The Cohort Six are participants of the Board Mentoring Scheme, which aims to accelerate the appointment of more women into board positions as well as enhancing DEI in PLCs.
At the opening address by Dato Abdul Aziz Abu Bakar, Executive Co-Founding Chair, 30% Club Malaysia, he said that one of the common feedback from the mentees was the knowledge they have gained through the sharing of experience from their respective mentors on a broad selection of governance topics.
“They have also benefited from attending a range of knowledge sharing sessions, which were mostly online. It is also heartening to hear from our mentors that their mentees have been in the driving seat and have owned their mentoring journey – setting mentoring goals, tracking their development progress and taking away guidance and suggestions from their respective mentors – for their professional and personal development,” he said during the 30% Club Malaysia Mentoring Celebration virtual event.
The event saw the Graduation of Cohort#6 and Onboarding of Cohort#7. A total of 17 women are participating in the Cohort #7.
Since 2017, a total of 68 mentees who went through this Board Mentoring Scheme, with 53 mentors supporting the initiative of the Board Mentoring Scheme.
“We hope, that through the Mentoring Scheme, we now have a broader pipeline of aspiring board-ready candidates, which in turn can support and grow the talent pipeline of women candidates and bring about a sustainable change in DEI into Corporate Malaysia.” he said.
“I am happy to note that to date, more than 30% of our mentees have been placed on company boards, thus also supporting the target of the MCCG 2021 which recommends to all listed companies that boards comprise of at least 30% women directors,” he added.
Although we have made significant progress towards the target of at least 30% by end of 2020, we still have a way to go. The participation of WoB to date stands at 25.5% for the top 100 listed companies, and 17.0% for all PLC boards, in comparison to the 30% recommendation by the SC.
Nevertheless, this updated code sends a clearer signal to all listed companies to encourage diversity in their board composition, encompassing not only gender, but also to take the opportunity to increase diversity in the tenure and age of boards, as well as experiences, skills, background and culture.
The event concluded with a dialogue session (organised by Mentee Circle) by Martin Manen, Chairman of the Board, Hong Leong MSIG Takaful Berhad and Sazlyna Sapiee, a mentee of the Board Mentoring Scheme.
He shared his experiences as a mentor and, explained that “Diversity is to be invited to the party, Inclusion is to be asked to dance”.
Once again, the 30% Club Malaysia would like to congratulate the graduating Cohort#6 and welcome the Cohort#7 on embarking their mentoring journey.
