Stéphanie Jauquet Named BIL Business Woman of the Year

The judging panel has selected Stéphanie Jauquet, founder and CEO of Cocottes, as the BIL Business Woman of the Year 2019.

Hosted by Genna Elvin,  founder of the TaDaweb startup, the 10^th BIL Business Woman of the Year award ceremony once again demonstrated the great talent, creativity and passion of its participants. Luc Frieden, Chairman of BIL’s Supervisory Board, and Karin Scholtes, Head of People, Culture and Communication, opened the ceremony with a reminder of the importance of diversity in business and highlighted the bank's key role in supporting entrepreneurship in Luxembourg.

The five finalists, Ilana Devillers (Food 4 All), Stéphanie Jauquet (Cocottes), Aida Nazarikhorram (Lux AI), eLfy Pins (Supermiro) and Karine Vallière (Jumpbox) gave lively pitches for their companies in front of an audience of over 160 people. The panel of experts drawn from BIL partners Women in Digital Empowerment (WIDE), technoport, Equilibre, Paul Wurth InCub and Schiltz&Schiltz, had the difficult task of choosing the winner.

Before the award ceremony, Alexandra Fernandez-Ramos, co-founder of Travelsify and joint winner in 2017, gave a general view of the current position of women in society and in the business world. In her speech, she encouraged women to speak up and take a more active role. The jury then awarded the BIL Business Woman of the Year prize to Stéphanie Jauquet, founder and CEO of Cocottes. During her pitch, she gave a moving account of her career. Launched in 2014, Cocottes already has eight shops, 140 staff and major expansion projects in the pipeline. The CEO plans on doubling Cocottes’s revenues to €15 million within two years.

Launched in 2006, the Business Woman of the Year award puts the spotlight on exceptional women whose talent and energy help to strengthen the Luxembourg economy. The projects presented by each contestant must be based on sound economic fundamentals, innovative and have a positive impact on the economy. The latter has been a guiding principle of the competition since its inception.