"Ascension" For CEOs Promotes inclusive leadership and equal opportunity
Sharjah, 9 November / WAM / The Nama Foundation for the Advancement of Women, in partnership with the Pearl Initiative, organized the second session of the “Ertika” CEO Council, which brought together an elite group of executive leaders in the United Arab Emirates from various economic sectors with the aim of discussing ways to promote equality and equal opportunities in the work environment and support sustainable positive transformation in the strategies and practices of institutions.
The second session of the Council, which was held yesterday at The Chedi Al Bait Hotel in the Emirate of Sharjah, attracted leaders from the sectors of energy, transportation, aviation, technology, manufacturing and other vital sectors to embody Nama’s vision of advancing the role of women at the level of decision-making centers and establishing justice as an institutional priority and development investment that reflects the vision of Sharjah and the UAE regarding the future of business communities based on the principles of justice and equal opportunities.
The Council’s program this year included an expanded dialogue session entitled “From Commitment to Influence: CEO Dialogue on Inclusive Leadership.” The discussions focused on the vital relationship between good governance and promoting the principles of equality and equal opportunities within institutions as an essential lever for raising levels of innovation, enhancing business flexibility, and attracting and retaining talent.
Participants also discussed best practices in integrating comprehensive leadership into institutional culture through goals, strategies, and accountability mechanisms, in addition to reviewing successful global models in achieving institutional transformation and researching the factors that ensure the sustainability of the impact of these transformations on institutional performance and business growth rates in the short and long term.
The session touched on the challenges that business institutions still face in their quest to implement comprehensive policies, including internal obstacles associated with the administrative structure and traditional patterns of leadership, in addition to the gaps that appear in performance evaluation mechanisms and identifying indicators of progress in the areas of women’s empowerment.
At the conclusion of the session, the participants stressed the need to enhance integration between policies and programs on the one hand, and cultural transformation within institutions on the other hand, with the aim of giving women leaders broader opportunities to develop and participate in leading major transformations in business, stressing that adopting comprehensive leadership practices constitutes an essential element in the ability of institutions to consolidate their competitiveness in light of a global economy in which the pace of development and innovation is accelerating.
The council witnessed the participation of prominent executive leaders from leading global and regional institutions, namely, SAP, TAQA for transportation networks, Arada for real estate development, Emirates Global Aluminum, the global CEO consulting firm Teneo, Air Arabia, Google, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Petrofac.
Maryam Al Hammadi, Director General of the Namaa Foundation for the Advancement of Women, said: “At Namaa, we believe that building work environments that guarantee the comprehensive participation of women at all levels of decision-making is a shared collective responsibility based on the importance of diversity as a productive force and that justice and equal opportunities are two essential factors in enhancing the ability of institutions to innovate and sustain.
She added, “By organizing the CEO Advancement Council in partnership with the Pearl Initiative, we are translating this belief into practical reality, as this council brings together business leaders and decision makers from key sectors to discuss the relationship between governance practices and women’s empowerment. The council also emphasizes the importance of institutions’ commitment to serving diverse markets and investing in empowering the next generation of women leaders, as this approach links institutional performance with social progress, paving the way toward a more just future for our societies, institutions, and economy.”
For his part, Ralph Choueiri, Executive Director of the Pearl Initiative, said: “At the Pearl Initiative, we believe that achieving gender equality in the work environment is a fundamental and strategic pillar for building sustainable institutions with outstanding performance, noting that the CEO Advancement Council constitutes a vital platform that brings together an elite group of leaders from various business sectors to exchange visions and experiences and promote a culture of accountability, in addition to translating commitments into practical results capable of achieving impact on the ground. Through constructive dialogue on good governance and inclusive leadership, we aspire To continue supporting the business sector in developing creative and flexible work environments capable of keeping pace with change to achieve prosperity for all.
The “Irtiqaa Council” is one of the basic pillars of the “Irtiqaa” initiative launched by the Nama Foundation for the Advancement of Women in 2019 as a specialized platform to promote equality and equal opportunities in work environments by enabling institutions to adopt practical policies that support the comprehensive participation of women in the workplace and align economic empowerment efforts with global governance standards.
The Council embodies this role by providing a high-level leadership space that brings together CEOs and decision makers to exchange experiences and promote cultural transformation within institutions, which is reflected in raising institutional performance, sustaining development, and enhancing the competitiveness of the labor market in the United Arab Emirates.
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