With the ultimate goal of guiding more women into leadership posts, the new Future Female Leaders Programme will match well-known women in the banking industry with aspirant members and students to encourage them to share their experiences and ideas.

Through private group discussions and seminars, the ICAEW program seeks to develop the leadership abilities of prospective members, increase the size of their professional network, and strengthen their ability to make business decisions. The topics of discussion will include professional development, leadership, taking chances, resilience, personal branding, work/life balance, and the function of sponsors, coaches, and mentors. These are just a few of the issues facing women in the field.

The World Economic Forum's 2023 Global Gender Gap Report states that the Middle East region has the biggest gender equality gap, standing at 62.6%.


Women are underrepresented in the finance industry globally, holding only 23% of C-suite level positions, compared to 49% of entry-level roles.

Business and the economy both benefit from an increase in the proportion of women in leadership roles in finance. Numerous studies demonstrate how more female representation, especially in senior roles, improves financial performance, resilience, and inventiveness. In addition, it helps close the wealth and income differences between the sexes and gives women the chance to grow in their careers and become financially independent.

"Ecosystem where women can empower each other to thrive" must be established.

Three mentors have been confirmed for the first batch of the program: Amanda Line, non-executive director at Vestey Holdings; Sana Khater, executive director of finance at ALDAR; and Jaimi Raikundalia, partner at Deloitte.

Amanda Line stated: "ICAEW is contributing to the development of a supportive ecosystem where women can inspire each other to prosper by providing a platform for seasoned female finance experts to share their experiences and ideas with rising professionals. Women in finance helping women in finance is how we will get closer to closing the gender gap in our sector.


Sana Khater expressed her enthusiasm for the initiative as well: "It's critical to support and empower young women to enter the finance industry with the necessary tools and mindset to succeed in an increasingly complex, international, and multidisciplinary business environment where they can confidently contribute to the financial decision-making process, lead teams and organizations, and add perspective." The goal of ICAEW's program is to develop the next generation of female finance leaders at the grassroots level.


"The evidence is clear: gender-diverse workforces correlate with more profitable companies," added Jaimi Raikundalia. Women are still underrepresented in the financial sector, even though business and government leaders are becoming more cognizant of the role diversity plays in fostering economic success.

According to our research, the proportion of women in senior management roles and on boards was twice as high in companies with female CEOs as it was in similar organizations. Because of this, women-led projects like the ICAEW program are crucial for bringing about change at the local level.
 

With a limited enrollment, ICAEW's inaugural Inspiring Future Leaders program will take place from 24 April to 24 July. Applications are available on the ICAEW website for interested members and students, and they must be submitted by April 22, 2024.