World-Class Event Recognizes Women from a Wide Array of Professions, and Inspiring Careers and Businesses
The 12th edition of the Women in Management Top50 Global Conference and Awards will be held on June 18, 2022, at the Le Meridien Hotel in Dubai. This year’s theme is Resilience and Reinvention.
Women in Management (WIM) was founded in 2009 by Dr. Sulochana Segera with the objective of providing a networking platform for women to realize their professional dreams through mentoring. The Professional and Career Women Awards was introduced in 2011 with an initial five awards designed to recognize outstanding female leaders in the corporate sector. A decade later, and now in its twelfth year, the Professional and Career Women Awards has recognized over 520 women for their outstanding leadership and remarkable achievements with annual events held in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Canada.
This edition of the high-profile event is being held under the auspices of the Sri Lanka Business Council in the UAE and Equality Alliance UK. She added that the UAE was chosen as a venue for its consistent and tangible efforts to encourage the active involvement of women across sectors through entrepreneurship and innovation.
“Women from all over come to the UAE for business, leisure and often to make their dreams come true. It is a city where economic policies, legislation and programs are developed to ensure women’s empowerment and because of this a great role model for other cities to follow. We chose to host the next edition of our conference and awards show in Dubai because it sets the benchmark and, in this way, provides us with a fantastic platform to continue the dialogue,” said Dr Segera.
She cited the Gender Inequality Index (GII) of the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report 2020 where the UAE was ranked 18th globally and 1st regionally. “It has advanced eight positions from its previous rank of 26 in 2019,” she added.
This year’s theme, Resilience and Reinvention, will be tackled by several globally renowned entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, celebrities, sport personalities and political influencers who have confirmed their attendance.
At a press conference held earlier today at Pullman Deira City Centre Hotel, Dr Segera shared details of the nomination process.
“The nominations were opened on April 1st 2022. I am delighted that this being our first global awards under the banner of Women in Management, we received an overwhelming number of nominations from as many as 36 countries. Previously the nominations were only open to businesses from the host nation.”
She clarified that the awards do not just recognize women but also extend to men who have tangibly contributed towards promoting diversity as well as acknowledge corporates that display best practices and good governance. A total of 32 awards will be presented on the day.
The conference will focus on Political Leadership, Corporate Culture, Diversity and Inclusion, Corporate Governance and empathy led Human Management. “I think this is the first time a female centric conference will host a debate on the topic of political leadership. I believe female leadership must be pursued beyond the boardroom. Let me just say this is also an ideal opportunity for global networking,’ added Dr Segera.
As per the Global Gender Gap report released at the 2021 World Economic Forum, the UAE is ranked as a leading nation in Gender Equality in the region. Therefore, it is only fitting that the keynote address will be delivered by one of the nine leading female Cabinet Ministers in the current UAE Parliament.
The second speech will be delivered by Mimi Nicklin, the internationally bestselling author of ‘Softening the Edge’, Host of Empathy for Breakfast 365 and the founder of the first of its kind social education and inspiration platform, Empathy Everywhere. She will speak on Empathetic Influence and Creativity.
Rize Muhamed, newly elected Chairman of the Sri Lanka Business UAE, will deliver a speech on “Bilateral Trade between Sri Lanka & UAE”.
Immediate past Chairman Suren Swaminathan has been quoted as saying, “The Sri Lankan Business Council in the UAE, one of the oldest business chambers in the UAE, is the partner of the WIM Top50 Global Conference and Awards and we see this association as strengthening this event exponentially.”
“In order to ensure global certification and recognition for corporates to move forward in the business world, WIM has signed an MOU with Global Equality Standards UK. This entity recognizes corporates for their approach to diversity and equality. Founder and Chairman, Global Equality Alliance (UK), Dr. Mohan Kaul stated, “Businesses with diverse board memberships of more women than men have demonstrated higher levels of performance and profits globally. We keep that factor in mind when we look forward to receiving the nominations for the WIM Top50 Global Awards.”
Leading the august panel of judges and a past award winner herself is Roshanie Jayasundera Moraes. Reacting to this honour, she said, “I am happy to be associated with this groundbreaking initiative to recognize women, men, and organizations that respect and promote diversity. Proud to see a Sri Lankan brand taking center stage in the global arena in this sphere.”
Adeshola Helen Onadipe, Founder of the Africa Change Movement (UAE), summed up the Wim initiative in one sentence when she was quoted as saying, “When you train a woman, then you have trained a nation. It is called the strength of a woman.”
To learn and register for the Top50 Global Conference visit www.womeninmanagementawards.org