AN INTERNATIONAL VIEW PART ONE

Despina Theodossiou is President of WISTA International, this having established the Cypriot branch of the organisation, joining together with other women in the industry who wanted to build a networking platform. We asked her some quickfire questions…

What do you want to achieve with the association?

“Firstly, I want to grow WISTA geographically. As a global association, our leverage is in our multi-culturalism and different countries and regions bring different points of view and strengths to the table. During my tenure we have expanded in South America, Asia and Africa.

“Secondly, I want stronger collaborations with other organisations, and of course, for the discussion to be more than diversity per se – WISTA is looking into issues that are currently important to maritime industries, like the advent of new technologies.

“My ultimate vision? To mainstream the issue of diversity in our industry. We have an industry of opportunity in a time of change, and WISTA’s voice will be there, as a valued industry body.”

What is the organisation’s footprint like in Africa?

“There are currently four national WISTA Associations in Africa – Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa. We are currently working on a few more and we hope that soon they will come to fruition. It is certainly one of my goals to grow our membership in Africa as there is a lot of opportunity and many educated, senior level women who can be role models and trailblazers for younger women in the industry.”