Women do not wait for the future. When one woman helps another, amazing things happen, and they become real leaders. The Global Woman Leaders Committee of the World Business Angels Investment Forum gathers some of the world’s most influential of these leaders to explore today’s biggest challenges, foster deep collaboration, and generate new ideas.
The Global Woman Leaders Committee is committed to leveraging unique access to the world’s most influential woman leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and artists—uniting these global forces to harness their collective knowledge, address today’s critical issues, and generate innovative solutions to empower the world economy.
The time for women leadership has come. Women have made impressive marks in politics and the business world, making their voices heard and breaking the glass ceiling of boardrooms, including those in the male-dominated tech industry.
More and more women parade into tech companies or even become startup entrepreneurs, making their mark in this male-dominant industry. In the 2017 Forbes list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, 18 of these ‘she-bosses’ work in the tech industry. The rise of women startups is not a Western phenomenon. In China, where women are often relegated to a submissive back-seat role, 55% of startups are owned by women, according to the 2018 Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs.
Women do not wait for the future. When one woman helps another, amazing things happen, and they become innovators. The Global Woman Leaders Committee of the World Business Angels Investment Forum gathers some of the world’s most influential of these leaders to explore today’s biggest challenges, foster deep collaboration, and generate new ideas.
WBAF announces Global Board Members of the Global Woman Leaders Committee. Swati Mandela, granddaughter of Winnie & Nelson Mandela – a flag name of leadership in the 21st Century – will chair the global board with 11 globally known board members.
Global Woman Leaders Committee is committed to leveraging unique access to the world’s most influential woman leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and artists—uniting these global forces to harness their collective knowledge, address today’s critical issues, and generate innovative solutions to empower the world economy.
An affiliated partner of the G20 the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the World Business Angels investment Forum announces that Swati Mandela, granddaughter of Nelson Mandela – a flag name of leadership in the 21st Century – & WBAF High Commissioner for South Africa will chair the global board with 11 globally known board members.
Swati Mandela says ‘’ Women have, for long years, succeeded in their careers by virtue of their ability to adjust to the male-dominated culture and field-specific business processes. They play by the existing rules in the workplace and have the additional hurdle of society’s perceptions of how women should act and be seen. While education and practice have reduced some of the invisible angst of being a woman in a leadership role, there are challenges nevertheless. Current women leaders have a responsibility to embrace a role-model status and address those challenges head-on with action and execution.
To that end, more and more women in leadership positions are pushing the boundaries of gender equality by capitalizing on their leadership qualities and their skills, knowledge, experience and insights. They are actively pursuing what they want from their job and their career, not waiting for it to come to them.
Through the WBAF’s Global Woman Leaders Committee, we will aim to identify key steps that can produce women who are strong leaders in business, in arts, in politics — in any area male-dominated. We will also define the characteristics of strong women leaders, their mindsets and their action plans that help them overcome challenges of male-dominated industries.’’
Baybars Altuntas, WBAF Chairman, says, ‘’I believe that the Global Woman Leaders Committee under the leadership of Swati Mandela will bring a wide range of opportunities for women in the world and will explore the real reasons for the gender-based funding challenge, ways to overcome the challenge, ways that women founders – while lobbying for long-term change – can operate intelligently in the current ecosystems.’’
Global Board Members of the Committee:
Swati Mandela, WBAF High Commissioner South Africa
President of the Committee
South Africa
H.E. Prof. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, 6th President of the Republic of Mauritius
Vice President of the Committee
Mauritius
Marie-Christine Oghly, World President, World Association of Women Entrepreneurs (FCEM)
Vice President of the Committee
France
Tina Allton, WBAF Senator UK
Vice President of the Committee
UK
Mulemwa Moongwa, WBAF Senator Zambia
Secretary General of the Committee
Zambia
Maryam Najafi, WBAF Vice President of the Global Startup Committee
2nd Secretary General of the Committee
Iran
Asma Bashir, Chairwoman of the Centuro Global
Board Member of the Committee
UK
Barbara Dietrich, Chairwoman of the Diplomatic World Global Art Forum
Board Member of the Committee
Belgium
Danela Arsovska, President of the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce
Board Member of the Committee
North Macedonia
Gamze Cizreli, Founder & Chairperson of the Big Chefs Restaurant Franchise Chain
Board Member of the Committee
Turkey
Lucy Chow, Director, Women’s Angel Investor Network (WAIN)
Board Member of the Committee
United Arab Emirates
Rina Neoh, Co-founder of the Ficus Venture Capital
Board Member of the Committee
Malaysia
Executive Committee Members of the Board
- Swati Mandela, President of the Committee
- Tina Allton, Vice President of the Committee
- Mulemwa Moongwa, Secretary General of the Committee
- Maryam Najafi, 2nd Secretary General of the Committee
- Baybars Altuntas, WBAF President as Observer Member
About the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF)
An affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) is an international organisation aiming to ease access to finance for businesses from start-up to scale-up, with the ultimate goal of generating more jobs and more social justice worldwide. It is committed to collaborating globally to empower world economic development by creating innovative financial instruments for innovators, start-ups, and SMEs. The Forum interacts with leaders in all areas of society, first and foremost in business and political spheres, to help assess needs and establish goals, bearing in mind that the public interest is of paramount importance. WBAF engages a wide range of institutions, both public and private, local and international, commercial and academic to help shape the global agenda.
About GPFI
The Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) is an inclusive platform for all G20 countries, interested non-G20 countries, and relevant stakeholders to carry forward work on financial inclusion, including implementation of the G20 Financial Inclusion Action Plan endorsed at the G20 Summit in Seoul. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands is the Honorary Patron of the GPFI.
