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*Translations are unofficial and provided by Google translate
UN Women 2021 Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards:
Meet the Regional Winners
We are excited to announce the winners of the first-ever UN Women 2021 Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards!
Big congratulations to all the winners who have committed themselves to advancing gender equality and women's economic empowerment. These gender champions from different countries, sectors, and fields are acknowledged respectively for their outstanding Leadership Commitment, Youth Leadership, Gender-inclusive Workplace, Gender-responsive Marketplace, Community and Industry Engagement, and Transparency & Reporting.
*The UN Women Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards represents recognition of exemplary company efforts for gender equality and is limited to a designated category and a specific location and time period. Awarded organizations, alongside their products and services, receiving awards are not endorsed or affiliated with UN Women or WeEmpowerAsia and being recognized as an Awardee does not constitute a partnership. Claims, statements, or endorsements made by awardees are solely those of the individual or organization and do not represent official policies or positions of UN Women.
Winners
Divya Hegde
Founder, Baeru Environmental Services (India)
Divya believes women are key agents for development in rural India. Baeru enables women’s socio-economic empowerment by leveraging the power of design, technology, linguistic and regional context in Karnataka. Women are trained to collect, segregate and upcycle waste ensuring regular income and upskilling for them.
Divya believes women are key agents for development in rural India. Baeru enables women’s socio-economic empowerment by leveraging the power of design, technology, linguistic and regional context in Karnataka. Women are trained to collect, segregate and upcycle waste ensuring regular income and upskilling for them.
Ms. Cherrie D. Atilano
Founding Farmer, President and CEO, AGREA (PHL)
Cherrie Atilano is the Founding Farmer, President, and CEO of AGREA. She is also the Philippines Ambassadress on Food Security. Through Agrea, she integrated an intentional policy to include more women and youth in their Farm Schools. She developed modules to be more gender-sensitive by highlighting soft skills. In 2 years, AGREA and partners have increased women and youth inclusion from 50% in 2018 to 64% in 2020. As to date, they have a total of 1200 Farm School Graduates, of which 60% are women and youth. They continue to be more inclusive and are working on Siargao to be the first women-led agriculture island in the Philippines.
Cherrie Atilano is the Founding Farmer, President, and CEO of AGREA. She is also the Philippines Ambassadress on Food Security. Through Agrea, she integrated an intentional policy to include more women and youth in their Farm Schools. She developed modules to be more gender-sensitive by highlighting soft skills. In 2 years, AGREA and partners have increased women and youth inclusion from 50% in 2018 to 64% in 2020. As to date, they have a total of 1200 Farm School Graduates, of which 60% are women and youth. They continue to be more inclusive and are working on Siargao to be the first women-led agriculture island in the Philippines.
BAYO Manila Inc
Bayo is a fashion wear company. It derives inspiration from women in the product they create. It is inherent in their culture to advocate for women empowerment in their company and across their value chain. 90% of their vendors are operated and owned by women. The weaving communities that Bayo has collaborated with are 100% women. In order for Bayo to also be more sustainable, they transitioned to a zero-waste business model that also preserves cultural traditions through their Journey to Zero Initiative. The initiative encompasses different projects that provide opportunities and livelihood for Filipino women to be portable in handweaving and farming.
Intel Malayasia
Intel Malaysia is committed to represent the markets and customers they serve by implementing gender-inclusive strategies in their organization. Intel’s RISE 2030 Inclusive Goals include doubling the number of women in senior and executive roles and exceeding 40% representation of women in technical roles. Intel’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach includes gender-inclusive hiring practices that expand the talent pipeline to girls through STEM-education initiatives, establishing the Women Leadership Council (WLD) Steering Council for skill development, and working with third-party experts to advance pay parity globally.
Intel has surpassed their RISE 2030 Inclusive Goals; women represent over 40% of technical roles at Intel and are on track to double the number of women in leadership by 2030.
Intel has surpassed their RISE 2030 Inclusive Goals; women represent over 40% of technical roles at Intel and are on track to double the number of women in leadership by 2030.
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The Very Group
The Very Group offers Access to Remedy and legal awareness among women in Tamil Nadu in the textile industry called The South Indian Textile Mill project. They created awareness and implementation of ethical employment practices and proactively engaged factories, mills and workers. They have established a grievance redressal mechanism providing workers a voice and access to remedy and approximately 23,000 people have been engaged by the project so far.
Biocon Ltd India
Biocon has been actively reporting on its BioWin(BioconWomenInitiatives)-focussed on engaging, enriching and empowering women in the workplace. This was introduced in 2017 to focus on increasing the diversity ratio through unbiased hiring and retain existing women employees through various initiatives, policies and practices that enhance their safety, work life balance, career development, productivity and performance. BioWin Initiative and it’s activities are regularly reported in the monthly newsletter and Annual report of the organization.
Edukasyon PH
Edukasyon.ph is an online youth platform in the Philippines empowering millions of students aged 13 to 23 to make self-aware education decisions. Yaring Pinay is one of their initiatives with Investing in Women, which aims to promote women and men’s participation in non-traditional technical-vocational education, training,(TVET) and employment. They also had a qualitative study that further proves there is a need to address TVET educational system’s gender exclusion towards women. For this to change, they create toolkits, provide training sessions and build partnerships in raising awareness how gender norms impact recruitment and occupational segregation in TVET schools and companies. Edukasyon Ph aspires to create an increased gender-responsive TVET sector that will facilitate equal economic opportunities.
1st Runners Up
Arshia Ahmad Saqib
Vice President, Human Resources, Engro Fertilizers Limited
When Arshia Ahmad Saqib became the General Manager of Human Resources and Admin at Engro Fertilizers in 2020, she was the first female head of the People Function in the history of the company. As a staunch advocate and expert in diversity and inclusion, Arshia launched a multi-faceted approach to drive gender inclusion throughout the organization. Among the many actions Arshia implemented, she personally committed to coach at least 10 women to take up C-suite roles and she runs a platform for women’s advocacy called ‘Cross the Line with Arshia.’ She also launched Women of Impact, which focuses on professional development and retention of women through coaching and mentoring. Under her leadership, a Core Team comprising of one General Manager from each function was set up to oversee and strategize gender diversity initiatives.
To ensure results, a target was set that for all hiring due to attrition or new position creation, the target is to fill 40% of them with female candidates. The breakthrough of hiring for 2020 has been the hiring of women in non-traditional roles where they were not previously considered for hiring before such as the hiring of the first female mechanic in Pakistan at the plant workshop, hiring of warehouse in-charges on the field in the supply chain, hiring women in field labs and hiring the highest number of women in 2021 in Product Management roles requiring considerable field travel. With Arshia at the helm, the diversity ratio at Engro Fertilizers has risen to 8% in 2020 from 5% in 2019. As of June 2021, this has already risen to 9%.
When Arshia Ahmad Saqib became the General Manager of Human Resources and Admin at Engro Fertilizers in 2020, she was the first female head of the People Function in the history of the company. As a staunch advocate and expert in diversity and inclusion, Arshia launched a multi-faceted approach to drive gender inclusion throughout the organization. Among the many actions Arshia implemented, she personally committed to coach at least 10 women to take up C-suite roles and she runs a platform for women’s advocacy called ‘Cross the Line with Arshia.’ She also launched Women of Impact, which focuses on professional development and retention of women through coaching and mentoring. Under her leadership, a Core Team comprising of one General Manager from each function was set up to oversee and strategize gender diversity initiatives.
To ensure results, a target was set that for all hiring due to attrition or new position creation, the target is to fill 40% of them with female candidates. The breakthrough of hiring for 2020 has been the hiring of women in non-traditional roles where they were not previously considered for hiring before such as the hiring of the first female mechanic in Pakistan at the plant workshop, hiring of warehouse in-charges on the field in the supply chain, hiring women in field labs and hiring the highest number of women in 2021 in Product Management roles requiring considerable field travel. With Arshia at the helm, the diversity ratio at Engro Fertilizers has risen to 8% in 2020 from 5% in 2019. As of June 2021, this has already risen to 9%.
Tawhida Shiropa
Founder and CEO, Moner Bondhu
In 2016, Tawhida Shripoa left her 15-year career as a journalist to found Moner Bondhu, which means Friend of Your Mind, a unique and innovative social enterprise that provides quality, accessible and affordable mental health care services. Moner Bondhu prioritizes support for women and girls of all ages and socioeconomic background and provides free counseling services for those who cannot afford to pay. With a core team of 25 people, more than 100 counselors, mental health experts, advocates, psychologists, and psychiatrists, and 1500 volunteers, Monder Bondhu offers a 24/7 hotline. With the onset of COVID-19, calls to the hotline from women repeatedly mentioned gender-based and domestic violence, and many workers in the RMG sector called with reports of severe mental distress. Leveraging the team’s creativity, Monder Bondhu was able to shift to offering online support services. In 2020, Moner Bondhu saw a 300% increase in clients, and to date they have provided counseling services to tens of thousands of clients across Bangladesh.
In 2016, Tawhida Shripoa left her 15-year career as a journalist to found Moner Bondhu, which means Friend of Your Mind, a unique and innovative social enterprise that provides quality, accessible and affordable mental health care services. Moner Bondhu prioritizes support for women and girls of all ages and socioeconomic background and provides free counseling services for those who cannot afford to pay. With a core team of 25 people, more than 100 counselors, mental health experts, advocates, psychologists, and psychiatrists, and 1500 volunteers, Monder Bondhu offers a 24/7 hotline. With the onset of COVID-19, calls to the hotline from women repeatedly mentioned gender-based and domestic violence, and many workers in the RMG sector called with reports of severe mental distress. Leveraging the team’s creativity, Monder Bondhu was able to shift to offering online support services. In 2020, Moner Bondhu saw a 300% increase in clients, and to date they have provided counseling services to tens of thousands of clients across Bangladesh.
NatWest Group India
RBS promotes women’s career development and advances in leadership by building a strong internal pool of colleagues with the required skills, capabilities and experience to help them advance through specially designed development programmes tailored to each level of their career journey. By end of 2020, 14 of their 15 business areas have 30% or more women in the top three leadership, with programmes designed for top leadership, vice presidents, assistant vice presidents, team leaders and employees.
Dharma Life (an initiative of Gajam India Pvt Ltd)
RBS promotes women’s career development and advances in leadership by building a strong internal pool of colleagues with the required skills, capabilities and experience to help them advance through specially designed development programmes tailored to each level of their career journey. By end of 2020, 14 of their 15 business areas have 30% or more women in the top three leadership, with programmes designed for top leadership, vice presidents, assistant vice presidents, team leaders and employees.
The Body Shop Indonesia
Creating gender-balance workplace through robust HR Policies, including equal recruitment policy, medical benefit upgrade to, maternity benefit and establishment of nursing facilities, paternal leave, flexible working time, employee hotline to report violence and harassment, household economy development. In addition to that, The Body Shop® Indonesia continuously campaigning gender equality to both internal employee and public audience, one of which through “Stop Sexual Violence” campaign and forming the “Stop Sexual Violence Squad” to increase employee engagement for the issue.
Gojek
Creating Long-Term Value for People and The Planet through ESG Report. One ESG issue that was considered of high materiality to Gojek was diversity and inclusion, both within the company and across platform. The objective of annual reporting on our ESG performance is to ensure Gojek is transparent and accountable to its commitments and target, and is systematically approaching and monitoring its progress on diversity and inclusion. As such, Gojek is now committed to reporting on its key DEI metrics and progress on related targets annually and did so in April 2021 for the first time.
Aparna Bhatnagar Saxena
Chief Executive Officer, TORAJAMELO
The commitment to empower women from the underprivileged rural communities in economic and social sphere. Aparna has strived to implement gender equality holistically throughout the company’s operations. Internally, she established policies to ensure the company adopt inclusive culture in the hiring, training, and treatment of their employees. Externally, Aparna has commenced the tracing of TORAJAMELO’s supply chain, to ensure that their partners are also committed to the same social and environmental approaches. Moreover, she initiated to work with various partners and local communities to educate women and promote gender equality & women’s empowerment.
The commitment to empower women from the underprivileged rural communities in economic and social sphere. Aparna has strived to implement gender equality holistically throughout the company’s operations. Internally, she established policies to ensure the company adopt inclusive culture in the hiring, training, and treatment of their employees. Externally, Aparna has commenced the tracing of TORAJAMELO’s supply chain, to ensure that their partners are also committed to the same social and environmental approaches. Moreover, she initiated to work with various partners and local communities to educate women and promote gender equality & women’s empowerment.
2nd Runners Up
Jennifer Buckley
Managing Director, Sweef Capital Management Pte Ltd
Jennifer Buckley is a private equity professional passionate about championing women’s economic empowerment through gender-focused funds, demonstrating that these investment strategies are able to generate market-rate financial returns while also delivering significant impact. The premise is that women-focused investing is vital to economic and societal development. At Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (“SEAF”), Jennifer led the women’s economic empowerment initiatives and formed a team of predominantly women investment professionals and gender lens champions in Southeast Asia. She saw an opportunity to integrate the private equity model with the impact framework and tools to develop an investment product that will entice mainstream capital providers to adopt gender lens investing. Jennifer was instrumental in developing the Gender Equality Scorecard (GES©) and led the roll-out over SEAF’s 30 global offices and funds and its engagement within the impact investment and development
finance community. In June 2021, she marked another milestone in her career when she formed Sweef Capital Management Pte Ltd (formerly known as SEAF Southeast Asia Management Pte Ltd), to continue to build a strong regional base and exemplar for women-led funds management. Jennifer is currently in discussions with different institutions to secure more limited partners with the goal of building a US$100 MM fund for SWEEF.
Jennifer Buckley is a private equity professional passionate about championing women’s economic empowerment through gender-focused funds, demonstrating that these investment strategies are able to generate market-rate financial returns while also delivering significant impact. The premise is that women-focused investing is vital to economic and societal development. At Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (“SEAF”), Jennifer led the women’s economic empowerment initiatives and formed a team of predominantly women investment professionals and gender lens champions in Southeast Asia. She saw an opportunity to integrate the private equity model with the impact framework and tools to develop an investment product that will entice mainstream capital providers to adopt gender lens investing. Jennifer was instrumental in developing the Gender Equality Scorecard (GES©) and led the roll-out over SEAF’s 30 global offices and funds and its engagement within the impact investment and development
finance community. In June 2021, she marked another milestone in her career when she formed Sweef Capital Management Pte Ltd (formerly known as SEAF Southeast Asia Management Pte Ltd), to continue to build a strong regional base and exemplar for women-led funds management. Jennifer is currently in discussions with different institutions to secure more limited partners with the goal of building a US$100 MM fund for SWEEF.
Net Supatravanij
Co-Founder, ila
Net Supatravanij is the Co-Founder of ila, a social enterprise focused on bringing diversity and inclusion to the workplace and empowering gender-based violence survivors. She is the creator of ALLY: a mobile application that aims to turn local stores into safe spaces and bystanders into allies against domestic abuse. ila was selected to exhibit at the UN Women Asia Pacific for Beijing 25+ Conference in 2019 and Net was invited to speak by the UN Women's Asia Pacific on the International Women's Day in 2020.
Net Supatravanij is the Co-Founder of ila, a social enterprise focused on bringing diversity and inclusion to the workplace and empowering gender-based violence survivors. She is the creator of ALLY: a mobile application that aims to turn local stores into safe spaces and bystanders into allies against domestic abuse. ila was selected to exhibit at the UN Women Asia Pacific for Beijing 25+ Conference in 2019 and Net was invited to speak by the UN Women's Asia Pacific on the International Women's Day in 2020.
L’Oréal Indonesia
Creating Gender-Inclusive Workplace through strategic programs in all pillars of Human Resources, ranging from recruitment to career management and benefit.
Implementation such as gender-neutral and equitable recruitment policy, annual remuneration review to monitor gender pay gap, clear promotion and career management pathways and training to develop female leadership. Moreover, L'Oréal Indonesia provide variety of benefits to support and reward all employee, including Total Reward Program to look after employee’s emotional wellness and Share & Care Program to make employees feel secure in health and safety, financial aspect, and ensuring work-life balance as well as well-being of female and male employees.
Implementation such as gender-neutral and equitable recruitment policy, annual remuneration review to monitor gender pay gap, clear promotion and career management pathways and training to develop female leadership. Moreover, L'Oréal Indonesia provide variety of benefits to support and reward all employee, including Total Reward Program to look after employee’s emotional wellness and Share & Care Program to make employees feel secure in health and safety, financial aspect, and ensuring work-life balance as well as well-being of female and male employees.
PricewaterhouseCoopers Information Technologies (Shanghai) Co., Ltd
PricewaterhouseCoopers Information Technologies (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. has organized numerous events and activities to help women to develop career in the information technology industry. The company's effort in breaking the stereotypes and investing in women's STEM field is commendable.
PwC invites women who has interests in technology sector, for example, female colleague students, to participate in its annual code camp to attract potential female job seekers to the company. It also established a Women in Technology Committee to encourage women’s participation in STEM by holding a series of activities including lectures, workshops, etc. Women are provided with network opportunities and platform for harnessing skills and seeking advancement in the technology sector.
PwC invites women who has interests in technology sector, for example, female colleague students, to participate in its annual code camp to attract potential female job seekers to the company. It also established a Women in Technology Committee to encourage women’s participation in STEM by holding a series of activities including lectures, workshops, etc. Women are provided with network opportunities and platform for harnessing skills and seeking advancement in the technology sector.
IDLC Finance Limited
As the largest non-banking financial institution in Bangladesh, IDLC Finance Limited is committed to gender-responsive programming that supports women-owned businesses to access the right finance and markets they need to flourish. Women entrepreneurs historically face barriers accessing credit and connecting to the right markets to achieve growth. This is further exacerbated for women in rural areas, leaving behind thousands of women-owned SMEs in Bangladesh. To bridge this gap, IDLC partnered with the IFC to launch IDLC Purnota in 2015 – a comprehensive solution including a dedicated women-entrepreneur loan coupled with capacity development, business facilitation services, and market linkage support. As of December 2020, IDLC Purrnota has been one of the highest distributors of Bangladesh Bank’s Refinance Scheme and other low-cost financing options for women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, and has served 5,312 clients.
Electricity Generating Public Company Limited (EGCO)
Electricity Generating Public Company Limited (EGCO), a listed Thai energy production company, places a high importance on transparency and reporting that adheres to international standards, including the Global Reporting Initiative Standards. The company also conducts assessments every 5 years and has auditing processes for Pay and Benefits for employees through the Gender Pay Gap Analysis and Equal Pay Analysis. It has sex-disaggregated data on numbers of men and women in management positions and in revenue generating functions, such as in STEM-related positions. EGCO has achieved gender balance in its workforce in STEM with 50.71% in 2020.
Shell Companies in the Philippines
Shell promote diversity and female participation in STEM subjects by supporting STEM programmes in schools and through their flagship programme NXplorers. With Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. (PSFI), they also strive to empower women through livelihood and entrepreneurship opportunities. The Foundation responds to the needs of host communities which highlight the need to close the employment gap between men and women. PSFI assisted with learning opportunities in business financial literacy and values. The Shell LiveWIRE program – the flagship enterprise development program of Shell global, with the vision of strengthening local economies – adopted the SIBBAP garments production program in 2020. The products were marketed and sold at Shell stations nationwide and procured as giveaways by the different Shell departments.
Soren Roed Pedersen
General Director, Julie Sandlau Vietnam Co. Ltd
Julie Sandlau Vietnam (JSV) made the commitment to create a sustainable livelihood for women in the locality where their factories are located by empowering them. Through time, JSV noticed that goldsmiths are mostly women, while management positions are usually occupied by men. With a commitment to change that picture, JSV providetraining programs for women and opportunities for them to advance in their careers by implementing new policies, such as: flexible working arrangements for employees in leadership positions, which focus on reducing work-life conflict for recruited women managers. Now, nearly 80% of managers are women in the last 6 years (from the time the new policy was issued).
Julie Sandlau Vietnam (JSV) made the commitment to create a sustainable livelihood for women in the locality where their factories are located by empowering them. Through time, JSV noticed that goldsmiths are mostly women, while management positions are usually occupied by men. With a commitment to change that picture, JSV providetraining programs for women and opportunities for them to advance in their careers by implementing new policies, such as: flexible working arrangements for employees in leadership positions, which focus on reducing work-life conflict for recruited women managers. Now, nearly 80% of managers are women in the last 6 years (from the time the new policy was issued).
*The UN Women Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards represents recognition of exemplary company efforts for gender equality and is limited to a designated category and a specific location and time period. Awarded organizations, alongside their products and services, receiving awards are not endorsed or affiliated with UN Women or WeEmpowerAsia and being recognized as an Awardee does not constitute a partnership. Claims, statements, or endorsements made by awardees are solely those of the individual or organization and do not represent official policies or positions of UN Women.
What are the WEPs?
2020 Awardees
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