PWN Global partners with Naseba to launch in Dubai

Dubai, UAE, October 3rd 2016: In the UAE and the wider Middle East, women are increasingly occupying senior and executive roles, and great strides are being made towards gender balance in society and the economy. However, this balance has not yet been reached and there is still a great deal to be done in terms of supporting female leadership in the workplace and women in business.

PWN Global partners with Naseba to launch in Dubai

The 3,500+ member Professional Women’s Network will launch its Dubai presence at the 18th Global WIL Economic Forum.

Dubai, UAE, October 3rd 2016: In the UAE and the wider Middle East, women are increasingly occupying senior and executive roles, and great strides are being made towards gender balance in society and the economy. However, this balance has not yet been reached and there is still a great deal to be done in terms of supporting female leadership in the workplace and women in business.

One of the organisations driving the push for gender parity is Professional Women’s Network (PWN) Global, a not-for-profit, professional network and a social catalyst for gender balance. PWN supports some fifty organisations in their strategy to build gender balance within their organisations, both globally and locally.

Another such organisation is Naseba, the business facilitation company responsible for the Global WIL (Women in Leadership) Economic Forum. For the past seven years, the forum has championed gender parity, promoted cross-industry networking among professional women, and recognised outstanding individuals and companies who are at the forefront of building a more inclusive economic future for both men and women.

The forum gathers up to 500 global female and male business leaders, policy makers, as well as young female professionals and entrepreneurs from around the world, including the forum’s patron, H.E. Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy for the UAE.

This year’s edition of the forum will see contributions from barrier-breaking female leaders, including Ketevan Bochorishvili, Vice Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia; Lina Khalifeh, the Founder and Owner of SheFighter, a self-defence club for women that has become a sensation in Jordan; Rapelang Rabana, founder and CEO of Rekindle Learning; and Amna Al Haddad, one of the world’s first female Arab Olympic weightlifters.

The 18th Global WIL Economic Forum will also set the stage for Naseba and PWN Global to launch the latter’s presence in Dubai. PWN Global will provide a global platform for women in the UAE to develop and advance professionally, through networking and development opportunities, and will engage organisations to accelerate their journey towards gender balance.

PWN Global’s presence in Dubai will be launched on the forum’s first day, by Sonya Richardson, President of PWN Global, and Wendy Mackey Jones, Executive Director of PWN Global.

Sophie Le Ray, co-founder and CEO of Naseba, said “Given our mutual history of supporting women in business and encouraging female leaders to form connections across industries and regions, this partnership is a natural stepping stone for both PWN Global and Naseba to achieve our shared goal of gender parity. Recent studies have shown that women have fewer ties than men to colleagues at work and outside work who can help them. It is therefore more vital than ever to facilitate female networking – which is why we look forward to seeing PWN Global flourish in Dubai, and to welcoming its members to future editions of the Global WIL Economic Forum.