Arise hosts inaugural female executive leadership workshop to advance women in banking
In November last year Arise hosted its first female executive leadership workshop, which was aimed at promoting financial inclusion in the banking sector. According to Arise CEO, Deepak Malik the objective of this workshop was to provide a platform to put initiatives and measures in place to advance female financial leadership amongst Arise’s partner banks. Twenty-four senior executive women from 11 countries represented their banks at this event.
Women’s economic participation and leadership in business is essential to drive business performance, as well as to advance corporate sustainability and increase global GDP. According to a McKinsey Global Institute Study in 2015, economic and social development: empowering women and girls could contribute up to US $28 trillion to global GDP by 2025. “ Arise’s female executive workshop aimed to strengthen the position of women in executive leadership through talent development, gender equitable hiring practices, opportunities for promotion, equal pay for equal work and women-friendly practices”, said Mr Malik.
The workshop centred around the future of finance and about the leadership response required to meet the evolving global landscape from returns to employee satisfaction, from sustainability to inclusive finance and from access to finance for female entrepreneurs. Delegates gained deeper insight into their own leadership style and were equipped with practical tools to help them advance their leadership roles in their respective banks. “The workshop aimed to empower women to lead the transformation towards a more responsible and equitable financial sector and assisted them to manage this transformation at two levels: within their banks and their portfolios alike”, added Mr Malik.
“The key outcome of this workshop was that these senior women leaders committed to putting measures in place to advance female leadership in their respective banks, which will play a pivotal role in addressing the gender gap at executive level ”, he concluded.
