The second session of Women Professionals Summit 2023 highlighted the route to leadership for successful women- led brands that contribute to achieving the state’s goals for increasing exports.
The session highlighted the importance of experience exchanging and mentoring the new generations of young ladies. The panelists were Azza Fahmy, Chairwoman and Creative Director of Azza Fahmy Jewellery, Abir Leheta, CEO of Egytrans, Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, Founder of Art D’Égypte. The session was moderated by Sarah Hosni, Managing Director of Al Baraka Capital.
Azza Fahmy expressed her pleasure about her participation at the summit, stating that the success of her own brand is driven by the teamwork not just individual efforts to launch a quality product of a competitive edge on both national and international levels. She stated that as a mother and CEO, quitting wasn’t an option for her. Yet, she managed to balance between her roles on both personal and professional levels, as the success of any project is geared by passion. She also narrated the success story of her brand that had been launched 20 years ago with a capital value of 3 pounds and the use of humble material, such as brass. With her passion an consistency, she developed her quality products using high- end material.
She stated that branding isn’t the sole factor for the success of any project, but also depends on uniqueness and the competitive edge, highlighting that Egyptian- made quality products supports the national goals of the export increase.
On the other hand, she stated that the designers in Egypt are facing shortage in handicrafts men. Hence, she decided to launch artisan craftsmanship workshops. She stressed on the necessity of changing the community mindset to harness women’s presence in the labor market after marriage. She also referred to the necessity of regulations in ensuring women’s penetration in the labor market. However, this mainly requires awareness raising among men.
During the award ceremony held later on, Azza Fahmy received “ Top 50 Most Influential Women” award due to her dedicated community role to inspire the next generation of yong women through paving their route of success and self- affirmation.
Eng. Abir Leheta stated that women on board at Egytrans represent 33%. She added that women’s participation on board reached 33%. She added that 25% of the upper management positions in the company are held by women, compared to 10% of women participation in the transport sector.
She also necessitated the importance of increasing women’s participation in transportation and logistics, as priorities must be taken into consideration to ensure women’s success in this sector.
She also highlighted that branding requires feasibility study to ensure high levels of quality and credibility. Further, she stressed the importance of agility in the corporate strategies to fulfill the market’s demands, as well as reviewing similar business models to ensure success.
Nadine highlighted the significance of teamwork and integration in adding to the value of the local brands. She urged to link between tourism, culture, civilization, and contemporary art. She also referred to “Forever is Now” exhibition at the Giza Plateau under under the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board and the patronage of UNESCO. She also referred to the art exhibition, which was recently held at Al Alamin city, which promoted recycling activities. Further, 6 of the artwork pieces featured in this exhibition were selected to be presented in the venue of COP 27.
