection's 12 Villages are world-renowned as iconic, open-air shopping destinations. Each offers the world's best brands at incredible value, as well as celebrated restaurants and peerless services. For more than a quarter of a century since its founding, The Bicester Collection Villages' mission has been to make the lives of others better – from the communities it serves to its guests, brand partners and its people. Through its DO GOOD programme, The Bicester Collection aims to drive sustainable social change in support of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on unlocking futures for women and children, wherever they're born. 

The Bicester Collection brings together extraordinary live music and sports experiences at the first third-generation UBS Arena serving the New York metro area (home to the New York Islanders ice hockey team), a pioneering concert venue featuring the Isles Lab Team concept store. The Collection's award-winning hotel destinations, Mission Pacific Beach Resort and The Seabird Ocean Resort & Spa (with its Michelin-starred restaurant, Valle; celebrated Sunny's Spa & Beauty Lounge; and locally curated boutique The Ozone), are vibrant destinations in Southern California's hidden gem, Oceanside.

The Bicester Collection exists to be experienced in the real world. To be actual, not virtual. To be lived. Discover more at TheBicesterCollection.com 

About Oxford University's Saïd Business School 

 About Saïd Business School: Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford is a vibrant and innovative business school, embedded within a 900-year-old world leading university. We create programmes and ideas that have global impact and reach. We educate leaders, changemakers and innovators across every industry and sector. Our groundbreaking research and exceptional teaching transforms individuals, who transform businesses, which transforms the world. We create impact from within and are proud to have achieved a 51% majority female intake for our full-time MBA class in 2024. www.sbs.ox.ac.uk 

About Ashoka South Asia

Ashoka has worked for 40 years as a leading global organisation in entrepreneurship and social innovation. In Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean it builds and cultivates a community of more than 800 active Fellows, Young Changemakers, Changemaker Institutions and beyond, who see that the world now requires everyone to be a changemaker – a person that sees themselves as capable of creating large-scale, positive change.

Together, amidst the exponential growth of a new inequality in changemaking at a worldwide scale, we mobilise (and accelerate) a movement to build an "Everyone a Changemaker" world where all people have the right and ability to co-lead solutions that transform their societies for the better. Find out more at https://www.ashoka.org

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