Kuala Lumpur, 4 July, 2016, – 30% Club Malaysia, a business group which campaigns for more female directors on company boards, has announced an increase to 15.2% of women on boards in Bursa Top 100 PLCs at the end of May 2016.

The second series of the Business Leaders Roundtable meeting, held recently at Menara Maybank Kuala Lumpur and hosted by Co-Founding Chair Tan Sri Megat Zaharuddin, generated high senior level participation from distinguished corporate Chairpersons and Board Directors Tun Mohamed Haniff Omar, Tan Sri Dato’ Francis Yeoh, Tan Sri Saw Choo Boon, Tan Sri Dato’ Dr Abu Bakar Suleiman, Dato’ Abdullah Yusof , Dato’ Hajjah Zurainah Musa, Datuk Mohaiyani Shamsuddin, amongst others representing the professional services community at EY Malaysia and Korn Ferry.

Key stakeholders from Government PEMANDU and Department of Women’s Development (Jabatan Pembangunan Wanita) were present to give strong support behind this business advocacy group.

Tan Sri Megat Zaharuddin, in espousing the mission to achieve 30% target by 2016 as a proven business case for improving leadership, governance and ultimately increasing shareholder value, commented:

“This series of roundtable meetings is meaningful in creating an effective discussion amongst business leaders, coupled with valuable input from key corporate captains of the various industries, to bring about sustainable change driven by merit.

Our 30% Club campaign acknowledges that to bring directional change we need top men and women to join us in leading the charge” Co-Founding Chair Tan Sri Zarinah emphasised that:

“Gender diversity is a business imperative. Thus gender must be a key consideration when it comes to hiring talented employees. We need to urge companies to place more women on boards where they are the best candidate and encourage other Chairmen to commit publicly to this effort.” 

Tan Sri Megat closed the roundtable meeting by adding: “At Maybank, we are in the process of adding more women onto our Board in the next few months.”