KARACHI: The 10th ‘International Women Leaders Summit’ was held in Movenpick Karachi, Pakistan, bringing together women leaders from across the globe, to reflect on their stories of success, and inspire others to take the lead.
A pioneer in leadership development for professional women, New World Concepts led by Yasmin Hyder has been organizing the International Women Leaders’ Summit in Karachi since 2012. The premier annual conference series has to date hosted 160 speakers from 40 countries and over 2300 delegates in the previous 9 conferences. Yasmin highlighted that this conference was a culmination of a decade of achievements in Women Leadership & Empowerment.
The Summit focused on bringing 250 women professionals and together by inspiring them through success stories of global women leaders. Guest speakers include Shaikha Hind bint Salman AlKhalifa, President, Bahrain International Federation of Business; Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan; Illango Patchamuthu, Country Director Pakistan, World Bank Group; Tania Aidrus, Head of Digital Pakistan; Sabrina Dawood, CEO of The Dawood Foundation, Buket Çelebiöven, HR Director, Arcelik Turkey; Wendy Gilmour High Commissioner of Canada to Pakistan; Androulla Kaminara, EU Ambassador to Pakistan; Asif Jooma, CEO, ICI Pakistan Ltd; Brigadier Nadia Hayat, Pakistan Army; Shazad Dada, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan; Ayesha Tammy Haq, Executive Director, Pharma Bureau; Jamal Baquar, SEVP, National Bank of Pakistan; Commodore Gulnaz Ahmed, Pakistan Navy; Dr. Nino Paichadze, George Washington University, USA; Squadron Ldr. Ambreen Gul, Pakistan Air Force, as well as notable Pakistani success stories.
The keynote speaker Dr Sania Nishtar highlighted the evolution of women’s empowerment in Pakistan and the importance of promoting inclusiveness of women in the workforce. She also spoke of the Ehsaas Program being launched by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Honorable guest Shaikha Hind bint Salman AlKhalifa of Bahrain spoke about the role of women leaders in the Muslim world and the success of women in boardrooms in shaping organizational strategy and growth.
World Bank Group Country Director Pakistan Illango Patchamuthu spoke about the new initiative of Girls Learn Women Earn-100 days of action. He also underlined World Bank’s commitment to create more awareness about the importance of girls education and women’s participation in the workforce.
Commodore Gulnaz Ahmad, Brigadier Nadia Hayat and Squadron Leader Ambreen Gul shared their experience of performing their duties in the face of severe challenges.
The conference explored topics related to Creating a Digital Pakistan, Purpose Driven Marketing, Increase in Gender Representation in the Workplace, Women in Health-Care among others; and presented success stories of women leaders from Pakistan and across the globe. The IWLS 2020 was well attended by members of the diplomatic community, renowned women entrepreneurs, and heads of bilateral trade associations, teams from the World Bank Group, senior businessmen and members of the media.
