Dubai Women Establishment highlights women’s important role in corporate governance

Dubai Women Establishment (DWE), in collaboration with Hawkamah, the Institute for Corporate Governance, recently organised a training programme about “The Principles of Corporate Governance in Government Entities” for the second consecutive year. The session targeted second and third level female leaders within the government and private sectors who are interested in corporate governance. Under the directives of Her Highness Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, President of Dubai Women Establishment and wife of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs; the session was held to activate the role of Emirati women and support their leadership contribution across all sectors, in line with the UAE Vision 2021 and Dubai Strategic Plan.

Shamsa Saleh, CEO of Dubai Women Establishment, highlighted the UAE’s achievements in developing a corporate governance framework, which has been accomplished through the leading role played by government entities. She said: “We recognise the importance of implementing corporate governance criteria to enhance and develop Emirati women’s abilities and meet the country’s needs and its strategic priorities. We are determined through these initiatives to activate the role of emerging female leaders and build capabilities within boards of directors, which is the main challenge when it comes to implementing practical corporate governance principles.”

For his part, Dr. Ashraf Gamal El Din, CEO of Hawkamah confirmed that the subject of corporate governance has gained great importance in recent times because of the global emphasis on organisation policies and regulations that benefit the economy and workforce. 

El Din said, “There is a close link between governance and prosperity and economic growth. Governance includes strategic guidance to institutions and follow-up realization of its goals; whereby the proper application of this system leads to elevating the value of the companies and improve their financial performance.  Today, corporate governance is of the most important regulatory measures of the business environment in any country, and a key instrument in the expanding the scope for market investments and diversification of economic activities.”

Alia Marjan Mubarak, Vice President, Internal Audit at Amlak Finance, said that the session helped her to recognise the importance of corporate governance and the need to implement it within corporations and government entities, as well as the importance of the board of directors and executive management’s roles in determining risks according to governance guidelines. 

The training session was attended by representatives across various sectors and featured presentations about a range of governance elements and the requirements of implementing strong management in UAE institutions. The training session also highlighted global corporate governance trends and the relationship between governance and corporate social responsibility, as well as why most countries are interested in governance. The session also highlighted the best practices of corporate governance in the public sector internationally, and outlined the government’s role in implementing corporate governance within civil society entities. 

The session supports the UAE Cabinet’s decision to make the representation of women on boards of directors compulsory. This was also one of the objectives of the “Women in Boards” initiative, which was launched by DWE and aims to enhance female participation in decision-making, train emerging female leaders on corporate governance and guide the next generation of female leaders. 

Hawkamah, The Institute for Corporate Governance, is a subsidiary of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), and an international independent institute which acts as a link between organisations and authorities in this field to lay the foundations of good corporate governance on a local level, in line with international standards.

Hawkamah aims to encourage the corporate sector to formulate good governance principles, strengthen corporate governance reforms and help countries in the region to develop and implement sustainable governance strategies.