The executive women accelerating gender diversity in the telecom sector

Although in recent years, much has been done to encourage women to enter the telecoms sector, there is still a great deal to be done to reach gender equality and inclusivity, especially at the top of the corporate tree.

There have been many studies that have proved that having women in leadership roles has been not only a business necessity, but a great financial benefit. Particularly, a study by The Pipeline, showed that firms where at least one third of the executive board were women enjoyed a net profit margin, nearly ten times that of companies with no women at all.

Why is it taking the business world so long to change?

One key issue is that of mentorship. It is absolutely vital to interact with women in senior positions in this male-dominated telecoms industry in order to encourage the next generation of women to strive to become leaders themselves.

 

 

The recent Total Telecom Congress was supported by a wide range of women executives. Here are some of them.

Lucy Lombardi, Senior Vice President at Italy’s TIM with over 20 years experience, explored the roles that AI plays in many aspects of telcos business.

Priya Thakoor, Managing Executive Digital Channels for Vodacom and Jacqueline Tio, Chief Digital Officer at HGC Global Communications, discussed how the coronavirus has changed the economy for telcos and how they must shift strategies in sales and marketing.

Inbar Lasser-Raab, Chief Marketing Officer at DriveNets, argued that cloud-native, software-based networks are the future for telco architecture.

In a session focussing on the evolving role of the Chief People Officer, moderator Andrew Collinson, Research Director at STL Partners, is joined by these four women.

Chantal Free, Executive Officer, Capita People Solutions at Capita, shared her experience in solving human capital issues throughout her 20 years experience.

Anna Capitanio, Director of HR Consumer at BT, explained how quickly her role has evolved in 2020, having joined BT just months before the pandemic struck.

Anood Abbas, Head of People and Culture from Batelco, shared her perspective from Bahrain, where earlier this month the company launched its 5G services across the country.

Cecilie Heuch, EVP and Chief People Officer at Telenor, explored “ways of creating a digital employee experience to support and mirror what the business does towards its customers”

The ceremony finally featured 24 awards, including the ‘Women in Telecoms’ Award, won by Salma Al Maawali, FRiENDi mobile, Oman (Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa).