Fourteen women entrepreneurs graduate from the Women Leadership Academy

The British High Commission and the Mauritius Institute of Directors celebrate women entrepreneurs graduating from the Women Leadership Academy Award.

The Mauritius Institute of Directors (MIoD) in partnership with Dale Carnegie Mauritius is delighted to announce that fourteen participants have successfully completed the UK-funded Women Leadership Academy (WLA). The objective of this programme was to provide women leaders with the skills and confidence to take up senior-level opportunities and decision-making roles in Mauritius. It stemmed from a need to address gender gap in business in Mauritius. An award ceremony was held on Wednesday 20 April at the British High Commissioner’s Residence to celebrate the new graduates.

“Overcoming gender inequality and ensuring women can participate fully and fairly in the economy is a core part of the UK Government’s mission. When there is investment in women as employees leaders, entrepreneurs and consumers, the whole country benefits. Equal participation of women with men in labour markets could add over 25 trillion dollars to global GDP in 2025. We are therefore proud to be supporting women entrepreneurs here in Mauritius through our important partnerships with organisations such as the MIoD that strive to empower women to dare and unlock their full potential as decision-makers,” said H.E. Ms Charlotte Pierre, British High Commissioner to Mauritius.

“Though it is encouraging to see that the presence of women in Directorship roles in Mauritius is increasing, progress remains slow. In this context, the MIoD, through the Women Directors Forum, launched the Women Leadership Academy in collaboration with Dale Carnegie Mauritius. This 3-Day Programme will help Women Leaders define their personal brand and step out of their comfort zone with confidence and assertiveness to claim their position as a C-Suite Leader. We are delighted to have the British High Commission as sponsor of our Women Leadership Academy’s third cohort, which will create a pool of strong women leaders to address the gender gap issue at the C-Suite level,” said Sheila Ujoodha, Chief Executive Office of the Mauritius Institute of Directors.

Anuradha Appadoo, Managing Director of Dale Carnegie Mauritius, stated: “At Dale Carnegie, diversity and inclusion and addressing the issues of conscious and/or unconscious bias have always been part of our mission. It was therefore an honour to start a collaboration with the MIoD in 2021 to address the issue of women leaders in senior positions. Since August 2021, when we started the first cohort, I have been overwhelmed by the competencies and talents that I witnessed in the sessions. This reinforced my conviction that companies / our country are missing out on great opportunities by not including these talents in senior/critical decision-making roles. I therefore wish to commend and congratulate the British High Commission for having sponsored a cohort to enable new and well-established entrepreneurs shape up their sense of leadership to their businesses for sustainable growth.”

Photo: BHC MIoD