AFRICA CEO FORUM to hold all female debate

 The 2017 Africa CEO Forum, which comes off in Geneva from 20-21 March, for the first of its kind put female leadership in Africa at the heart of debate.

 "Focusing on Women's development is not just a nice thing to do, but a strong social and economic imperative that we cannot ignore. Across the communities that we serve, we are making BOLD interventions in developing financial services programs to support women." Julie ESSIAM Group Executive, Human Resources & Corporate Affairs CEO Ecobank Foundation

The panel "Women and businesses: building strength in unity" will be held on Monday, 20th March at 11am.

Despite significant progress, there are still too many barriers to women’s leadership and their rise within African companies. Yet the benefits of women leadership are proven: companies with over 25% women in management have a 20% higher operating margin. However, African companies have still a long way to go before benefiting from their full potential. How can we better promote women leadership in African business?

Key points :

· Success stories: five female business leaders share their experiences on making it to the top 

· Gender diversity in business: why is it a source of performance? 

· Recommendations: CEOs discuss concrete tools and strategies to spur the development of a new generation of African women leaders

 By Maame Agyeiwaa Agyei