NEWS & UPDATES
Sarawak Energy Launches its Leading Women Network
KUCHING, 7TH DECEMBER 2017, THURSDAY: The Sarawak Energy Leading Women Network (SELWN) was launched by the Group Chief Executive Officer Sharbini Suhaili during the company’s annual leadership conference here recently.
SELWN is a networking platform focused on leadership especially amongst potential women employees. It facilitates and supports their development through networking, sharing sessions, forums and talent management. As part of the talent management initiative, it also looks into identifying, redefining and strategising the career path of the women workforce within the organisation. It also serves as a channel by which specific issues concerning talent management affecting women employees can be specifically addressed.
Speaking at the launch, Sharbini who is also Council Chairman for SELWN said, as an organisation, it was important to have a diverse and inclusive environment that values people irrespective of gender, background, and experiences.
“Diversity of thoughts and actions leads to innovation and a winning formula. Our female colleagues are an integral part of the Sarawak Energy team in realising our vision to become an ASEAN Powerhouse. Their contribution enables Sarawak Energy to chart its direction more effectively in our aim to be among the best in class energy provider and power utilities.
“However if we do not take into consideration their concerns like having to assume multiple roles and balancing their career with their responsibilities at home, we will run the risk of losing our top female talents. I would like to see more ladies in higher positions at Sarawak Energy and I believe SELWN can help look into developing their full potential taking into consideration the multiple roles they need to play.”
Introducing SELWN during the launch, Aisah Eden who is Sarawak Energy Executive Vice President for Corporate Services and SELWN Executive Champion thanked Sharbini for his strong support in the setting up of SELWN.
She highlighted that women represents 21% of the total workforce in Sarawak Energy and out of that percentage, about 8% forms part of the leadership team in the company. This number is still far from the national target of 30% for the corporate sector in Malaysia which encompasses three main aspects comprising gender ratio, participation of women in management and the board.
She added that, “Since we first introduced this network through the various ‘Teh Tarik’ sessions with the ladies at headquarters and regional levels, there have been great interests and overwhelming support for this network.
“With the right attitude, behavior and competence, our women colleagues will definitely succeed as leaders that Sarawak Energy can be proud of to grow this company to the next level to become a world class organisation and global player. Sarawak Energy should not only be known for its business success but more importantly for championing women empowerment and gender equality.”
A special guest speaker invited during the launch was Nora Abdul Manaf, Maybank Group Chief Human Capital Officer and leading corporate figure in Malaysia who shared her experience of being a corporate women leader and some of the challenges that women leaders in the corporate sector is faced with.
Also present during the launch were SELWN council members Lau Kim Swee (刘金瑞)and Dr Mak Met, and Head of Network, Hjh Siti Aisah Adenan.
