Biophilica wins 1st Place in the 2024 Cartier Women's Initiative award

Mira Nameth, the CEO and founder of Biophilica, has been named as the first place awardee for Europe in the 2024 Cartier Women’s Initiative (CWI).

Within the Initiative’s theme ‘Forces For Good’, Mira was recognised for her efforts in developing Treekind® - a plastic-free leather alternative made from leaves that is not only biodegradable but also home compostable. 

Cartier Women’s Initiative (CWI) aims to shine a light on women impact entrepreneurs, and to provide them with the necessary financial, social and human capital support to grow their businesses and build their leadership skills.  

Spotlighting 33 leaders that are changing the world one business at a time, the Cartier Women’s Initiative named Mira Nameth as the first place awardee for Europe, chosen by a 5 person panel made up of entrepreneurs, investors, previous fellows, venture philanthropists, academic experts and industry leaders.  

As the first place awardee, Mira will receive €100,000 grant funding towards the ongoing scaling of Biophilica, as well as social capital support in the form of media visibility, networking and access to the vast CWI community, and human capital support via a 1 year fellowship program that offers business and leadership training, workshops and resources. 

On being awarded, Mira says:

“To be recognised amongst such an esteemed group of fellows is a huge honour. As a business, we believe that to drive true meaningful change in creating a more sustainable fashion future, we need to collaborate. Thanks to the CWI, I’ve been able to connect with incredible networks of like-minded innovators and changemakers who have shared their own insights and learnings, as well as inspire new solutions and collaborations. The CWI has in a very short amount of time already offered an immense amount of valuable support, and I’m delighted to use Cartier’s funding to continue to accelerate the growth and impact of Biophilica’s innovations.”

The funding will go towards Biophilica’s ongoing growth efforts, which includes plans to increase the volume of Treekind pilots amongst fashion brands, scale Brightbond (Biophilica’s plant-based adhesive), and bring a new external production site online to accommodate fulfilment of larger orders, with goal to make 10,000 - 30,000 metres of Treekind in 2025.