PwC announces the launch of the Middle East Action for Diversity Council at the Women in Leadership Forum in Dubai

Dubai, UAE - 30 October 2019: At the Women in Leadership Forum (WIL), PwC Middle East Senior Partner Hani Ashkar, together with some of the world's leading companies, launched the Middle East Action for Diversity Council— a public commitment made by leading organisations in the private sector to promote the values of diversity and inclusion within their businesses in the Middle East.

The Council aims to rally like-minded organisations to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace by working together and addressing the opportunities and challenges that come with the change.

Commenting on the announcement, Hani Ashkar PwC Middle East Senior Partner said:

“The MENA region is collectively losing an estimated $575 billion a year due to the legal and social barriers that exist for women’s access to jobs and careers. As business leaders with a deep and longstanding commitment to the region, we can play a critical role in ensuring that inclusion is core to our workplace culture and that our companies are representative of the communities we serve. We recognise that these commitments are not the complete answer, but we believe they are crucial steps towards consciously building more diverse and inclusive workplaces.”

Norma Taki, PwC Middle East Diversity & Inclusion Leader, participated in the “Honest Panel” on the second day of the Forum and shared how Diversity & Inclusion is integral to the firm’s purpose at PwC; driving transparency, reporting and investment in diversity and inclusion within the Middle East. She and her fellow panelists shared their person experience as well as the programmes companies like PwC are committing to, to drive Diversity and Inclusion.

Norma commented: “I truly believe we can move the dial on diversity by focusing on a number of key areas such as raising awareness, ensuring accountability, and mentoring/sponsorship programmes and linking into our external communities. We have done a lot in a short amount of time, mostly by raising awareness and collecting and analysing data. We now have a strategy and we are driving hard to make a real difference.”

The 21st edition of WIL Economic Forum titled “Dare to Build a Better Future” brought together over 400 participants from around the world, to shape the economy of tomorrow, lead in times of constant change and to build a community of game changers.

Copyright Press Releases 2019