Project Origin
To motivate more females as entrepreneurs and foster business development worldwide, we will be launching a series of Business on Stilettos activities in 2022.
With collective wisdom and experience from our members in the past years, we proudly present the Business on Stilettos 2022: Global Female Entrepreneur Award this year. This Contest was initiated by JCI Hong Kong Jayceettes in 2021 as the FIRST Business Competition for Female Entrepreneur INTERNATIONALLY, known as APAC Female Entrepreneur Award.
APAC Female Entrepreneur Award was co-organized with 11 JCI female local chapters and 15 partners and supporting organizations from 7 countries, attracting 700+ participants in the Asia and the Pacific region in the past year. We have also successfully aroused media interest and recognition even from India.
Throughout the Competition, JCI Hong Kong Jayceettes act as the advocate and platform to step in, actively build a sustainable community for female entrepreneurs across Asia-Pacific, and share resources. The Contest also fostered business connections and opportunities in helping to rebuild the economy during this difficult economic recession.
Project Background
The rising of women’s economic power and social status has drawn the public’s attention. Women are now playing an active role in the government, business, and the community. However, the number of female leaders, especially female entrepreneurs worldwide is still low in the majority of industries when compared to the male leaders. According to the news, “Startup Sexism: Why Only 13% of Startups Run by Women in 2021?”, female entrepreneurs are said to encompass approximately 1/3 of all entrepreneurs worldwide. To empower and motivate the female entrepreneurs, the Business on Stilettos 2021: APAC Female Entrepreneur Award was organized.
Riding on the success of the previous year’s contest, in addition to covering Asia and the Pacific region, we have decided to scale up the competition to allow participation from all regions WORLDWIDE in 2022 – Business on Stilettos 2022: Global Female Entrepreneur Award.
In addition to Asia and the Pacific region, participants from other JCI regions, including Africa and the Middle East, America, and Europe will also be encouraged to participate in this year’s event. By increasing the business culture diversity of our participants, global business connections can be facilitated, creating an environment where participants can quickly grow their global vision, eventually benefiting their own business.
Project Vision
As women are gradually becoming more important in the business environment globally, their ability to startup impactful businesses should be recognized. Despite their wonderful creativity and capability, female entrepreneurs still have to overcome plenty of challenges during their entrepreneurial exploration, such as the limited support and resources provided by society. Seeing the struggles of female entrepreneurs, especially under the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we aim to deliver assistance to our participants’ entrepreneurial adventure, with the vision below:
- Eliminate bias and discrimination towards women in the business environment;
- Create a sustainable business environment for female entrepreneurs and workers;
- Support the women workforce in the changing global environment.
As the most long-standing female chapters of JCI Hong Kong, JCI Hong Kong Jayceettes is constantly seeking opportunities to create positive changes for females in business settings. To create significant and positive impacts, we have decided to host a global entrepreneurial award ceremony, with the combination of multiple workshops where female entrepreneurs can join forces and support one another. By linking enthusiastic females worldwide, they can unite and embrace the increasing number of global challenges utilizing their knowledge and resources, strengthening female entrepreneurship. By creating a good starting point, we hope to leverage our impact through the success of our participants, ultimately shaping the world into a better place with the hands of female entrepreneurs.
To increase the legitimacy of the award, we plan to invite well-known judges in the business area from each of the JCI regions. In addition, all participating female local chapters will also invite star ambassadors to promote our project in their respective regions.
Participants Required to Submit
- Signed application form;
- 1 PowerPoint (at most 20 slides); and
- 1 video (no longer than 3 minutes)
Participants should submit the above information via email to: business.on.stilettos@hkjtt.org before 31 May 2022. Only applications fulfilling the above submission requirements will be accepted.
Target Participants
All female entrepreneurs from the following regions are encouraged to participate: Asia and the Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, America, and Europe.
Project Objectives
- Rebuild the global economic network for female entrepreneurs and post-pandemic economies and workforce morale by recovering businesses
- Invest in female entrepreneurs themselves by providing entrepreneurship skill sets and financial investment knowledge
- Sustain the global economy in the post-pandemic environment by enhancing sustainability improvements of the companies in the environment, social and corporate governance (ESG) aspects through providing various workshops
- Evolve brand and personal recognition of the female entrepreneurs to attract customers and investors and evolve their business by building global business connections
Achieved Sustainable Development Goals
| SDG | Specific Target (s) | |
| 1 | Good Health and Well-being | Target 3.4 By 2030, reduce by one-third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being. |
| 2 | Quality Education | Target 4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship |
| 3 | Gender Equality | Target 5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere Target 5.4 Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate Target 5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life Target 5.a Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws Target 5.b Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women |
| 4 | Decent Work and Economic Growth | Target 8.3 Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services Target 8.6 By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training |
| 5 | Sustainable Cities and Communities | Target 11.c Support least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local materials |
| 6 | Partnership for the Goals | Target 17.15 Respect each country’s policy space and leadership to establish and implement policies for poverty eradication and sustainable development Target 17.16 Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology, and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries Target 17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships |
Project Timeline
To participate our events, please take notes of the following dates:
| Important Dates | Event |
| 1 April 2022 | Open Nomination |
| 3 April 2022 | Opening Ceremony & Workshop 1:”Her Rebuilding: Post-pandemic Digital Transformation” |
| 1 May 2022 | Workshop 2: “Her Investing: Investment in Stocks and Cryptocurrencies” |
| 29 May 2022 | Workshop 3: “Her Sustaining: Environment, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG)” |
| 31 May 2022 | Close Nomination |
| 1 June 2022 – 30 June 2022 | First Round of Judging Period |
| 3 July 2022 | Workshop 4: “Her Evolving: Expand Business Horizon” |
| 10 July 2022 | Announcement of Semi-finalists |
| 17 July 2022 | Interview Day with Semi-finalists |
| 7 August 2022 | Result Announcement and Closing Ceremony |
| 31 October 2022 | Physical Award Presentation in World Congress 2022 |
Judging Criteria
| no. | Weighting | Judging Criteria |
| 1 | 30% | HER ingenious ideas implemented into the business model |
| 2 | 22% | HER excellence in entrepreneurial management, leadership, and marketing skills |
| 3 | 22% | HER commitment towards sustainability and social responsibility via the application of fundamental principles of ESG and SDG |
| 4 | 20% | HER resilience to the ever-changing market landscape in managing risks and finance |
| 5 | 6% | 2% per workshop attendance |
To obtain the latest changes regarding the event, please visit and follow our Facebook page “Business on Stilettos 2022: Global Female Entrepreneur Award” at https://www.facebook.com/Business.On.Stilettos. We are looking forward to seeing you at the event.
