Women told to aim high and start networking
Time, financial literacy and expertise are key ingredients for those seeking seats on boards
The next generation of women who want to sit on company boards ought to aim high and start positioning themselves for those roles now by networking and approaching headhunters, said senior female executives at the South China Morning Post's Women of Our Time conference yesterday.
The conference gathered women from a variety of businesses to discuss how companies can increase female participation in top-level management and their boards.
In March, the Women's Foundation, a non-profit organisation, set up an initiative called the 30% Club to push Hang Seng Index companies to increase women's board participation to 30 per cent from the current 10.7 per cent.
"Don't be afraid to try. The biggest problem for the next generation of women is aspirational," said Janet de Silva, the Asia dean at Ivey School of Business.
How do you know if you are ready to serve on a company board? The essential ingredients were time commitment, financial literacy and a high level of expertise in your own field, said Stratford Finance chief executive Angelina Kwan.
Kwan has sat on a number of boards, including the one she currently serves at Aviva Life Insurance.