WIM, IFC invite nominations for Professional and Career Women Awards 2017

From left: Maldivian High Commission Colombo Head of Mission Zahiya Zareer, Women in Management Founder/Chairperson Sulochana Segera, IFC Gender Secretariat Head Henriette Kolb and Lanka Sathosa/2017 Panel Judge Chairman Dr. Rohantha Athukorala 

By Zahara Zuhair
Nominations are invited for the seventh Top 50 Professional and Career Women Awards 2017, which is to take place on July 14th, organized by the Women in Management (WIM) and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group partnering the event for the third consecutive year.
The award ceremony which recognises women who inspire others with their success in career, business and everyday life, will be in 33 categories. 
The nominations have been extended to Maldivian women as well, making the event more significant. Nominations for these awards are open from February 25 to May 30. 
WIM Founder/Chairperson Sulochana Segera said that Sri Lanka is at  the crossroads, with many local companies on the verge of evolving their leadership for a new age of equal opportunity. 
“Now in its seventh edition, we want to continue to shine a light on the achievements of Sri Lanka’s most remarkable women, which will also help inspire the next generation of women leaders,” she said. She said that women represented approximately 57 percent of the 21 million population in Sri Lanka, but their contribution to the economy was very low. 
The economically-active population was 8.3 million in the first quarter  of 2016 of which 63.3 were male and  36.7 were female. Out of the economically inactive population in Sri Lanka  24.2  percent are men 75. 8 are female, she said.

She said the reason for this, despite the free education which means both genders get equal access to education, where more women get qualified to universities compared to men, was due to the lack of female role models to look up for.
“Professional and Career Women awards, for the last six years have brought women forward who were hidden behind their professional designations, their corporate designations, business and social cycles. Most of the women hardly come out of their professional designations to speak out of their achievements. So thinking about that  awards were introduced to give role models to the young generations,” she said.
The IFC Head of Gender Secretariat Henriette Kolb said that when female employees were unable to realize their full economic potential, businesses, communities, and economies were affected. No country can afford to lose half its talent pool, she said.
“We are proud to continue supporting the work done by WIM through these awards and other training programs to help create new opportunities for women across Sri Lanka,” she added. She also stressed  the importance of closing the gender gap as well as rolling out such programmes to rural women.
The Maldivian High Commission in Sri Lanka Head of Mission Zahiya Zareer said that women needed a push and encouragement to show their skills and this event was a good opportunity to  take them forward. She also stressed the importance of guiding rural women and participating them to contribute to the economy.
She added that it was a good opportunity  for Maldivian women too to compete with their close neighbour Sri Lanka. 
Lanka Sathosa Chairman Dr. Rohantha Athukorala  and a 2017 Panel Judge said that as it has become an international brand already, they hoped that other South Asian countries too would take part in this award ceremony in the future. “The WIM top 50 career awards has become one of the most respected events in Sri Lanka, attracting the highest number of entries,” he said.
This year’s judges include Amena Arif from IFC, Kumar Samarasinghe from Singer Sri Lanka, Lilamani Benson of Lowe LDB, Nadija Thambiah from John Keells Holdings, Tania Polonnowita Wettimuny from Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, and Farzana Jameel  
President’s Counsel.