This month, The Bicester Collection — the collection of 12 luxury shopping destinations — has launched its third edition of the Unlock Her Future prize — an annual competition for female social impact entrepreneurs as a part of its philanthropic programme ‘DO GOOD’.
While the prize is designed to platform female-led businesses, it also advocates for positive change in social and environmental causes, linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs). Applicants must demonstrate their development of, and commitment to, furthering one or more of the SDGs.
“It’s like [US business reality series] Shark Tank but for purpose-driven entrepreneurship,” Chantal Khoueiry, chief culture officer at The Bicester Collection, told BoF.
Indeed, The Bicester Collection’s commitment to pressing environmental and social governance issues and the focus of the prize comes at a critical time. Sustainability work appears to be falling off executive agendas and priorities — only 18 percent of executives surveyed for BoF and McKinsey & Co.’s The State of Fashion 2025 report cited it as a top-three risk for growth this year, down from 29 percent in 2024.
“The private sector can play a game-changing role when it comes to SDG progress — governments and charities can’t do it alone,” says Khoueiry. “These businesses have the capital, the infrastructure, the resources and the influence to drive a systemic change. I believe when innovation meets impact, industries shift and economies can grow.”
Previous editions of the prize were focused on social entrepreneurs in the MENA region in 2023, and Latin America (LATAM) in 2024. This year, it focuses on South Asian countries: India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives.
Winners will be selected from thousands of entrants and receive a business grant of up to $100,000 to launch and scale their start-up. They also receive an executive education programme with Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, mentorship by social enterprise Ashoka, bespoke leadership coaching to achieve their personal and professional goals, access to expert mentors and exposure through The Bicester Collection’s global network.
Now, BoF shares insights from Khoueiry on the Unlock Her Future prize and programme, its ties to the SDGs and why The Bicester Collection is focused on the South Asian market for its philanthropic work — and wider business growth.
Why did The Bicester Collection launch the Unlock Her Future prize?
We launched the Unlock Her Future Prize to tackle a significant global challenge — the under-representation and under-funding for women entrepreneurs around the world. If you look at research, if women and men participate equally as entrepreneurs, the global GDP could rise by 3 to 6 percent, boosting the global economy by $2.5 to $5 trillion. It’s our commitment to empower women, and we felt that we needed to act. It’s open to any women, any age, any industry.
What sets this prize apart is its commitment to supporting both idea-stage and early-growth ventures, unlike most programmes that primarily back well-established ventures with potentially limited impact. We believe that purpose-driven ventures, even in their earliest stages, have the power to transform local communities and create lasting momentum.
Another differentiator is that, with each edition, we celebrate a different region, ensuring that our impact reaches diverse communities worldwide.
More broadly, The Bicester Collection is where experiential retail meets purpose. When you look at our 12 destinations in Europe, China and North America, we are curating experiential shopping, entertainment, but it is all united through one mission: to make the lives of others better.
How have you aligned the prize to the SDG goals?
It’s not about just backing the best business idea — we’re looking at investing in solutions that can shape a better future. We’re looking for innovative, bold ideas that have a real social, environmental and economic impact, built around the United Nations SDGs.
Every applicant that completes our application form must demonstrate how their venture can advance social, cultural or environmental progress and we ask them to define the main SDG they want to impact. It’s about leaving this legacy of empowerment and a ripple effect of positive change.
We believe that purpose-driven ventures, even in their earliest stages, have the power to transform local communities and create lasting momentum.
We proudly partner with the United Nations (UN Women) and present the prize in collaboration with our impact partner, Ashoka, alongside a world-renowned academic institution for each edition. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), we partnered with NYU Abu Dhabi, and in LATAM, with Tec de Monterrey — both globally recognised for their excellence in education, research and entrepreneurship programmes.
By leveraging these partnerships, we seek to extend our reach beyond our [shopping] villages, empowering women both locally and globally. When the private sector works hand-in-hand with the public sector and academia, they become a powerful voice, influencing effective impact, fostering innovation and advancing sustainable social progress.
Why is The Bicester Collection focused on South Asia for the 2025 award and wider business initiatives this year?
South Asia is home to a significant number of women with groundbreaking ideas. It’s rich in entrepreneurial spirit, yet women-led businesses don’t have the same access to funding, and it’s underserved in that sense. One in four women are in the workforce, and just 18 percent of firms are female-owned. Women face barriers like gender bias, lack of education and entrepreneurship, so it made sense for us to put a spotlight on that region.
South Asia and India in particular also represent a great opportunity for us as a business. There’s a growing number of affluent, experienced, driven South Asian — Indian in particular — travellers who are looking for experiential shopping, world-class shopping and cultural experiences abroad. We have nine shopping villages in Europe, two in China, one in the US and so we are well placed to welcome them, host them, and celebrate their heritage, their culture. There’s a lot of great synergies when you look at those younger entrepreneurs in an emerging affluent class that is looking to experience different things
.
What kind of ventures have won the award in the past?
One of our winners, Valentina Agudelo from Colombia, developed an AI device that detects early breast cancer, and she’s making the device available for women in remote areas who don’t have access to medical screening. Another winner, Thamires Pontes from Brazil, has created sustainable bio yarns from red seaweed while Nuhayr Zein from Egypt has developed a new plant-based material as an alternative to exotic leather.
If you look at entrepreneurs today around the world, they are trying to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. Especially with women, if we can cut those barriers that limit their ability to create and sustain impact, we can really advance things in an incredible way.
How does The Bicester Collection sustain its support of winners after the prize?
We provide tailored support. It’s not one-size-fits-all. We work with each winner to establish what is going to be their strategy for the course of one year and the judges play an incredible role in that. We give winners their financial support across three instalments based on achievement of agreed milestones, and the judges meet with them every four to six weeks to assess what they’ve done, what support they need.
It also goes beyond financial support — we want to help them scale their business via mentorship and media exposure. This year, we’re privileged that Oxford University’s Saïd Business School is our partner for this edition — the first time they have partnered with a prize like this.
It’s about more than just recognition — it’s about building a powerful, lasting support system. We’re launching an alumnae programme to provide ongoing mentorship, resources and connections, ensuring these women have the guidance they need as they become the next generation of game-changers. Through The Bicester Collection platform, we’re amplifying their voices and giving them access to world-class expertise, empowering them to drive real, lasting impact.
What’s the next stage of the prize this year?
The application for the 2025 South Asia edition close in March. We will assess these applications according to an impact framework established by Ashoka and get the thousands down to about 120. Then a network of business investors and leaders from around the world, men and women, help us select the semi-finalists who will pitch online to select business leaders and philanthropists. From there, we will define our eight to 10 finalists.
The finalists will go on to pitch in front of a panel of distinguished women from the region. We purposely choose businesswomen from the region because it’s a global prize, yet it’s very localised. So this will be CEOs, philanthropists, well-known business leaders who understand the region. They will be hearing the pitches and deciding who are the winners and we’ll reveal the judges selected from the region this March. The winners will be announced in London at an awards ceremony in November.
Beyond the competition, the application process provides aspiring entrepreneurs with a valuable framework to refine their vision, with the intention to making it a worthwhile experience regardless of the outcome.
More than just a prize, this platform will cultivate a powerful alumnae network of women entrepreneurs — changemakers who might never have had the opportunity to connect otherwise. By bringing them together, it fosters collaboration, mentorship and lasting support, creating an ecosystem where their collective impact can thrive. In doing so, it not only empowers individual success but also builds a lasting legacy of women supporting women — one that will inspire future generations.
This is a sponsored feature paid for by Value Retail as part of a BoF partnership.