Daily Times

The Pakistan Business Council (PBC) is in partnership with International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to enhance women’s employment opportunities in Pakistan. PBC and IFC in collaboration with the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG), jointly hosted training sessions in Karachi from September 24 to 26 on “The Value of Gender Diversity in Business Leadership” followed by “Women on Boards and in Business Leadership”.

The event was well attended by the CEOs, board directors, and C-suite executives of listed companies and banks, as well as regulatory agencies.

Based on research carried out by Women on Board Pakistan, an initiative of the South Asian Federation of Exchanges, less than 10% of listed company board directors in Pakistan are women.

Participants were trained on the business case for gender diversity in business leadership, navigating biases that women face in the workforce, and strategies for implementing change in the participants’ companies.

Commenting on the training, Mr. Khawar Ansari, IFC’s MENA Regional Program Manager for Corporate Governance, lauded the initiative saying that the programme was the first of its kind launched in Pakistan and aimed to develop skills of women leaders preparing to serve on company boards.

Mr. Ehsan Malik, CEO of PBC said that the event was timely as a director of one of PBC’s member companies was included in the Financial Times2018 ranking of the top 50 global male champions of women in business – the first leader of a Pakistani company to receive this recognition.

Mr. Feroz Rizvi, President & CEO of PICG further stated that PICG with representation from PBC had recommended to SECP the introduction of the mandatory requirement of at least one female on the boards of public interest companies. He reiterated that gender diversity was not just to redress boards’ composition imbalance but there was a definite business case for it.

Concluding the sessions, Mr. Fuad Azim Hashimi, Executive Director of the Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business at PBC, said that it was envisaged to hold such training sessions at least twice a year with a view to improving gender diversity on company boards in Pakistan.

Published in Daily Times, September 27^th 2018.