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Issue No. XCVI, June 8, 2012 SPECIAL EDITION: 2012 GLOBAL SUMMIT OF WOMEN |
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GLOBAL SUMMIT OF WOMEN SUPPORTS GREECE DURING DIFFICULT TIME 
I. WHY GREECE?? Some people run away from disasters, while others go toward them to help. From May 31st-June 2nd, women from 70 countries came to Greece to provide support, business alliances, ideas and inspiration at the 2012 Global Summit of Women held in Athens in the midst of the country’s economic and political crisis. “Women go where they are needed,” stated Summit President Irene Natividad at the Opening Ceremony. Vietnam’s Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan echoed this sentiment in her speech when she underscored the need to show solidarity with Greek women. “The answer to this crisis is to use women’s underutilized talents,” added Natividad, reflecting the Summit’s theme – “Women: The Engine of Economic Growth.” The Summit’s physical presence when other international conferences have shied away from holding events in Greece was much appreciated by members of Greece’s government who were at this global gathering. While acknowledging bad practices that led his country to the brink of insolvency, Minister of Development Yiannis Stournaras outlined business opportunities that still exist in Greece in a packed pre-Summit session. These were reinforced by Niovi Christopoulou, Asst. General Counsel of Libra Capital in New York and Yanos Gramatidis, President of the American Hellenic Chamber of Commerce in a later session.
Vice President of the European Parliament Rodi Kratsa expressed her country’s appreciation for the Summit’s presence in Athens, while the Ministerial Roundtable had input from Anna Diamantopoulou, former Minister of Development and Maria Stratigaki, Secretary General for Gender Equality, both of whom outlined Greek government initiatives to foster entrepreneurship among girls and women as pivotal keys to a sustainable economic recovery in Greece. What showcased the possibilities for Greece’s exit from this financial crisis were business leaders at the Summit like shipping magnate Angeliki Frangou, who launched three companies in the New York Stock Exchange; Nellie Katsou who built a pharmaceutical company along with her brother that now exports to 48 countries; or Maria Vlachou, who in her 20’s created an eco-friendly snail farm business that now exports to European customers, when she couldn’t find a job as a translator. Sofia Economacos, President of the European Chamber Women’s Network and Chair of the Greece Host Committee stated: “It was important for us to show another side of Greece through its businesswomen at the Summit who forge on, crisis or no crisis.”
What global trends will impact future growth
of the world’s economies?
This critical question in light of the current global
recession and European debt crisis was addressed by McKinsey’s
leader for Europe, Middle East and Africa Michael Halbye in the
Summit’s opening session, which spurred much discussion. Some of the points he
stressed: ·
Emerging economies are the
growth markets of the 21st
century, which
will lift millions of people out of poverty into the middle
class. Current trade
flows are from emerging markets to emerging markets, so companies in
developed economies must adjust to this reality to
compete. ·
There is an urban shift in many parts of
the world, creating 600 megacities, reducing agrarian workers and
stressing municipal infrastructures and
resources. ·
A knowledge economy is replacing
a manufacturing economy, which will need workers with advanced
skills and education.
Many of them are coming from India
alone. · Developed economies are facing an aging workforce and declining populations. They must increase productivity and the employment of women to remain competitive.
· Connectivity among billions of people worldwide will lead
to new business models for reaching customers and marketing
products. Innovation
will emerge more from developing economies where cost reduction will
fuel development of new products with economies of
scale. · Population growth will increase prices for
commodities – energy,
food, water being the most precious resource over which conflict may
arise. ·
Governments and business
must forge partnerships to solve the issues facing citizens
worldwide. (For
entire Mckinsey report on these trends, go to www.globewomen.org and click to “Megatrends”
link.) 3.
PUBLIC/PRIVATE SECTOR
PARTERSHIPS
If governments are to be most
effective for their citizens, then they must leverage strained
resources by partnering with the private sector. This is the theme of the
2012 Summit's Ministerial
Roundtable, which brought 35 current and former
Ministers of different portfolios to exchange programs in which
their agencies partnered with business to improve women’s and girls’
lives. A program which
attracted attention among the Ministers is one presented by China –
the provision of simple concrete water collectors provided through
alliances with corporations in a drought stricken area of China.
It is a model which can
be replicated in other countries. This is
the theme as well of the Summit session on Corporate Social
Responsibility, where Intel’s Regional Director for
Middle East, Turkey and Africa Aysegul Ildeniz shared their
partnership with various governments to provide technology training
for girls and women.
Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria’s CEO Bola Adesola discussed
an industry-wide initiative she is spearheading to increase the
number of women on the boards of her countries’ banks – a project
urged by the Nigeria’s Central Bank, but whose implementation is in
the hands of the private sector. 4.
BUILDING BUSINESS
ALLIANCES Given that the majority of
this year’s Summit participants lead businesses of vario From
Malaysia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, Rebecca Sta. Maria
reported that at last year’s Summit in Istanbul, Malaysia’s B-to-B
meetings with Turkish women entrepreneurs resulted in four million
euros’ worth of business being generated. For the 2013 Summit hosted
by Malaysia, B-to-B meetings will be arranged through Malaysia Trade
(MATRADE) office. 5.
WOMEN IN THE BANKING
INDUSTRY
Women’s board representation in the world’s
largest financial institutions comes to 15.6%. If banks were segmented out
of the listing, there is a 6% increase since the last CWDI report on
banks in 2005, or about 1% per year! Regionally, Europe leads with
21.7% of board seats held by women in their financial
institutions. Part of
the reason lies in the fact that Europe has in place aggressive
measures to increase the presence of women on boards – quotas and
gender diversity language written into their corporate governance
codes. Among the banks
and financial services companies based in countries with quotas,
women-held board seats come to 20.4%. Among the Top Ten best performing companies with the highest percentage of women directors, Australia’s Westpac comes in first with 44% of its board directors being female. The only country with three companies in CWDI Report’s Top Ten listing is France, whose three banks have high percentages of women directors – BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole. The US only has two companies in this listing – Wells Fargo Bank and VISA. (For the report’s key findings and to purchase copies, log on to www.globewomen.org, click to CWDI)
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us sizes, country delegations made a special
effort to forge alliances with entrepreneurs from the Host
Country.
At the Athens Summit, a new report was released
that examined the largest banks in the world to see whether the
current global recession has resulted in changed leadership that
brought in more diverse voices to face the challenges facing this
industry.