2025-4-30

Mercari Bold Program for Women, a Program to Develop Future Global Leaders, Expands Opportunities for Overseas Training from 1 to 5 Countries with Its 2025 Global Edition!

In 2024, Mercari held the first Bold Program for Women: US Edition, a program that sent participants overseas with the goal of producing the next generation of young, women global leaders.

This year, we are offering an expanded version of the program as the Mercari Bold Program for Women*: 2025 Global Edition, taking participants to one of five different countries!

*Includes all people who identify as women.

Background

Mercari requires diverse viewpoints and new ways of thinking in order to grow on a global scale and achieve the Group mission: “Circulate all forms of value to unleash the potential in all people.”

Since its establishment in 2013, Mercari has had the mission of “create value in a global marketplace where anyone can buy & sell.” To achieve that mission, the company established a US business as early as 2014. Mercari has promoted inclusion and diversity (I&D) both internally and externally as it aims to create globally competitive teams, knowing that individual diverse experiences and perspectives are crucial to success on a global scale.

Mercari’s I&D initiatives to date Source : https://about.mercari.com/en/inclusion-diversity/

In Japan, the percentage of women among tech engineers, a STEM-field job, is only 18.8%, lower than the OECD average of 20.6%.1 The percentage of women pursuing a university education in a STEM field is the lowest level of all OECD countries at 19%.2 This indicates that Japan is facing the problem of falling behind in talent development.

1. Human Resocia Co., Ltd., “Global Study on the Gender Gap in Tech Fields” (Available only in Japanese)

2. Calculated by adding the numbers for university science and engineering departments provided by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s FY2023 Basic School Survey (researched by the Yamada Shintaro D&I Foundation)

Mercari recognizes that it is important to create further opportunities for women in STEM fields. We are also aware that Japan is facing a social problem of not having enough women leaders active on the global level. As a program to help develop global leaders, in 2024, we held the Mercari Bold Program for Women: US Edition, which sent participants overseas. This year, we’re holding the Bold Program for Women: Global Edition with the following three updates!

Updates from last year

1. Choose from 5 destination countries

The Mercari Bold Program for Women: 2025 Global Edition will send participants to one of five countries (US, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea) to participate in an ideathon from August 22 to September 1, 2025. Mercari has product development offices in both the US and India; participants traveling to those locations will have the opportunity to work with local employees during the program.
Participants traveling to Taiwan and Hong Kong, where Mercari launched a crossborder sales service in 2024, will work with Mercari’s crossborder business team.

For Korea, the number of fandom culture-related transactions on the Mercari app, such as pop-idol merchandise, is on the rise. Korea is also becoming more relevant to Mercari Group’s businesses as a whole. In February 2025, Mercoin, Inc. signed a basic agreement with YG PLUS, an IP business-focused subsidiary of major Korean talent agency YG Entertainment. This collaboration aims to promote and popularize NFTs and digital content.

Notes: Each team will travel to a different country.

Participants will be asked to choose their preferred destination country during the screening process. Some participants may be sent to locations other than their first choice.

2. Work in an immersion English environment

The Mercari Bold Program for Women: 2025 Global Edition will be held entirely in English, from program guidance all the way to the final presentations. Mercari has employees from more than 55 countries and regions around the world, and both English and Japanese are used in work on a daily basis. As this program will involve traveling overseas, participants will be asked to carry out information gathering, interviews, research, and the final presentation in English.

3. Form a team with participants in other positions and present research results in front of Mercari’s CEO

In this program, teams will consist of five members who work in different job positions. Ahead of their final presentations, participants will come to Mercari’s office in Tokyo for a period of four days to conduct research, such as user interviews, and create proposals for new product feature development, strategies, and marketing (format not specified). They will then travel overseas. After returning to Japan, they will deliver presentations on the final day of the program in which they propose their ideas to a panel of judges, including Shintaro Yamada, Representative Executive Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Mercari.

Program outline

Application requirements
　- Plans to graduate university between July 2026 and March 2029　
　- Holds a Japanese passport or a Japanese residence card that is valid for the duration of the program
　- Has English skills of CEFR B2 level or above
　- Identifies as a woman

Open positions
　- Software engineer, product manager (PM), designer, marketing specialist, data analyst, finance specialist
　Notes: You will be asked to choose a position when applying to the program. Please see the application page linked below for the required qualifications for each position.

Application page
　Click here to see more details and to submit an application:
　(For Students Graduating Between July 2026 and March 2029) Mercari Bold Program for Women: 2025 Global Edition
　The deadline for applications is Friday, May 30, 2025, at 3:00 PM.
　Following the application screening and interview processes, we expect to notify applicants of the results in mid-June.
　Please note that not all applicants will be notified at the same time.

Program schedule
　　1. Application deadline: 3:00 PM on Friday, May 30, 2025
　　2. Document screening
　　3. Online interview (once per candidate)
　　Notes: You may choose to have your interview in Japanese or in English. Applicants for the Data Analyst position will be asked to take a technical test as part of the selection process. Technical tests and other portions of the selection process may differ by candidate.
　　4. Announcement of results: Planned for mid-June
　　5. Pre-program information session: Planned for late July
　　6. Schedule of activities during the program
　　　　　Program activities in Japan (Roppongi office): August 22, 25, and 26
　　　　　Travel to assigned country: August 27
　　　　　Program work in assigned country: August 28–30
　　　　　Travel to and arrival in Japan: August 31
　　　　　Final presentations: September 1

We also plan to hold an online information session for applicants, so please join if you are interested!

Online information session
Information session schedule

Thursday, May 8, 9 AM–10 AM (held in English)