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Six new UAE companies sign Gender Balance Council pledge

Logos of the private-sector companies signed to GBC's 30% women executives pledge
There are now 24 major local and international private-sector companies, all operating in the UAE, that have voluntarily pledged to the UAE Gender Balance Council to put women in 30 percent of their leadership positions by 2025.
The first tranche of 18 companies signed up in January and, in March, a further six added their names to the roll:
  1. The Coca-Cola Company
  2. Danone Nutricia
  3. DP World
  4. Kearney
  5. KPMG and
  6. VFS Global (Visa Facilitation Services Global).
CompanyLocal/ internationalDate announced
BASFInternational18-Jan-22
Danone NutriciaInternational17-Mar-22
DP WorldLocal17-Mar-22
Dubai HoldingLocal18-Jan-22
Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC)Local18-Jan-22
General MillsInternational18-Jan-22
General MotorsInternational18-Jan-22
KearneyInternational17-Mar-22
KPMGInternational17-Mar-22
Majid Al Futtaim HoldingLocal18-Jan-22
MarsInternational18-Jan-22
MasdarLocal18-Jan-22
MasterCardInternational18-Jan-22
MichelinInternational18-Jan-22
Mondelez InternationalInternational18-Jan-22
NestleInternational18-Jan-22
PepsiCoInternational18-Jan-22
Schneider ElectricInternational18-Jan-22
Standard Chartered BankInternational18-Jan-22
The Coca-Cola CompanyInternational17-Mar-22
UnileverInternational18-Jan-22
UPSInternational18-Jan-22
VFS GlobalInternational17-Mar-22

(One company has yet to be named.)

Mid-level accelerators for women

Aurora50 recently ran an accelerator programme with Abu Dhabi Ports to support the mid-level businesswoman in moving up into executive positions.

“Mid-level women need opportunities, and access to the type of experience they will need higher up,” Aurora50 co-founder Diana Wilde says. “Then, on top of this access, we need to encourage women to step forward, to inspire and educate them to take on those roles.”

One of the biggest issues for mid-level women, she says, is getting access to key executive skills such as profit and loss (P&L) or budget experience, which are ‘musts’ for executive roles. It is also important to start women early, to create a lengthy C-suite pipeline, she adds.

If you would like more information about Aurora50’s bespoke company accelerator programmes, please get in touch.

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