Opening up the next generation of innovation with incubator
programme for female beauty entrepreneurs
LONDON, April 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Avon Products,
Inc. (NYSE:AVP), today announced its partnership with Women
Startup Competition Europe, a not-for-profit organization set up to
inspire, educate and unite female entrepreneurs from around the
world.
Avon has been backing beauty
entrepreneurs for 130 years and as principal sponsor of the Women
Startup Competition, it'll not only be championing a whole new
generation of female startups but also opening up its innovation
pipeline to support its fast-beauty strategy.
Avon will sponsor the beauty
sub-category of the competition by reviewing and screening
applications and helping to judge the winners. For the beauty
category winners, Avon commits to
providing a customized mentoring programme within its innovation
incubator to help support their business growth and the potential
for future collaboration in commercializing their idea, product or
brand.
In Europe female-founded
startups account for less than 27% of the total and female
investors represent only 7% of the funding pool. Women Startup
Competition seeks to change that by acting as an incubator –
providing support and connecting female entrepreneurs with
investors to drive their businesses forward.
Louise Scott, Chief Scientific
Officer at Avon said: "We are
really excited to be partnering with Women Startup Competition.
There is a great deal of alignment in our missions – fostering
entrepreneurialism among women and encouraging innovation that
benefits society, because we know when we create opportunities for
women, we see the ripple effect benefit her family and her
community. This alliance not only allows us to support more women
in their business endeavors but is also very consistent with our
mission to open up our innovation program to new ideas - allowing
us to discover early promising new beauty innovations that could be
highly appealing to our global network of Representatives and
consumers."
The partnership announcement coincides with the latest
semi-final event in Budapest on
April 25. Like all of the events held
around Europe, female-run startups
have the chance to take part in workshops and mentoring sessions to
support their business growth and investment potential and present
their pitch as the climax of the competition.
With millions of Representatives worldwide Avon is no stranger to supporting beauty
entrepreneurs. Its global programme, stand4her, seeks to help
create opportunities for women to build their own success in their
own way and on their own terms - advancing the potential of women
through the power of beauty. Alexandra Veidner, CEO of Women
Startup Competition, echoed this desire to break down the barriers
stopping women achieving their potential. She said: "Access to
knowledge, experts, distribution channels, pricing and data is a
huge help for startups at an early stage; on the other hand,
engaging with innovative startups is a great route for big
companies to achieve their own innovation goals. That's why at WSC,
our goal is to go beyond classic sponsorships by running
industry-specific programs with leading corporates like
Avon. Avon's team has been wonderful and true to their company
values during the negotiations to figure out the best format of
this partnership, and we're really looking forward to working with
them and empower female founders across Europe together."
About Avon Products, Inc.
For 130 years Avon has stood for women: providing
innovative, quality beauty products which are primarily sold to
women, through women. Millions of independent sales
Representatives across the world sell iconic Avon brands such as
Avon Color and ANEW through their social networks, building their
own beauty businesses on a full- or part-time basis.
Avon supports women's empowerment,
entrepreneurship and well-being and has donated over $1billion to women's causes through Avon and the Avon Foundation. Learn more
about Avon and its products at
www.avonworldwide.com. #Stand4Her
About Women Startup Competition (WSC)
WSC is a
not-for-profit business incubation platform with a wide range of
services. Its mission is to inspire, educate women to start their
own businesses, and to support and empower female-founded
early-stage startups in their growth and funding. WSC's signature
is a yearly startup competition series across Europe giving early-stage female-founded or
female-led startups brand exposure and pitching opportunity, and
presenting semi-finalists from each country at a London Final.
Beyond the competition events WSC offers different mentoring
programs for both SME and startup female founders, has good
connections to VC's, angel investors, big corporates, local startup
ecosystems, and has also a community of thousands of female startup
founders across Europe.
Forward-Looking Statements
This material contains
"forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the safe
harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995, including statements relating to the Company's involvement
with Women Startup Competition. Because forward-looking statements
inherently involve risks and uncertainties, actual future results
may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, the possibility of business disruption,
competitive uncertainties, and general economic and business
conditions in Avon's markets as well as the other risks
detailed in Avon's filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Avon undertakes no obligation to
update any statements in this material after it is posted to the
Investor Relations section of our website.