On International's Women Day JFD has unveiled a new generation of leaders ready to shape the future !

Today, 8 March 2021, at JFD we unveiled the 2021 winners of les Margaret Awards during an official ceremony under the High Patronage of Mr Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic. Our first winners of les Margaret Junior category under the patronage of Jean-Michel Blanquer, French Minister of Education, Youth and Sports.

And the winners #lesMargaret 2021 are: those women and girls who change the world !

Jean-Michel Blanquer, French Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Elisabeth Moreno, French Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister, in charge of Equality between Women and Men, Diversity and Equal Opportunities, Cédric O, French Minister of State for Digital Transition and Electronic Communications, Sira Sylla, Member of Parliament, member of the Foreign Affairs Commission and Wilfrid Lauriano do Rego, Coordinator of the Presidential Council for Africa, awarded the winners with me today.

Women around the world want and deserve an equal future without stereotypes, and violence. And I’m also talking about economic violence. Remember : if we do nothing, it will take us 100 years to achieve parity. But Parity, doesn't wait ! We need to accelerate and to get us there we need women at every table where decisions are being made. We need more women leaders; we need new leaders to shape the future; we need feminists, activists, innovators, and change-makers. 

On International Women’s day and on Digital Women’s day ! : Let’s say it loud and clear : Only equal is enough. We need digital equality, we need digital women and digital young girls! Every single one of you, women and young girls, YOU can claim your space as a leader. You can be whoever you want to be!

My message to you today is: Fight against stereotypes, Fight for equality / Fight for Digital Equality , Believe in yourself, Dare, Be at the table where decisions are made , And never (ever) give up !

And for the young girls I would add what I heard from a French singer called Pomme (translating Apple in English) : "Be proud of who you are, as by just being you, you change the world ! "

International Women's Day’s theme this year is: #ChooseToChallenge. Because challenge brings change, today I chose with #JFD , business accelerator for women in Europe and Africa created in 2013, to challenge DIGITAL EQUALITY :

1/ with our JFD x BVA european survey called “Digital Equality” to be fully revealed tomorrow 9 March 2021

2/ by unveiling a new generation of leaders ready to shape the future : #lesMargaret

Thank you again to all the nominees. They all deserved to win today !

I would like to once again salute the creativity and boldness of the 2021 winners but also to all the nominees of #lesMargaret Awards. They are the new leaders shaping the future.

JFD is pursuing its mission to unveil the next digital champions and is contributing to their success by mobilizing major political, media and economic players such as the World Bank Group, EDF Group, La Poste Group, Crédit Agricole Group, Microsoft France, Total, Mastercard, Dassault Systèmes, Idemia, PayPal... In addition to media visibility valued at 1 million euros and support for acceleration and growth for one year, we will organize the first ever JFD Entrepreneurship Expedition on October 11, International Girls' Day. The winners will be invited to walk in the footsteps of Margaret Hamilton in the USA, Europe and Africa.

Thanks to all our partners for their strong commitment to support the winners to achieve success !

Since 2013 , JFD has honored women and girls who change the world ! At JFD, Our mission is to improve equal representation of women in the digital industry and entrepreneurship. JFD has become a powerful business and growth accelerator for women entrepreneurs in Europe and Africa. For the past 9 years, we have inspired, connected and empowered over 200000 women and girls to dare and innovate.

Les Margaret Awards is an international prize named after Margaret Hamilton and since 2013, we reward incredible and powerful women and now young girls with our new category : les Margaret Junior. And for those who don’t know Margaret Hamilton, SHE is the woman who at NASA contributed to the first man walking on the moon! She wanted me to pass on a personal message for you today:  ? Never let fear get in your way! Do not be afraid to continue even when the so-called “experts” say it’s impossible.

On this very special day for Women all around the world, let me also thank and congratulate all the nominees. You ALL deserve to win today. I also want to thank ALL the women and young girls who applied. We received over 200 applications from Europe and Africa . It was difficult to make choices. And I thank all the jury members.