OICCI acknowledges members for empowering women

KARACHI: The participation of women is important to create an enabling environment necessary to accelerate the economic growth of the country, an official said on Thursday.

The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) President Ghias Khan while speaking at the OICCI Women Empowerment Awards 2021, commended the efforts of foreign investors.

Khan said: “The OICCI had initiated the OICCI Women Empowerment initiative in 2017 and has been regularly advocating for women empowerment among its membership.”

“The fourth (2021) edition of the awards this year was organised to recognise the progress made by OICCI members in raising the engagement of women within their respective organisation and give awards to the outstanding performers,” he added.

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Deputy Governor Sima Kamil lauded the efforts of the OICCI and observed that OICCI Women is a great platform to create a movement for women empowerment in the country.

Kamil appreciated the OICCI initiative to publicly acknowledge the efforts of the member companies to give women equal employment opportunity and congenial working environment for the economy to grow.

The speakers at the event also emphasised that empowerment of women and gender equality are essential tools to achieve sustainable development in a global world.

The OICCI has initiated various research and has been holding annual competitions among the members by recognising those who have focused on women empowerment. “Increasing Women’s inclusion in the Pakistan Economy” a policy paper by OICCI was shared with the Ministry of Human Rights last year.

The awards were judged by an independent jury who vetted the performance of the companies from different aspects and awarded the best performers overall and in seven separate categories. Three companies emerged victorious across all the categories and won top three positions.

Unilever Pakistan won the top position and was declared winner of the “OICCI Women Empowerment Award 2021” while Procter and Gamble Pakistan and Telenor Pakistan were declared the first and second runner-up respectively.

The Special Recognition Awards were given in seven categories, where Nestlé Pakistan won in the ‘Leadership and Strategy’ category; Mobilink Microfinance Bank in ‘Gender Balance Workforce’; Standard Chartered Bank in ‘Work Life Integration’ and Bank Alfalah won in ‘Women Leaders Development’.

Pakistan Mobile Communications (Jazz) was declared winner in “Driving Change Beyond Workspace”; TRG (ibex. Pakistan) in “Notable Growth in Women Empowerment”; and L’Oreal Pakistan bagged the ‘Top Performer amongst companies of 300 employees’ Award.

The ceremony was attended by a large number of chief executive officers and corporate professionals from different OICCI member companies, as well as diplomats and other distinguished guests.

The keynote speakers included the Political Counsellor at British High Commission, Iona Thomas; European Union Ambassador to Pakistan, Androulla Kaminara; and Executive Vice President Unilever, Annemarieke de Haan.

At the conclusion, OICCI Secretary M Abdul Aleem, hoped to see the OICCI Women initiative become an inspiration for all organisations across the country and join hands for a greater cause.