The role of women in the workforce is a story of rapidly developing change in the Middle East. With the issue of retaining and harnessing talent at the top of business minds around the world, and with global competitiveness continuing its inexorable increase, it has never been more important to unpack the challenges and opportunities’ that working women face in the region.
Now in its third year, the AB Women in Business Conference, set to be held on September 21 and featuring UN Women as an official partner, will shine a spotlight in the role of women in business throughout the Arab world, engaging in high-level discussion, debate, analysis, and success stories.
The AB Women in Business Conference is proudly sponsored by Amana and Avanade.
The conference will open with a discussion around how employers can empower their female workforce while ensuring they don’t fall behind their male peers. Featuring insights from Dr. Saliha Afridi, Founder and Managing Director of The LightHouse Arabia, Roberto Shalabi, Growth Markets Talent Acquisition Lead, Avanade, and Dr. Maryam Ali, Chief Governance Officer of The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), the discussion will help explain the reasons why women are resigning at higher levels than men amid the ongoing Great Resignation.
In a similar vein, Farah Zafar, CEO and Co-Founder, Lyvely will follow on from this conversation with a keynote address on empowering women in male dominated industries.
Pooja Vithlani, Vice President, Product Management, Kitopi, Joy Dabeet, Chief Marketing Officer, Amana, and Madiha Sattar, Vice President, Careem Pay, will then join for a conversation on stage around how the cultural challenges of women leadership in male-dominated professions can be overcome, along with addressing what more needs to done to break occupational segregation.
In addition, the critical role of female leaders as role models will also be tackled, in a discussion moderated by Bobbi Hartshorne, Founder and Chief Wellbeing Officer, WellWise, with insights from Audrey R. Hametner, CEO and Founder, THG Advisory & The Bedrock Program, Basma Ashry, General Manager, Business Incorporation Zone, and Professor Heather J. McGregor, Provost and Vice Principal, Heriot-Watt University Dubai centred on how female leaders can help shepherd the next generation.
Top-down approaches to change have already been a proven formula for success in many sectors across the Middle East, and perhaps a similar tactic can be applied to increasing and augmenting the role of women in business. Helping examine this topic, Raeda Al Sarayeh, Director, Corporate Communications, APICORP, Maitha Al Mazroei, Associate Project Manager, The Museum of the Future, and Heba Hesham, Regional Private Sector Development Analyst, UN Women, will help analyse the role that regulation can play in promoting the future inclusivity of women in business.
Finally, in partnership with Arabian Business sister publication Logistics Middle East, the conference will end with a deep dive discussion sponsored by Emirates Post Group, with insights from Nissrine Elqobai Co-founder and CEO ENY consulting, Laila Essa, Senior Director Cash Management, Payroll and Payment Operations at Emirates Post Group, and Dr. Shereen Nassar, Global Director of Logistics Studies and Director of MSc Logistics and Supply Chain Management Suite at Heriot-Watt University Dubai, on the role women can play in the historically male dominated industry of logistics, with a focus placed squarely on the Middle East.
For sponsorship opportunities please email [email protected]
To register your place at this two-day event click here or fill out your details in the form below.
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