Daily Times

Women Business Network (WBN) in collaboration with Transforming Hub, knowledge partner being HR Knowledge Café (HKC) and supported by Dawn Breads hosted the finale of WomenBiz Meetup series. After receiving tremendous appreciation for the previous three meetups, this one proved to be a huge success with an even bigger and stronger audience.

The event took place at International School of Choueifat (ISC) and started off with welcoming remarks by the host, Margo Abel Aziz, Director of ISC. Sam Ali Dada, Co-founder WBN and Former President, Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Lahore, continued the session with opening remarks who was then followed by Haroon Akhtar, Co-founder HKC and Chief Happiness Officer at Ozi Group for the introduction of HR Knowledge Café. Iftikhar Hussain, Co-founder, WBN and Director, Startup Grind Lahore, highlighted the objectives and sustainability of these meetup series by WBN and announced the upcoming WBN Launch Event in Islamabad.

The session theme for this particular meetup was ‘Women Empowerment; A case for Diversity and Financial Inclusion’. The first panel discussion highlighted the topic, ‘Enabling Inclusion – Workplaces and Beyond’ and was moderated amazingly by Muhammad Jahanzaib, COO, Dunya Foundation. During the discussion, Sabahat Bokhari, Director Diversity and Inclusion at Jazz, discussed the revolution of inclusion in the corporate world while Hiba Akhtar, Supply Chain Operations Director, Pepsico Pakistan, shared her experiences in the various male dominant fields at multiple organizations. Habib Saqib, Co-founder and Head of Business at FasalPay, also shed light upon the issue in terms of agriculture industry.

The second panel discussion revolved around driving sustainability through Diversity and Inclusion, moderated by Atif Arif, Vice President HR, The Bank of Punjab. He asked some thoughtful questions from the panelists which included Toima Asghar, Chief HR Officer, Systems Ltd, Fouzia Abid, Head of Supply Chain, Fatima Group and Mudassir Malik, CEC Member Pakistan Software House Association &CEO, AppsGeni Technologies. The discussion highlighted the current situation of D&I in the corporate sector and paved way for future possibilities and strategies to keep things moving forward.

The session came towards an end with a final speech from Meer Anwar, Director General, Benazir Income Support Program, on Digital Inclusion Through Technology. A Q&A session was conducted followed by a hi-tea and a networking session.