Today at Bicester Village in Oxfordshire, The Bicester Collection will host its first-ever Interactive Summit, bringing together finalists, past winners, judges and esteemed partners of the organisation's annual Unlock Her Futures Prize, including the Saïd Business School at The University of Oxford and Ashoka. This year, Unlock Her Futures is focusing in on empowering women across South Asia, the winners have been selected from more than 2,900 applicants across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the eleven women are advancing inclusive solutions that deliver transformative impact aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The winners will receive a funding grant of up to $100,000, as well as executive education, world-class mentorship, and access to global networks to launch and scale their start-up.
Launched in 2022, the Unlock Her Future Prize was created as a part of The Bicester Collection's DO GOOD philanthropy programme to give the recognition, resources, and support to women social entrepreneurs across the world. Each year, the Prize travels to a new region – MENA for 2023, LATAM for 2024, and now South Asia for 2025 – and, so far, has supported ventures as diverse as Nuhayr Zein’s Leukeather in the UAE (creating plant-based alternatives to exotic leather), Noor Jaber’s NAWAT Health in Lebanon (a confidential Arabic-language platform providing confidential sexual and reproductive health education and services) and Thamires Pontes’ Phycolabs in Brazil (unlocking seaweed biotechnology to develop sustainable textile fibres).
For The Bicester Collection, the 2025 South Asia Edition reflects its enduring ties with South Asian communities in the UK and the millions of guests from the region who visit its Villages in Europe, China, and the USA each year. This year is especially significant, as the Prize-giving returns to the UK — to Bicester Village — in celebration of The Bicester Collection’s 30th anniversary. The winners will then be revealed at a gala ceremony in London this Wednesday.
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