Serco Middle East marked International Women’s Day 2023 with an event held at the Women’s Pavilion at Expo City, Dubai, led by Divisional Chief Executive, Phil Malem.
'Women in Serco: Leading with Purpose' was attended by colleagues from across our business in the Middle East and was organised in collaboration with SercoInspire, our global network focused on ensuring that our female colleagues feel valued, confident and able to progress their careers within Serco without limitation.
In addition to celebrating the achievements of women in the business, the event explored new initiatives and opportunities to empower women and promote diversity and inclusion across the organisation.
Under the leadership of CEO Phil Malem, who joined the business in 2019, female representation in the Serco Middle East Executive Leadership team has risen significantly (50% in 2023). Across Serco Middle East, as elsewhere in Serco, our leadership have established a focus to encourage more women into leadership positions and further support women to achieve their ambitions.
In 2023, 38% of critical roles at Serco Middle East, including high potential roles, were held by women. Through various initiatives, including events such as 'Women in Serco: Leading with Purpose', we continue to identify how the company can support female employees internally, as well as the role of Serco in supporting customer objectives regarding gender equality.
External speakers invited to speak at the event included Michelle King, author of the award-winning book 'The Fix: Overcome the Invisible Barriers that are Holding Women Back at Work'. Michelle also leads the UN Women’s Global Innovation Coalition for Change, which oversees three key initiatives focused on leveraging innovation and technology to accelerate the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Mae Al-Mozaini, the Founder and CEO of the Arab Institute for Women’s Empowerment (Nusf) spoke about her journey and what has inspired her so far. Nusf was founded to help Saudi nationals and Arab women develop professionally and lead in the corporate world.
“Our focus as a business is on how we can use our experience and our people, to bring national visions to life and that means focusing internally, as much as externally. Our customer's national strategies, such as the Saudi 'Vision 2030' have clear objectives for increasing women’s participation in the workforce and giving more local women the tools to achieve success in the workplace. As a public-services employer, we need to make sure we are setting excellent standards in equality and then working with our customers to achieve the same.”
Commenting on the event, Samantha Rowles, Operations Director, Transport and Executive Sponsor for SercoInspire, Serco Middle East, said: “We’re proud to have brought everyone together to highlight our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive environment that operates with purpose. I’m extremely passionate about encouraging more women to take on leadership roles in operations and bringing with them a variety of skills that will be an asset to the business. This is not a ‘tick-the-box’ exercise for gender diversity; as a business we have a responsibility to help change mindsets to encourage more women to take a seat around the boardroom table. Diversity is key, and events like this signal our intention to keep investing in women, to encourage them to excel.”
