SINCE my last column in Business insight, more than 2,500 of the world's leaders in economics, politics, business and media gathered at Davos in Switzerland as part of the World economic Forum annual meeting to discuss insights, initiatives and actions necessary to respond to global challenges.
On the closing day, a high profile discussion put the spotlight on gender-driven growth and the value of women in leadership to societies and economies. With a panel consisting of Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook; Phumzile Mlambo-ngcuka, who is under-secretary-general and executive director of UN Women; Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive officer of Renault-Nissan; and chief of the international Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, the debate explored the importance of empowering women, the challenges facing the female entrepreneur and the necessary actions to tackle them. Perhaps the most encouraging theme from this discussion was the sense of urgency shown by these global business leaders to maximise the potential of women in leadership. Long standing evidence shows that companies which promote women outperform their peers by 34 per cent. Empowering women in business is not only therefore the right thing to do; it makes good business sense for all (you can watch the full debate at www.weforum.org/ videos/gender-driven-growth). Globally, economies are taking hugely positive strides in this area. Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe has set a goal to increase the percentage of women in leadership positions to more than 30 per cent by 2020, while the nordic countries continue to lead the way in closing the gender gap through policies aimed at promoting women in leadership and a focus on education and flexibility in the workplace.
On a local level, female entrepreneurship remains the largest under-represented group when it comes to enterprise in northern Ireland. There is an enormous amount of untapped potential here.
Like us, one of the key partners of our international conference (IBWC 2014) this May, invest ni, is working to raise the profile of leadership in business to encourage more people to set up and run their own businesses through programmes such as its Regional Start initiative. Invest ni's sponsorship, along with other valuable support, will allow us to deliver a conference platform which showcases the innovation, leadership and contribution women are making to our economy; and to encourage more women to consider starting a business.
The true value of empowering and encouraging women in leadership is a discussion which must remain high on the agenda and i'm certain that the commitment to change shown by the business leaders at Davos will be echoed by those coming to Belfast for IBWC 2014. We look forward to welcoming individuals such as carla Busazi, editor in chief of the Huffington Post UK; Helena Morrissey, founder of the 30 Percent club; Julie Meyer MBE, chief executive at Ariadne capital; and Ann Francke, managing director of the chartered institute of Management - each of whom are exceptional and inspirational female leaders. As northern Ireland's economy shows heartening signs of growth, now is the time for the business community to maximise the full potential of the female entrepreneur, our most valuable untapped resource.
You can find out more about the international Business Women's conference 2014 at www.ibwc2014.com or @iBWc2014.
* Roseann Kelly (roseann@womeninbusinessni.com) is chief executive of Women in Business (www. womeninbusinessni.com), the largest and fastest growing business network for female entrepreneurs and senior women in management in Northern Ireland with more than 1,000 members. Follow Women in Business NI on facebook at www.facebook.com/ womeninbusinessni or on twitter @wibni.