Support for MENA women renewed at upcoming forum

In keeping with this new wave of female empowerment, up to 300 prominent businesswomen and leaders gathered last November to discuss strategies on advancing women in the workforce and increasing women's economic opportunities in the MENA region.

Following the success of last year's edition, the 5th Annual WIL Forum Middle East and Africa will take place on May 29th and 30th 2013 in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel - DIFC, Dubai. Hosted by French business information group Naseba, it aims to create an international business platform for open exchange, collaboration, and enhance women's economic opportunities in the region.

Attended by 36 international speakers representing 14 countries, the resolutions made during last year's forum helped advance the progress of women in the workforce, and recognised some of the region's leading diversity and inclusion initiatives.

"Naseba has been a great help to Dubai Airports over the last two to three years and has enabled us to build our internal brand just as successfully as our external brand," explained Jill Nealon, Senior Vice President Human Resources and Development of Dubai Airports.

This year's edition will discuss boosting profit through women's leadership, achieving unprecedented growth through 'intrapreneurship,' making diversity and inclusion initiatives profitable and showcasing the worldwide implementation of gender quotas.

The forum also includes conference sessions and think tanks which focus on building personal and organisational excellence.

Amongst the confirmed speakers is Nemat Shafik, Deputy Managing Director of IMF who will be giving the keynote address titled 'Equality means business', on the first day of the forum.

Other speakers include Asil Attar, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Fashion; Moritz Hartmann, General Manager Middle East of Roche Diagnostics; Clare Woodcraft, CEO of Emirates Foundation for Youth Development; and John Deykin, General Manager Books Division of Motivate Publishing.

In addition, the forum is discussing the worldwide implementation of gender quotas and their impact on closing the gender gap and enabling economic growth. This discussion is to be led by Dr Abdullah Al AbdulGader, Founding Executive Director of GCC Board Directors Institute; and Helen Pitcher, Chairman of UK company IDDAS.

The WIL Achievement Awards, taking place on the first morning, recognise the region's leading businesswomen, men and organisations for their support of women in business. Five awards are up for grabs: Leading Businesswoman of the Year; Most Innovative Woman Entrepreneur of the Year; Leading Woman in Public Sector; Male Champion of Change and Most Women-Friendly Employer. Nominations close on Thursday April 25th 2013.

"This forum has enabled both global and local organisations from all sectors to discuss potential business opportunities and develop powerful networks with some of the world's most influential businesswomen and leaders. WIL Forums, since their inception in 2009, have become a global platform where organisations have highlighted their leadership initiatives and accessed an elite target audience to develop future economic opportunities. Most importantly however, the WIL forums are about advancing women within the workforce, and we are looking forward to another successful edition in Dubai," said Sophie Le Ray, founder of the global WIL forums and Naseba CEO.