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Procter & Gamble Middle East kickstarted its Women Entrepreneurs Academy scheduled from March 7-9 in its MENA Innovation Centre Dubai offices in collaboration with WEConnect International, as part of its ongoing commitment to equality and inclusion.
The first of its kind in the region, the P&G Women Entrepreneurs Academy program invites female business-owners based in the UAE to participate in competitive training opportunities ahead of industry-wide digitization, further cementing the brand’s efforts to creating an inclusive, gender-equal environment.
The program offers a total of eight training sessions across leadership and key skillsets necessary to achieve greater pitch delivery, procurement, digitization, business strategy and long-term growth, concluding with a graduation ceremony and networking session on 9 March 2022.
The opening ceremony was inaugurated by Omar Channawi, CEO Procter & Gamble Middle East, Global Entrepreneurial Markets and Sub Sahara Africa & Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa Sales; Cara Nazari, AmCham Dubai Managing Director and Rohit Batra, Senior Director MEA Purchases, Procter & Gamble.
Upon addressing the participants, Channawi said, “It is a great honour to be opening such an ambitious and timely program ahead of International Women’s Day. At P&G, we believe that we can be a Force for Good and Force for Growth in the world around us every day. We have committed to creating a more equitable world for our employees, with our brands, through our partners, and in our communities both internally and externally. The UAE is also effectively leading regional efforts in gender equality in the public and private sectors alike and the Women Entrepreneurs Academy is a token to that determination. I would like to thank our partner WEConnect International, with whom we developed this first and one of a kind training program, and our P&G trainers, who are focused on progressing women entrepreneurs and providing them with opportunities to excel.”
Cara Nazari, AmCham Dubai Managing Director, added, “It is a clear and impactful deliverable that the partnership between P&G and WeConnect International has set in its sights. The value to this inaugural group will certainly carry into their communities as they develop their business acumen more fully learning hands on, practical skills from the senior leadership of P&G. I am excited to follow these women as their businesses develop and look forward to an even greater number of women joining future cohorts.”
P&G Women Entrepreneurs Academy Co-Directors Nihal Hashish, Senior Purchasing Manager-Paper Packaging and Supplier Diversity at Procter & Gamble; and Patricia E. Langan, Regional Director for the Middle East at WEConnect International, together spearheaded the selection process against competitive criteria, whereby all 20 successful applicants are either female owners or have a high-level executive role in a B2B business that is at least 51% owned, managed and controlled by women.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) and WEConnect International have partnered since 2016 to develop the Women Entrepreneurs Development Programs to train Women Owned Businesses in communities where P&G operates. To date, more than 440 women from 14 countries have been provided course content including topics such as Building Leadership Skills, Aligning and Executing Business Strategy, Leveraging Technology, and Procurement Processes.
