EY Cyprus in collaboration with AIPFE Cyprus inaugurate Women Fit for Business program

EY Cyprus in collaboration with AIPFE Cyprus-Women of Europe inaugurated Women Fit for Business (WF4B), a program which is geared towards unemployed female university graduates under the age of 35. This collaboration aspires to empower, motivate and connect participants through practical training and soft skills that will assist them in their search for employment. Twelve candidates have been selected to embark on a 60-hour, 9-month program which entails training, mentoring and networking, covering a wide range of topics, including personal profiling and skills assessment, job search skills, professional development workshops, empowerment through centered leadership, internships and more.

This program is organized as part of EY’s global campaign towards gender parity. Specifically, in response to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Parity Report, which concluded that it will take 170 years to achieve global gender parity in the workplace, EY aims to draw attention to the global gender gap issue andgalvanize support from other organizations to accelerate change.

Stavros Pantzaris, EY Cyprus Country Managing Partner, said:

“Women make up more than half the population of the world yet have long been overlooked as a vital talent resource that contributes to economic growth and prosperity... To accelerate achievement of gender parity we need purposeful action by both men and women to recruit, retain and advance women in equal proportion to their numbers and commensurate with the limitless potential they offer the workplace.”

Anna Koukkides-Procopiou, President of AIPFE Cyprus, spoke to the audience about AIPFE’s ongoing initiatives to promote the involvement of women in civil society in Cyprus and abroad. She also talked about the Women Fit for Business program, presenting two graduates of the 2015 WF4B program who talked about their personal experiences and success stories, and described how the courses helped them to achieve their professional goals – either in finding a job or in starting their own businesses.

The inauguration event featured two motivating keynote speakers, Georgia Paphiti, CFO of Swiss Bank UBS in Luxembourg and the EMEA Regional Financial Controller for UBS, and Valentina Kislaya, President and founder of Leaders and Image Limited, an organization acclaimed for its coaching expertise across the entire corporate spectrum. Both speakers shared some really inspirational stories and ideas with the audience.

The event took place at the EY Cyprus Nicosia Main office, at the Jean Nouvel Tower, on April 19, 2017, and it was honoured by business and public policy leaders, AIPFE members and EY guests and staff.