Professional
Women’s group at DQG highlights significance of
UAE Businesswomen Award
Posted: 4 January 2003
Award expected to encourage women to self assess accomplishment
in a highly structured excellence performance framework
The Professional Women’s Subgroup of the Dubai Quality Group
recently held a presentation at the DQG headquarters to raise awareness
of the Emirates Businesswoman Award. The award is aimed at recognizing
women’s contribution in the business and professional world
and will be presented annually to recognize UAE women - both nationals
and expatriates - for performance excellence.
The meeting was attended by 16 members of the Professional Women’s
Sub-Group comprising business professionals and owners, bankers,
and senior executives representing small and large organizations
from various sectors.
Khulood Al Rostamani, Chair of the DQG- Women’s sub-group,
who presided over the meeting, lauded the objectives of the UAE
Businesswomen Award and exhorted women to be proud of their achievements.
“Women in the UAE have been making their presence felt in
business and professional circles over the past few years. The Emirates
Businesswomen Award is a valuable framework for assessing and measuring
performance on a composite of key indicators of performance. The
Award is an excellent opportunity to experience the criteria of
excellence and take the challenge to self assess one’s business
performance and improve accordingly. The criteria used for performance
excellence, which has been established in association with the UKQC
consultancy company, are unique in addressing important critical
elements of the performance system,” said Al Rostamani. “The
time has come for a greater empowerment of women to enable them
to use their talent and abilities to conduct constructive self assessment
of themselves and their business, while at the same time keeping
in mind their responsibilities as mothers and home makers. UAE women
have been striking a wonderful balance between the two roles and
it is now time to celebrate their excellence in these dual roles
through this award.”
The sub-group discussed the key features of the award and expressed
their satisfaction that it would go a long way in increasing the
involvement of women in business and spurring them to aspire for
greater contribution to society. Submitting an application for the
award offers valuable benefits as the feedback report that every
applicant receives contains opportunities for improvement including
important inputs that can assist in improvement.
Many of the women professionals, who attended the meeting, expressed
the view that the award would be a morale booster for women residents
of the UAE.
The UAE Businesswomen Award has been set up by Dubai Quality Group
under the umbrella of the Professional Women’s Subgroup in
association with Shell to give a fresh impetus to women’s
emergence as businesswomen and corporate achievers by creating role
models to inspire others. The award is open to national as well
as expatriate women, in a variety of categories.
“Shell is strongly committed to supporting the government’s
efforts to bring more women to the economic forefront. We fully
endorse the objectives set by Dubai Quality Group- Professional
Women’s Subgroup in setting up the award and creating detailed
guidelines for its eligibility,” said Hussain Al Mahmoudi,
External Affairs Manager, Shell Middle East. “One of the main
objectives of this award has been to encourage the creation of women
role models in society who will encourage and guide more women to
make use of their talent in a wider context. Shell’s support
for the award also matches its larger global vision which envisages
that 20 per cent of the senior executive positions in Shell will
be held by women by 2008.”
Caroline Wehbeh, External Affairs Coordinator, Shell Marketing
Middle East, in her presentation underlined Shell’s belief
in women’s empowerment and highlighted the more important
roles they should play at all levels of the corporate ladder.
The UAE Businesswomen Award fits in appropriately with a number
of encouraging developments concerning women’s role in society
and business. Official estimates have shown that the number of women
managing businesses and entering professional fields is on the increase.
In another significant development, the first batch of women e-commerce
specialists in the UAE are due to graduate in mid-2003, proving
once again that women’s participation in the business arena
is getting stronger.
The award, to be given away in March 2003, aspires to be the mostsought
after recognition for businesswomen, as the Professional Women’s
Subgroup in association with UKQC have devised elaborate criteria
to judge the entries. The entries will be judged on the basis of
visionary leadership, future goals, professional achievements, career
achievements and community contribution.
The Emirates Businesswomen Award has been instituted by Dubai Quality
Group- Professional Women’s Subgroup and Royal Dutch Shell
to honor business & professional women who have made a significant
contribution to business development in the UAE. Launched under
the patronage of HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President
of Dubai Department of Civil Aviation and Chairman of Emirates Airline,
the award seeks to recognize the success achieved by women residents
in the UAE in the world of business either as businesswomen or a
professional, with the objective of providing a stage for women
to self assess their performance and that of their businesses in
a highly structured excellence performance framework. The Emirates
Businesswomen Award is divided into four categories and is open
to business owners as well as professionals. The main categories
are locally based Smaller Enterprises with less than 25 employees
and Larger Enterprises employing more than 25 persons. In each category
there are two sub-categories: Business Owners/Investors and Professionals.
The Award is open to UAE nationals as well as expatriates holding
UAE residence visas. Stringent parameters have been laid down to
judge the entries. The last date for submitting entries is January
30, 2003 with the winners to be announced in March 2003.
All applications must be forwarded to the following address:
Dubai Quality Group,
P.O. Box 9278,
Dubai, UAE.
Web sitel: www.dqg.org
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