Cape Town (South Africa) and Bled (Slovenia): Based on a great success of the 2016 international leadership conference titled ‘Women Leaders, Agents of Change in Europe’, the event is spreading its global wings. The 2017 edition is taking place on November 7-8, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa, one of the most multicultural cities in the world. This event brings together some of the world’s most influential speakers as well as prominent business and political women leaders from around the globe.
The conference is organized in partnership between IEDC-Bled School of Management and its Coca-Cola Chair of Sustainable Development (lead by Prof. Mollie Painter Morland); the Leading Women of Africa Association (LWA), lead by Ms. Madelein Mkunu and the Graduate School of Business – University of Cape Town, a place where the development of women’s leadership is central to management education.
As Africa enters a new era of rebuilding itself, women are proving to be real leaders and role-models to the younger generation. This occasion highlights women’s leadership skills and ongoing accomplishments. The conference will share practical ways in which women can further develop skills, partnerships and entrepreneurial activities.
The main goal of the conference ‘Women Leaders, Agents of Change in Africa’ is to create awareness that women leaders are an important factor for the development of Africa. »This event will provide an exceptional platform for exchange of information and best practices between African and worldwide women role models and their positive impact in their economies,” stressed Prof. Danica Purg, Founding President of IEDC-Bled School of Management.
“Strengthening women to learn to lead is a critical imperative today. I believe women are the key to ongoing, successful, positive change in Africa. Research has found that when women work equally with men in decision making positions within organizations, communities, governments, and countries—everyone benefits. The collective intelligence of the groups/organizations are substantially heightened when there is diversity in leadership; decisions and ideas are also more innovative, creative, ethical, and financially responsible. There are so many benefits to leadership teams with a mix of both men and women serving”, says of the key-note speakers, Prof Susan Madsen, Professor at the Utah Valley University Woodbury School of Business, USA, author of the global research published and book “Women and Leadership Around the World”.
Besides prominent speakers from the African continent, the event will also feature speakers from Europe from the field of business and academia and many other exceptional women, who will, through the two days of keynotes, inspirational dialogue sessions, workshops, networking and celebratory events, inspire each other with great examples of role-modelling, mentorship, community leadership and partnership, in order to empower women to play key roles in the development of financial, social and environmental well-being in Africa.