Kirti Lad

As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2020 and reflect on the actions taken over the past year, we also recognized an emerging theme...

The huge wealth of female talent on offer in Hong Kong (starting to be recognized by multinational companies who are snapping up local female executives ready to take on their first board roles), is being completely overlooked by Hong Kong listed companies who continue to disregard the value of talent available.

Despite a strong talent pool, Hong Kong listed boards are typically overlooking female talent and missing opportunities to strengthen their corporate governance standards and tackle group think.

Hong Kong companies are doing the city a massive disservice by not elevating individuals from the female talent pool locally (women represent 53% of the total workforce, HK’s Female Talent Pipeline Study 2019). New ideas and perspectives also inject new ways of working and innovation to companies. Long term limits in Hong Kong and a network of the ‘usual suspects’, means that fresh blood in the boardroom can be a unique and valuable commodity.

Multinational companies with operations in Asia are increasingly appointing females to positions on their boards (whether subsidiary boards or main boards). MNCs are typically more advanced in their recognition of the need to diversify the skillset of their board members and Hong Kong has a long way to go to even catch up.

MNCs such as UBS, Westpac, Bupa and Cigna have all recently appointed women with APAC experience to their boards

The number of women on boards in Hong Kong stands at 13.6% (for the first year the numbers have fallen) Women on Boards Hong Kong 2020 [https://www.communitybusiness.org/women-boards-2020-Q1]

As of 2020 there are still 11 all male boards listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Through the Women’s Directorship Programme [www.wdp-international.com] (in partnership with The University of Hong Kong) we have seen over 130 women graduate as board ready and 50% of the alumni now hold a board seat (with just 10% of that total representing Hong Kong based boards). The programme serves to prepare female executives for the challenge of the boardroom, giving them an insight into the world hidden behind closed boardroom doors. The programme champions women on boards and serves to open up opportunities to female board candidates thanks to the on-going support of many companies such as Schneider Electric, Manulife, Mastercard and Walmart.

Times are changing and Hong Kong listed companies need to get on board or potentially be left behind.

Change is possible, and at Meraki we are doing all we can to influence and effect the movement.

In the past 12 months, since IWD 2019 we have:

Placed 5 more women onto corporate boards and supported 6 to achieve not for profit board roles Delivered shortlists including more than 30% women in the case of each and every one of our retained roles Seen more than 50% of our appointments made in 2019 go to women Supported 2 major companies with their diverse talent mapping programmes Spoken at or supported 10+ events focused on women leaders including MWC 2019 Successfully supported the 30% Club HK and The Women’s Foundation with rolling out workshops for the Boardroom Series to the ever-growing Women to Watch network.

I’m also delighted to share that I have been recognized by Visa for their She’s Next campaign – highlighting the work of female entrepreneurs and helping to tackle the barriers they face every day.

So in line with the theme for IWD 2020 Each for Equal, what actions will you take to make a difference?

Tackle bias whenever we encounter it. Speak up, question why decisions are made in a certain way and review established practices on hiring and promotion. Champion one another and highlight the great work done by your peers. Encourage others to challenge and stretch themselves – be there to support them.

Please do share with us the actions you and your teams will be taking to make the world a more equal place.

#IWD2020 #eachforequal #WDPInternational #womenonboards #genderdiversity #genderequality

Kirti Lad

Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR 7K followers 500+ connections

See your mutual connections View mutual connections with Kirti Sign in Welcome back Email or phone Password Show Forgot password? Sign in or New to LinkedIn? Join now or New to LinkedIn? Join now

Articles by Kirti

10 Years of the Women’s Directorship Programme

By Kirti Lad

Why we have created Asia’s Largest Pool of Female Board-Ready Talent

By Kirti Lad

Let’s talk about women being over-mentored and under-sponsored in the workplace.

By Kirti Lad

View Kirti’s full profile

Other similar profiles

Nick Marsh

Sammy Suen

Lee Anderson

Jiji Tu

Anthony Chan

Peter Conner

Claire Goodchild 🏳️‍🌈

Mark Denniss

Tenny Ng

Jackson Chan

Albert Young

Nick Jones

Sidney Leung

Alexander Tzang

Mohamed Butt

Stanley Ng

Angela, Yuen Sze Wing

Teresa Lee

Mimi Ho

Explore collaborative articles

Others named Kirti Lad

Kirti Lad

Kirti Lad

Kirti Lad

Kirti Lad

Add new skills with these courses

Disability Readiness for Leaders and Managers

Running a Design Business: The Staffing Rule Book

Optimizing Your Candidate Outreach Strategy

Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

7K followers 500+ connections

View mutual connections with Kirti

Welcome back

Email or phone

Password

Forgot password?

or

New to LinkedIn? Join now

or

New to LinkedIn? Join now