The workshop began with the welcome address by Raj Kumar Paramanathan, Managing Partner of CnetG Asia, and Steering Committee of the 30% Club Malaysia and keynote address by Dato’ Ami Moris, Chief Executive of Maybank Investment Group and Chair of the 30% Club Malaysia.
Dato’ Ami shared that from around the time the 30% Club was established around 2014, the percentage of women holding board seats amongst top 100 PLCs was 13% and that has doubled to 26% in 2022. She reiterated that DEI is a strategy to create value, to elevate investability, and to win the battle for talent. With women being 50% of the population and over 50% of college graduates, there is a clear business case to dig deep and cast the wide net the find the most talented and competent people, for organizations to be competitive. She said “With diversity, we break groupthink. With equity, we create opportunities and remove barriers for the best talent to be at the table”. With inclusion, we fix the broken rung, and deal with unconscious or unintentional bias that hinders any talent, usually women from climbing the ladder”.
The workshop was led by Lee Soo Fern, Partner, Malaysia Talent Leaders and ASEAN Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness Leader at EY. Elaine Koh, ASEAN Learning and Deployment Specialist at EY facilitated the group discussions on challenges and actions.
The goal of 30% Club Malaysia is to reach 30% women representation for all PLCS by 2030, and amongst top 100 PLCs by 2023. CnetG Asia as key strategic partner of the 30% Club Malaysia, supports in the development of board ready women leaders and is currently developing a framework for resourcing of executive and boards for PLCs.
