Event report of the Business Meeting
“Women in the German-Latin American Economy – Economic independence and independent livelihood of women. Worldwide success stories“
On the 10th of December the Agency for Business & Economic Development (AWE), the Business Association for Latin America (LAV) and Unidas continued their series of events focused on women’s participation in the economy.
The event started with words of welcome by Almut Möller (State Councilor and Plenipotentiary of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg to the Federal Government, the EU and Foreign Affairs), Dr. Corinna Franke-Woeller (Head of AWE) and Marian Schuegraf (Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the German Federal Foreign Office). They highlighted the importance of diversity and cooperation in companies, the economy and between the regions.
Dr. Annette Beller (CFO at B. Braun Melsungen AG) gave a keynote on the influence of women on her career. Having reached her position with the help of other women, she identifies that in order to reach equality in the workspace women need good education, opportunities to succeed, living conditions for women and man alike to combine a career with family life, and there needs to be more encouragement of women to take on professional chances.
Svenja Ahlburg (Group Director Latin America & Managing Director at WILO) shared her experience of restructuring the teams under her purview and the three ingredients needed for success in business as a woman: listening to all stakeholders, enable young people and disrupt stereotypes.
After these insightful keynotes, Ana Fontes (Founder of Rede Mulher Empreendedora) portrayed the difficulties for women in Brazil in opening a business and becoming financially independent. In Brazil, the challenges not only lie in lack of childcare and lack of training for women, but also in the differences between the regions and racism. Her solution to these challenges was to found the Rede Mulher Empreendedora to give trainings to empower women to start their own businesses and support women lead companies.
Arthur Darboven (Benecke Coffee) provided a different perspective as he discussed the importance of supporting women in the coffee industry through land ownership. This has been identified in their projects as the first step to economic empowerment and independence of women.
The final speaker was Orlando Baquero (General Manager LAV) who closed the event by reflecting on the current work trends and that projects need to be made more suitable for gender parity.
Please, find the link to the event recording here.