THE New Decade New Approach deal is now more than a month old, and it's encouraging to see work under way as ministers begin making the crucial decisions needed to tackle critical challenges in key areas such as health, education, housing and growing the economy.
It's time to take a new approach to business also, and although we recognise the obstacles ahead, we must not let these challenges deter us from realising our economic potential and understand that business as usual in an environment of constant change will not work.
As Justin Trudeau at Davos observed: “We live in an era when the pace of change has never been this fast and will never be this slow again”.
Clearly a new approach is required, and I believe if we focus and invest in real diverse workforces and entrepreneurs, in particular females, the potential impact on Northern Ireland’s economy could be considerable.
Diversity is no longer the nice thing to do, or just the right thing to do, it is a fundamental business imperative. The business case has been widely reported, gender diverse executive teams are 21 per cent more likely to outperform on profitability – enough said!
To help achieve diversity we need flexible working, part-time working, pay transparency, and a purge on unconscious bias. Is there anything there that is not within the remit of leaders/employers. Longer term we have to go back to the girls in school, to the career’s teachers, the parents and we need to continue to profile our role models.
In this age of a technology revolution, it is even more important that gender diversity is achieved.
In the words of Dr Anita Sands, who gave the QUB Mary McAleese Diversity Lecture: “When there are no limits to what technology can do and no constraints on its reach.
“The stakes are simply too high for us, as women, to cede our role in the future of technology. The prospect of technology evolving and growing in influence, without the input of the majority - women, and people of color - is frightening.”
The other huge area of opportunity for our economy is increased numbers of female entrepreneurs.
The Alison Rose report delivered late last year on female entrepreneurship was clear on the added value, claiming £250 billion will be added to the UK economy if women start up at the same rate as men.
Yes, that's £250 BILLION, and my very simple calculations mean that equates to huge £1.7 billion to the Northern Ireland economy. Can we ignore this? No.
With the fourth annual Women in Business female entrepreneurs conference taking place today, with over 300 delegates including start-up and business owners, we will passionately support all female entrepreneurs through our 'Yes You Can' programme.
The conference theme is 'Be Bold for Progress', which I think resonates with our now-restored Executive. I welcome the engagement from the new ministers including Diane Dodds in the economy department.
:: Roseann Kelly (roseann@ womeninbusinessni.com) is chief executive of Women in Business (www.womeninbusinessni.com)
