Gumption paves the way for success in the corporate world

 

Three women who have managed to scale up the corporate ladder have cited self-determination and encouragement from others as factors that have led to their own success. (Freepik pic)

PETALING JAYA: It may be tough but women can still climb the corporate ladder with a little self-determination, selflessness and lots of encouragement from loved ones.

In recounting their personal experience at a forum on shaping entrepreneurial women scholarship this week, three women also touched on how they could inspire other women in the face of similar challenges.

Sharmila Gunasekaran, the marketing and strategy lead at GSK Pharmaceuticals, said women tended to stay within their comfort zone, and had second thoughts when pursuing a goal.

“We must learn to embrace these challenges,” she said at the forum which was also held to celebrate her and eight others as “exceptional scholarship recipients” of the 30% Club of Malaysia-Heriot-Watt University.

Shaping entrepreneurial women scholarship, which is a part-time MBA programme, is a joint initiative by Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh Business School and the 30% Club Malaysia.

The 30% Club, founded in the UK, is a campaign led by businesses to achieve gender parity in the corporate world by empowering and supporting women in their pursuit of higher education.

Sharmila said that apart from embracing challenges, she was also encouraged and empowered by other women who had themselves enhanced their respective skills and advanced in their careers.

“These have been the driving forces behind my success in the corporate landscape,” she told the forum.

Sharmila said she faced many challenges in life and even had to reinvent herself by switching from science to business. That led to her pursuing a masters in business administration and subsequently a career in the corporate world.

Apart from that, she also credited her daughter for her success. “She was my driving force, my inspiration. Now I want to be her inspiration by showing her how strong and courageous and encouraging women can be,” she added.

Catherine Moo, the general manager at Ketcotec Sdn Bhd, found it challenging to step out of engineering into the corporate world.

“I had to venture into business when my dad died. I realised I needed lots of financial and leadership skills which I did not have, having started out in the warehouse,” she said.

It was then that she signed on for the MBA programme. “I gained a different perspective when dealing with business matters in the small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) landscape, which is male-dominated,” she said.

Her mission now is to create an awareness among women that given the low level of their participation in SMEs, there is a lot of room there for them to grow.

Sarania Sukumaran, the risk manager at the quality department at Gleneagles Kuala Lumpur, recounted that she had to write a paper on gender equality before she was given a scholarship for the MBA programme.

“In the corporate world, the board of directors is still male-dominated. As women, we have to identify our strengths and give them the opportunity to grow,” she said.

Heriot-Watt University Malaysia provost and CEO Mushtak Al-Atabi said it was important to promote inclusiveness to bring progress in Malaysia’s corporate landscape.

“Part of that is to provide women equal opportunities in high-level business leadership positions,” he said.

Women empowerment is crucial to achieve gender parity in leadership roles, according to “The Women in the Workplace” report by management consulting company McKinsey in partnership with LeanIn.Org, an initiative to foster women leadership and inclusion in the workplace.

Among others, the report highlighted the fact that women tended to drop out in mid-career due to unequal access, lack of confidence and limited skills, a phenomenon known as “broken rung”.

Malaysia has made limited progress in achieving gender parity in the boardroom.

For all public-listed companies (PLCs), women now make up an average of 25% of all board members. While it is a marked improvement from just 10% recorded a decade ago, it is still short of the 30% target.

Progress has been better in the top 100 PLCs where women now occupy 30.2% of board seats, up from 13% in 2014. - FMT