Thriving at the helm as a female leader in business

Thriving at the helm as a female leader in business

It is refreshing when a female leader emerges in a market such as Egypt, tackling the challenges and the current pandemic head-on. As part of Egypt's 2030 vision, the country aims to increase the participation of women in the workforce to 40 percent by 2030 from the current 22.9 percent  as per 2019 study by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. 

"It is important for organisations to create a conducive environment for women in the workplace, and Nokia has been doing exactly this through regular, consistent programs on promoting strong gender equality,“ says Radwa Hafez, country senior officer at Nokia Egypt. "Women can add tremendous value to any organisation, but that value can only be extracted through a nurturing environment where you are encouraged to grow. They need to not overthink things and believe in themselves - anyone can do it.“

She says one of her biggest challenges, and accomplishments was the merger between Nokia and Alcatel Lucent. "It is always difficult bringing two separate cultures together, while still maintaining customer delivery,“ says Hafez. "Also, working in a market where having a female leader is still unusual makes for quite a challenge. One that I am pleased