The 30% Club GCC is a regional volunteer effort of multi-sector leaders working together towards better representation of women on boards and in senior level positions. We work in collaboration to accelerate pace of change and support the growth of a healthy pipeline of talented and capable women that are ready to serve in senior positions across various sectors.
We strongly believe that business-led change is the right way forward; and as such, we support women to realize their potential through mentorship, executive education, research, and we also advocate good governance to support women to serve on boards.
The 30% Club GCC chapter was established in 2015.
30% Club GCC Educational Initiatives
30% Club Scholarship launched at Edinburgh Business School - Application process for 2018 now closed
30% Club GCC Research
30% Club GCC Newsletters:
Visit the 30% Club GCC on Linked In and Twitter for all of the latest updates
Members
FOUNDING MEMBER
HE Sheikha Hanadi Al Thani
Chairwoman & Founder
Amwal
FOUNDING MEMBER
HRH Maha bint Mishari bin Abdulaziz AlSaud
Director
Al Faisal University
FOUNDING MEMBER
HRH Sheikha Hessa Al Sabah
Chairwoman
Arab Businesswomen Council
FOUNDING MEMBER
HRH Sheikha Hind bint Salman AlKhalifa
Director, Bahrain
Chamber of Commerce & Ind.
FOUNDING MEMBER
Sami Al Mufleh
Founder & CEO
Hills Group
FOUNDING MEMBER
Omar Fahoum
Chairman & CEO
Deloitte & Touche (M.E.)
FOUNDING MEMBER
Nabil Habayeb
President & CEO
GE Middle East
FOUNDING MEMBER
Badr Jafar
CEO of Crescent Enterprises
& Founder of Pearl Initative
FOUNDING MEMBER
Lubna Qassim
General Counsel, Member of UAE Gender Balance Council
Emirates NBD
FOUNDING MEMBER
HE Maryam Al Suwaidi
Deputy CEO
Securities & Commodities Authority
FOUNDING MEMBER
Tarek Elmasry
Managing Director
McKinsey Middle East
FOUNDING MEMBER
Abdul Aziz Al-Sowailim
Chairman
Ernst & Young Middle East
FOUNDING MEMBER
Aisha Al Kharusi
Chief Marketing Office
Alizz Islamic Bank, Oman
FOUNDING MEMBER
Lubna Al Kharusi
Founder
Dira Hotels
FOUNDING MEMBER
Manal Al Abdwani
Chairperson of Board of Directors
Muscat Electricity Distribution Company S.A.O.C.
FOUNDING MEMBER
Wissam Moukahal
Executive Chairman
Macquarie Capital Middle East LLC
FOUNDING MEMBER
Hoda Abou-Jamra
Founding Partner
TVM Capital Healthcare
MEMBER
Fathi Ben Grira
CEO
MenaCorp
MEMBER
Mutlaq Al-Morished
CEO
Tasnee
MEMBER
Khaled Sifri
CEO
Emirates Investment Bank
MEMBER
Hussein Shobokshi
Board Member
Shobokshi Development & Trade
MEMBER
Fadi Ghandour
Chairman & Managing Partner
Wamda Capital
MEMBER
Nadim Najjar
Managing Director
Thomson Reuters, MEA
MEMBER
Talal Al-Zain
CEO
JisrCapital
MEMBER
Stefanos Thomatos
Regional Head of Sales
Bloomberg
MEMBER
Dr. Ashraf Gamaleldin
CEO
Hawkamah
MEMBER
Taine Moufarrige
CEO
ServCorp. Ltd
Steering Committee
The 30% Club is run by a Steering Committee that is made up of senior men and women who volunteer their time and skills.
Farah Foustok
Founder
Lazard
Jumana Abu-Hannoud
Co-founder
SOS Children's Villages International
Rana Ghandour Salhab
Member
Deloitte
Cynthia Corby
Member
Deloitte
Catherine Beckett
Member
Dentons
Sadaf Buchanan
Member
Dentons
Jeehan Balfaqaih
Member
Brunswick
Heather Salmond
Member
Brunswick
Dr. Nadia Qassim Bastaki
Member
Eithad Airways
Fahmi Alghussein
Member
Amwal
Hana Al Syead
Member
W4SG
Reada Al Sarayreh
Member
CH2M
Victoria Stead
Member
Heidrick & Struggles
Nicoletta Papakyprianou
Member
Thomson Reuters
William Reichert
Member
K&L Gates
Emmanuel Laurina
Member
State Street Global Advisors
Working groups
This group aims to help identify and develop a pipeline of professional women to increase female participation on GCC boards.
A partnership with Hawkamah has been developed to encourage both men and women to attend their Director Development Programme. This programme lays the foundation for Board membership. The 30% Club GCC member firms have special places allocated to them.
Work is ongoing to develop further links with Universities and Business Schools to support development of experienced and qualified women. The first to be developed is with LinKS@Wharton.
Work is also being undertaken to encourage schools across the region to participate in team sport and debating.
contact
Please contact: farah.foustok@lazard.com
Mentoring is a proven way of helping both men and women to develop, where ever they are in an organization and it is important for those aspiring to senior positions. This group has worked with Reach, a not-for-profit organization based in the Dubai International Finance Centre, dedicated to helping young professionals unlock their potential through structured mentoring. The 30% Club GCC and Reach are collaborating to provide a dedicated segment of support to those who aspire to become board members. Mentors and mentees come from the 30% Club member firms
contact
Please contact: catherine.beckett@dentons.com
Understanding what is currently happening helps us understand the change that needs to be brought about to make a difference. This group aims to undertake work to help improve gender diversity across organisations.
Together with Deloitte, the first piece of work to be undertaken was ‘A view from the top – What business executives really think about women leaders in the GCC’. There is more work to be done to disseminate the messages from this research.
Scoping will soon start to undertake a ‘literature review’’ which will work to map all the efforts and organisations that are currently active across the region with the purpose of improving diversity at work.
contact
Please contact:
rsalhab@deloitte.com & ccorby@deloitte.com
This group produces a quarterly newsletter and maintains a calendar of events taking place across the region. Through our Chairs and Steering Group Members they help get the 30% Club message out. They also organize the 30% Club annual event and control our branding and messaging.
contact
Please contact: Raeda.AlSarayreh@ch2m.ae
This group has developed a set of actions that companies can take to improve female participation on boards. They aim to work with Chairs and Member Firms to encourage the top 20 listed firms in each country in the region to improve the presence of women on boards and in senior level positions..
contact
Please contact: H.Alsyead@olayangroup.com
This group aim to encourage broad support and advocacy from the executive search community in the wider GCC region to identify and engage with female and diverse candidates, and to help client organisations to increase diversity on boards and in senior level executive positions
A code is being developed which will be owned by The Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC). A consultation period to see how the code works will be undertaken before it is put into practice.
A database of ‘board ready’ women is also being developed and it is intended that this will be accessible via an app.
contact
Please contact: vstead@heidrick.com
Events
Previous
Four Seasons Hotel - DIFC
Leading change - The future of Women in Finance event, supported by the 30% Club GCC, is taking place on 1st March 2018 at the Four Seasons Hotel DIFC.
We invite you to attend the event where you will hear from leading industry professionals on how the region is currently positioned in relation to women in finance along with gaining further insights on the future of women in finance in the Middle East and the imperative role that you can play to continue leading this change.
Speakers include ( 30% Club GCC Chair and Steerco Members):
Register Now to book your place at this event.
Please RSVP to: eventme@accaglobal.com
Dubai
30% Club GCC in collaboration with the Edinburgh Business School, will host an event featuring renowned speaker and academic, Professor Heather McGregor CBE; Executive Dean of Edinburgh Business School, co-founder of the 30% Club, author and broadcaster, and wrote under the pseudonym Mrs Moneypenny in the Financial Times for seventeen years.
A champion of diversity in the workplace, Professor McGregor inspires women to set personal goals, take the next step to control their own fate, and change the future.
Bloomberg, Al Fattan Currency House, DIFC, Dubai
The 30% Club GCC are organizing a "Volunteer and Working Groups Meet & Greet" session on June 20th, 2017 at Bloomberg premises, Al Fattan Currency House, DIFC from 16:00 - 18:00. As we are growing in numbers this would be a great chance to bring everyone together under one roof and plan for the second half of the year, before we all break away for the summer. The primary objective of the meet up is to provide everyone with:
For those of you who have expressed their interest in volunteering and wish to attend the event please send an email to: bindu@mindfulme.me confirming your attendance, so that we facilitate the space accordingly. We hope you can make it and look forward to meeting you soon.
The Capital Club, DIFC, Dubai
Susan Gilchrist, Group Chief Executive of Brunswick, Invites you to the Women in Leadership Breakfast Event.
An Introduction will also be provided by Farah Foustok, co-founder of the 30% Club GCC.
Please RSVP to gulfevents@brunswickgroup.com
Dubai
30% Club GCC & Bloomberg invite you to join a conversation on business leaders driving change.
Sunday, September 25th, 2016.
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Bloomberg Dubai Office, DIFC, Al Fattan Currency House Level 10.
Please RSVP to Catie Faison 30percent@bloomberg.net
(Limited Spaces Available)
Four Seasons Hotel, Jumeirah Beach Dubai
Dubai, UAE- 24 May 2016: Business leaders across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries today took part in The 13th Arabian Business Forum, in association with the 30% Club GCC Chapter, a global business-led initiative committed to achieving better gender representation in senior leadership positions of organisations.
Lubna Qassim, Executive Vice President, Group Company Secretary and group General Counsel of Emirates NBD and Founding Chair of the GCC Chapter of the 30% Club, opened the conference with a keynote speech on diversity and the 30% Club GCC Chapter.
Ghassan Turqieh, Consulting Partner and human capital leader at Deloitte in the Middle East delivered a presentation entitled: ‘View from the top: What business executives really think about women leaders in the GCC’ in which he discussed the key findings of a GCC study conducted by Deloitte in collaboration with the 30% Club GCC.
“We are honoured to be associated with this important event,” said Raeda AlSarayreh, Director of Corporate Affairs at CH2M MENAI and Steering Committee member of the 30% Club GCC. “We are continuously working together to support the efforts of GCC governments and companies to increase women’s participation in the workforce in the belief that gender balance on boards further contributes to improved board performance.”
Other eminent speakers from the 30% Club GCC included Hoda Abou Jamra, Founding Partner, TVM Capital Healthcare Partners and Catherine Beckett, Partner, Dentons, among other to discuss an array of topics including how to encourage greater female entrepreneurship in the Gulf.
To learn more about the 30% Club GCC and how your firm can support this initiative, please contact: info@30percentclubGCC.org
View from the Top - A GCC study conducted by Deloitte in association with the 30% Club GCC Chapter, was released at the Arabian Business Women's Forum on 24th May 2016. Please download the report here.
Armani Hotel, Burj Khalifa, Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Contact
Farah Foustok: farah.foustok@lazard.com
Philippa Benfield: pb30clubgcc@zoho.com
Samantha King: Samantha.king@bnymellon.com
Bindu Joseph: binduannjoseph@gmail.com