The Woman Business Manager of the Year Award encourages female entrepreneurship and promotes the fundamental role of women in society by supporting innovative projects.
The ambitious theme of innovation is one of the three main pillars of BIL’s CSR policy, alongside art & culture and education. "To receive an award in 2017, the contestants not only needed to demonstrate their potential or experience as a successful entrepreneur, but also to have a business that offers an innovative product or service," explained Hugues Delcourt, CEO.
BIL launched the competition in 2006, at a time where female entrepreneurship did not receive much attention. However, the number of quality applications received for the 2017 edition suggests greater interest in this topic and is proof of the strong dynamism and entrepreneurial spirit of women in business.
A jury of BIL and partner representatives selected five finalists among the 25 applications. Due to the exceptional quality of submissions this year, they were unable to agree on a single winner. Two contestants were awarded at the ceremony: Alexandra Fernandez, co-founder of Travelsify and Nathalie Dondelinger, co-founder of Kliber.
Travelsify was founded in 2016. Its innovative algorithm ranks hotels around the world based on client comments instead of on ratings. The company has already analysed over 100 million traveler and expert reviews in 6 languages. Travelsify works with Accor Group and is looking forward to selling its precious data to hotel groups or travel search engines. The start-up has 15 employees in Luxembourg and New York.
Launched in 2015, Kliber is a mobile recruitment application that connects recruiters and job candidates through video. Designed for "digital natives", candidates can create their profile, introduce themselves via video and share it on social media. The start-up's top priority is accelerating the recruitment process. About a hundred companies already use the app in Luxembourg. The 6-person team now plans to export the app to Germany and France.