The Power of Entrepreneurial Women

Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Culture from the Inside Out

At ELC, entrepreneurial spirit is a way of thinking that defines how we create, innovate, and lead. It lives in our labs and on our brand teams, in product development, throughout creative and marketing processes, and even our approach to leveraging the latest technology to benefit our consumers.

We believe the best ideas can come from anywhere and anyone. That's why we've built a culture where employees are encouraged to harness an entrepreneurial mindset, lead with curiosity, resilience, and creativity, and access to the skills, resources, and opportunities they need to thrive and lead in the workplace of the future. For ELC employees, hundreds of programs globally support continued education and career development, including those that focus specifically on developing critical leadership and people management skills, learning AI-driven technologies, and enhancing creative capabilities and artistry.

This mindset also extends to our brands. We believe entrepreneurial thinking is at the heart of brand-building, and with a portfolio of more than 20 prestige beauty brands, each with its own distinctive voice, heritage, and creative point of view, making us a home for bold ideas for our consumers.

Externally, we know that for women, entrepreneurial thinking isn't just about business success, it's about economic independence and personal agency. According to the World Economic Forum's 2025 Global Gender Gap Report, entrepreneurship is a vital pathway to economic empowerment for women, particularly where access to formal employment remains limited. Yet despite persistent structural barriers, research shows that gender-balanced entrepreneurial societies/systems have a ripple effect, boosting national productivity, strengthening communities, and fueling innovation.²

BEAUTY&YOU India: A Platform for Emerging Global Talent

Entrepreneurial thinking at ELC doesn't stop at our walls. With BEAUTY&YOU India, we're extending that commitment into one of the world's most dynamic and fastest-growing beauty markets.

Launched in 2022, with support from leading Indian beauty retailer Nykaa, BEAUTY&YOU India is designed to discover and propel the next generation of India-focused beauty brands and founders. Now in its fourth edition, the program has attracted thousands of applications from 150+ cities across India and around the world, with the majority from women entrepreneurs.

Additionally, ELC also announced an expansion of BEAUTY&YOU India to include a new initiative to support women entrepreneurs. In 2025, the program launched a new Visionary Women's Award, inspired by ELC's legacy as a beauty company founded by a trailblazing woman, and presented with Startup India.

2024 Awardees included:

• SkinInspired - A science-backed skin care line tailored to South Asian skin needs
• Not Just Vanilla - A body care brand solving underserved concerns with targeted treatments
• Amright - A female-focused hair wellness brand merging Swiss ingredients with genetic research
• Journey of Objects - An e-commerce platform celebrating India's diverse beauty heritage through sustainable products

In March 2025, ELC expanded the program's impact by establishing a first-of-its-kind partnership with Startup India, the Government of India's national platform for innovation and entrepreneurship. Formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), this collaboration brings Startup India's policy expertise and ecosystem insights to ELC's flagship program and marks the first partnership of its kind between a global beauty company and the Indian government.

Additionally, ELC also announced an expansion of BEAUTY&YOU India to include a new initiative to support women entrepreneurs. The new initiative honors ELC's origins as a company founded by a woman entrepreneur and reflects that, over three years, the majority of BEAUTY&YOU India applicants have been women.

Developing the Workforce of Tomorrow: Advancing Skills, Access, and Opportunity

Through the Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation (ELCCF) and signature partnerships around the world, we are helping fund the next generation of innovators and strengthening pathways to entrepreneurship by supporting programs focused on education, skills training, and leadership development.

Pratham Education Foundation

Since 2016, ELCCF has partnered with Pratham to help address gaps in the education system, improve learning outcomes for children and women, and provide training and entrepreneurship opportunities for youth across India.

ELCCF supports Pratham's Second Chance Program, which enables young women who have dropped out of school to restart and complete their secondary education. In addition, ELCCF supports Pratham's Vocational Skilling Program, which offers job training and placement across 10 industries, including beauty. Through this program, women from under-resourced communities gain the skills, training, and certifications necessary to enter the workforce with confidence.

During ELC's Good Works Purpose Week in June 2025, we were honored to partner with Pratham to host a hybrid fireside education event, 'Partners for Women's Entrepreneurship: A Conversation with the ELC Charitable Foundation & Pratham'. The event, open to all ELC employees, was hosted by our Chief Sustainability Officer and the Director, Strategy and Partnerships at Pratham to share the impact of this longstanding partnership.

Through support of these programs, ELCCF's long-term partnership with Pratham has improved access to education and opportunity for more than 6,000 girls and women.

The Young Women's Leadership Schools

For nearly two decades, ELC and ELCCF have partnered with the Student Leadership Network to support The Young Women's Leadership Schools (TYWLS) and help girls and gender-expansive youth from diverse and underserved communities access the leadership, college and career readiness skills and resources they need for success.

Since 2017, ELCCF has supported Student Leadership Network's College Bound Initiative programs at TYWLS across New York City, supporting students in achieving their higher education and career potential. In the years since, our partnership has scaled to also support affiliates in markets across the U.S., such as Los Angeles, CA; Wilmington, DE; Atlanta, GA; Las Vegas, NV; and Baltimore, MD.

Through our unique, 360-degree partnership model, ELC employees connect with TYWLS students through mentorship, internship opportunities, career exploration events, and skill-building workshops, fostering a pipeline of future leaders who are empowered to pursue higher education and careers in various fields. Programs include the annual Project Beauty Showcase, an event where 12th grade TYWLS students work directly with ELC employees and brands to hone their entrepreneurial, creative, marketing, and campaign development skills.

Nearly 100% of TYWLS students gain college acceptance and TYWLS students' graduate college more than twice the rate of their national peers.

Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Fund: Investing in Global Changemakers

Launched in 2022, the Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Fund (ELELF), a charitable fund under ELCCF, supports global organizations that provide opportunities for leadership development, cultivate supportive communities and advocate for emerging leaders with bold visions for positive change.

In partnership with Vital Voices Global Partnership, ELELF introduced the Beautiful Forces Grants in 2024, awarding $200,000 to four women leading innovative projects addressing critical issues in their communities. Recipients included:

• Amina Mohamed (Canada) - Founder, Cameras for Girls, an organization that challenges gender disparities in media, equipping girls in Africa with cameras to empower them with greater access and opportunity in media-based careers.
• Consuelo Hermosilla González (Chile) - Founder, Fundación Antonia, an organization that works to eliminate intimate partner violence by providing free care and support to survivors, while raising awareness to eradicate gender violence in Chile.
• Renata Koch Alvarenga (Brazil) - Founder, EmpoderaClima, a youth-led organization that raises awareness about the impacts of climate change on women and the role of gender-transformative climate education.
• Olasumbo Adeleke (Nigeria) - Executive Director, Gender Power Africa, which works to improve the livelihoods of small holder farmers, especially women and youth, in rural communities through economic empowerment, training and capacity building.

At ELC, we are proud to be part of the systemic work to advance gender equity and expand economic opportunity across our communities, and through our long-standing partnerships. That's why we're committed to serving as a bridge-builder-listening, co-creating with partners, and leveraging our global resources to help ensure women and girls have the tools, confidence, and opportunities to thrive as the changemakers, leaders, and entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

¹ Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs. (2023, November 8). Women entrepreneurs: Fueling growth in uncertain times. https://andeglobal.org/women-entrepreneurs-fueling-growth-in-uncertain-times/
²The World Economic Forum's 2025 Gender Gap Report