INSEAD And Women In Business Alumni Club Celebrate Female Leadership Excellence In UAE

INSEAD, one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools, in collaboration with the Woman in Business Club and INSEAD National Alumni Association (NAA) UAE, hosted an event to celebrate female leadership excellence in the Middle East.

The event was held at the INSEAD Middle East Campus in Abu Dhabi, where renowned speakers such as Salwa AlZahmi, CEO and Founder of SPLco LTD and Andrea Barber, Co-founder & CEO at RatedPower, gathered to discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by social enterprises. The theme of this event was ‘’Impact Ventures: Growth Opportunities and Challenges’’.

Moderated by Katell Le Goulven, Founding Executive Director of INSEAD Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society and joined by Filipe Santos, Visiting Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at INSEAD, the panel discussed the opportunities and challenges faced by impact ventures.

“Entrepreneurship is the way we reinvent our world, and entrepreneurs continue shaping the world we live in’’ commented Majid Al Mail, INSEAD alumnus from the Executive MBA programme in 2021 (EMBA’21Dec),where he shared with the audience his dedication to building the Emirati – Entrepreneurial Muscle.

‘‘Entrepreneurship is witnessing increasing interest in the UAE both on the official level, with the launch of multiple government led initiatives and on the private level evidenced by the increased level of start-ups and investing in start-ups locally. Another aspect is the rise of the venture studio model in the UAE. This is a model is a collective of talented individuals who repeatedly launch new ventures. These models are very encouraging to create more impact in our ecosystem and in the region,” Al Mail added.

This event bolstered by INSEAD is in line with the school’s commitment of supporting diversity, equity and inclusion in business. Significant programmes and initiatives have been launched – such as the Women Leaders Programme,  Gender Initiative,  Limitless Campaign,INSEAD joiningUN Women’s HeforShe Alliance, INSEAD Global Women in Business Club, and the INSEAD Global Executive MBA (GEMBA) Programme.

The GEMBA Programme, taking place at INSEAD’s three campuses across three regions: Europe (France), Asia (Singapore), and the Middle East (United Arab Emirates), is one of the most prestigious Masters-level Executive Degree programme designed for senior executives. Through the programme, INSEAD continues to affirm its positioning as a key player to champion women in business, in both traditional and career paths by increasing the flow of women business executives into key educational gateways and business networks. Among the 57 nationalities enrolled in this programme every year, 30 percent of the students are women.

‘’The global network offered by the INSEAD Programmes through its alumni is phenomenal. This helps to develop more opportunities as we are all driven by a common purpose which is to create more impact and become more rooted in the ecosystem we are all trying to shape. I hope very soon that we reach a point where we don’t celebrate Women’s Day but rather an ‘Equity Day’. This is a partnership: men enable women to rise and women enable men to rise. The power of inclusiveness is very transformational. This is what we aim to champion with the INSEAD Women in Business Alumni Club UAE” highlighted Natalie Sleiman EMBA’14Dec, Managing Director – EMEA Head of Professional & Technology at ZRG Partners LLC and President of the INSEAD National Alumni Association in the UAE.

The insightful event which ended with a networking reception, illustrates the relentless commitment of INSEAD, the Cartier Women’s Initiative and the Women in Business Alumni Club NAA UAE to partner for more equality in our society.