On Thursday 25th November 2021, I had the opportunity to attend The Global Women Supply Chain Leaders Awards 2021, hosted virtually by B2G Consulting. This event is a celebration of women and achievement, honoring supply chain’s most accomplished female executives and next generational leaders. Over the course of the day, I listened to a wide range of insightful panel discussions, keynotes and Q&A sessions surrounding key supply chain topics.
Here are some key themes that I picked up on throughout the event:
Diversity
In today’s world, promoting diversity throughout a workforce and incorporating people from different backgrounds and with different viewpoints is key. Having a mix of people with different genders, cultures and ages leads to a diverse team. However, Sandra Macquillan, EVP and CSCO of Mondelēz International noted that now, it is “less about gender and more about what you bring” to a team, so companies shouldn’t just employ women in high positions just to promote diversity and to build a good reputation for themselves.
Equality
Historically, women were outnumbered by men in business, and in some countries today, this is still the case. Cultural factors need to be considered in the topic of equality, as mentioned by Azuka Okeke, CEO of the Africa Resource Centre for Excellence in Supply Chain Management. She noted that “different cultures have different standards”, and in some countries, equality in terms of gender at board level is still not possible due to the fact that men are classed as superior and must be respected, and this is the standard. Sheri Hinish, Global Executive Partner at IBM commented on the topic, saying “100 years is too long in gender equality”, meaning women should not have to experience any barriers in supply chain.
Covid-19’s effect on women’s role in business
Most of the world were forced to work from home when the pandemic hit. The question of ‘is it expected that women should stay at home and look after the children?’ was raised by Sandra Macquillan. The speakers talked about this topic and mentioned that there is a deep-rooted expectation from society that women should be the ones to employ their maternal role and stay at home or take time off work to look after the children, instead of this being the man’s role. The speakers also brought up the point that the pandemic could have had an impact on the ability of women to achieve top positions in business and supply chain.
Resilience
Maybe more so through the pandemic, but resilience has always been an important thing in the world of business. Showing resilience and the ability to adapt meant that companies were able to combat the uncertainties that Covid-19 brought with it. The way people now work has changed, and Brigette Begasse, SVP Quality and Supply Chain Industrial Automation BU at Schneider Electric said that “resiliency is crucial” at this time.
Sustainability
Business sustainability is being talked about more and more in recent times, with pressure coming from external factors encouraging companies to adopt sustainable practices. In fact, Thomas Udesen, Chief Procurement Officer at Bayer and Co-Founder of The Sustainable Procurement Pledge, actually said that this topic is not just important, but “mission critical” for now and also for future generations. Joselina Peralta, Executive Board Member at Zora’s Cradle also commented on the theme, saying that there is a global “sense of appetite for sustainability”, with companies willing to make ambitious plans to combat climate change.
Final thoughts
This review was a short insight into the The Global Women Supply Chain Leaders Awards 2021. There is a growing sense of importance for having women in top business positions across the world. For me, it was really inspiring to hear from experts, and especially women in these top positions give their opinions about current issues and how they were able to achieve such great things. A key message coming from the event is to “be yourself” (Yann De Feraudy, Deputy CEO Operations & IT Groupe Rocher) and this will lead to success. Showing resiliency, teamwork and individuality are all key points that everyone in supply chain should follow.
