The Arab International Women’s Forum and the Pearl Initiative were pleased to jointly host a virtual roundtable, ‘Diversity on Corporate Boards & MENA Family Business’, on 17 November 2021.
The roundtable welcomed:
Dr Afnan Al Shuaiby, Chairman of AIWF
Ranya Saadawi, Executive Director, Pearl Initiative
Hani Ashkar, Middle East Senior Partner, PwC
Mona Al Moayyed, Managing Director YK Al Moayyed & Sons; and
Wael Ismail, Vice President Corporate Affairs MENA & Pakistan, PepsiCo.
For this unique session, which was moderated by Diana Wilde, Co-Founder of Aurora50, AIWF and the Pearl Initiative brought gender parity champions from the MENA together to:
– Share their companies’ tried and tested strategies and best practices for promoting diversity on executive boards and in the MENA workforce;
– Discuss the link between women’s representation on boards with better corporate governance and improved diversity and inclusion, learning from what has worked elsewhere and building on the groundswell of support for change in the region and globally;
– Highlight the complexities and opportunities for women’s leadership on family business boards, in succession, and in governance of family business; and
– Address how business leaders can promote gender parity on corporate boards and in executive leadership.
