Jamaican businesswoman champions cause for women in Dubai
JAMAICAN BUSINESSWOMAN Ethnie Miller Simpson was among more than 500 world leaders in attendance championing the cause of women at the justconcluded International Woman Leadership conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The inaugural IWL Conference, which kicked off on Tuesday, concluded yesterday, the last three days of International Women’s History Month. It was held under the theme: ‘Women In Leadership … Playing To Win’. The conference was benchmarked against four pillars – knowledge, empowerment, networking, and fun – to enrich the mindset and skills of attendees to even greater accomplishments.
The Woman Leadership Conference is an initiative of Corporate Global Executive, Ibukun Awosika, whose passion is to empower and equip women to add value in every space they occupy competitively.
Miller Simpson exuded gratitude for being selected as a Caribbean representative at the conference dubbed “the true celebration of our Women Leaders”.
She said that part of her role there was to “review current positions on various issues pertaining to equity and parity to further strengthen the gender policy implementation in the region”.
In addition, while there, she sought opportunities for greater collaboration and relationshipbuilding between Africa and the diaspora of women entrepreneurs.
“The contribution of women to growth, recovery, and resilience of the economy has not been fully examined and mobilised. When more women are economically empowered, they not only better to care for themselves, their families and their i mmediate communities. This activity can jump-start and drive the economy, and as a country make better inclusive decisions, for example, around climate change, gender financing, education, women in peacekeeping, and others as these issues impact women differently,” said Miller Simpson.
OUTSTANDING
A game changer herself, Miller Simpson is chairman of The Women Entrepreneurs Network of the Caribbean. She is a fellow of the Fortune/ US State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Programme, the Cherie Blair Foundation, a member of The Women Leadership Initiative and several local boards and committees to which she is a volunteer. She is a woman who is known for outstanding commitment and work in gender and a significant contributor to the development of the entrepreneurship ecosystem through the Ministry of Industry, Investment, and Commerce committee which she co-chairs. Miller Simpson is a persistent entrepreneur who has helped numerous micro-business owners develop concepts into profitable enterprises contributing to the country’s economy.
The conference lead, Awosika, has spent 33 years building a manufacturing group and being involved in corporate work across several boards and companies in Nigeria and beyond. Awosika birthed the conference out of a realisation that while women are technically competent at all levels with passion and ambition, some women leaders lack the “other necessary skills required to compete effectively with men in the place of leadership”, stated the conference’s website.
Chairman Miller Simpson’s participation at the conference will assist in elevating Caribbean women’s pursuits within the global business arena, not only through networking but also through interconnectivity for women across international corporations and nations.