‘International Day of the Girl’: Beiersdorf expands partnership with Ashoka to Europe and further strengthens ‘Empowering Girls’ approach

• Beiersdorf announces the expansion of its ‘Empowering Girls’ mission to Europe, signing a new partnership with the Ashoka Social Entrepreneur network.
• Five leading female social entrepreneurs will receive financial support to address Covid-related challenges for girls and women in their countries.
• The existing partnerships with Plan International and CARE, up and running for close to one year now have reached almost 100,000 people in Latin America and Africa so far.

Hamburg, October 7, 2021 – In view of the ‘International Day of the Girl’ on October 11th, Beiersdorf announces the expansion of its ‘Empowering Girls’ mission to Europe: a new, regional partnership with Ashoka, the world’s pioneer and leading organization in social entrepreneurship. The ‘Empowering Girls’ mission had been launched at the end of 2020 with two long-term NPO (non-profit organizations) partnerships with Plan International and CARE, in Latin America and Africa.

For Beiersdorf, the vision of an inclusive society plays an important role in its Sustainability Agenda CARE BEYOND SKIN. With this, empowering girls and fostering systemic change is at the heart of the company-wide initiative. Vincent Warnery, CEO of Beiersdorf states “We are committed to invest in a sustainable and diverse world by empowering girls. It is our contribution to foster a cohesive society, where girls play an important role. Thanks to our trusted partnerships with Plan International, CARE and Ashoka, we can make a difference.”

All ‘Empowering Girls’ projects are part of the 50 million Euro Covid-19 Aid Program launched by Beiersdorf at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. They aim to support communities in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. The actions to mitigate Covid-effects for girls and young women, who are among the most vulnerable and hardest hit, show measurable progress to date: since the start of the partnership with Plan International and CARE, almost 100,000 people across nine countries have been reached with the dedicated local programs. By 2023, Beiersdorf wants to reach more than 300,000 people directly and indirectly through its ‘Empowering Girls’ projects in Africa and Latin America.

Beiersdorf now kicks-off the second wave of support for girls and women in partnership with Ashoka. With 3,800 social entrepreneurs (Ashoka Fellows) in more than 90 countries, Ashoka has built the world’s first and largest network of social entrepreneurs. Beiersdorf will be providing financial support in the form of stipends to five leading female social entrepreneurs. The donation will focus on their projects that dedicatedly strengthen and empower girls and women. Beyond this, Ashoka and Beiersdorf are committed to build a network of female social innovators, who can grow their combined impact on the future of girls and women by leveraging their connections and their collaborative actions.

The five female social entrepreneurs from UK, Poland, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland address different facets of female empowerment in the Covid-19 crisis and beyond. They help to eradicate violence against women, overcome gender stereotypes, empower girls to dream big and work towards a new economy with gender equity allowing for new perspectives in the workplace.

Ashoka and Beiersdorf have successfully collaborated since 2020, bringing ‘Changemakers United’, a digital collaboration program for social entrepreneurs, from Europe to Africa, Latin America and South Asia. Christiane Hölscher, Global CSR Manager at Beiersdorf states: “Girls and women will lead the change towards a more inclusive society. This change requires innovative solutions, and Ashoka with their unique network is the best partner to make this happen.”

Marie Ringler, Director of Ashoka Europe: “We now live in a world that is more interconnected than ever – and we believe the strength of societies in the future will also lay in the number of people who are active changemakers for the good of their communities. Girls and women are and can be amazing leaders for positive change in many areas – and we are partnering with Beiersdorf to foster and unleash that potential – to build societies that work for all.”

With the expansion of its engagement, Beiersdorf also reviews first results of the ongoing partnership with the NPOs Plan International and CARE. The support of projects in Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan has so far reached almost 100,000 people (girls, their families and communities). Building on this substantial progress, the targets could be adjusted from 250,000 to 336,000 people to be reached with the programs in 2023. The projects across the nine countries foster inclusive quality education and promote protective environments for girls and women. And, they strengthen equitable and quality health services and work on increasing the economic resilience of girls and young women.