Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has participated in a panel discussion organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the UN House Building in celebration of International Women`s Day (IWD).

Group Chief Human Resources Officer at KFH, Zeyad Abdullah Al Omar said that Kuwait has taken steps to support and empower women in a variety of fields as part of its implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 5. 

He added that Kuwait has been prioritizing women's economic empowerment in Kuwait Vision 2035 (New Kuwait) which aspires to transform the country into a knowledge-based economy by empowering the private sector to serve as the primary engine of growth.

“To achieve this goal, equal opportunity for men and women must be provided in order for both to be effective contributors to the vision. Private sector in Kuwait can empower women by adopting business practices that include and support women as workers and consumers, ensure equal pay and fair compensation, promote gender-equitable recruitment and promotion, ensure gender balance through policies and programmes.” Al Omar explained.

He emphasized that at KFH, gender isn’t a factor when it comes to choosing a successor for any given role, rather it makes sure that the required qualities are present in any given personnel to assume their required duties as a leader.

Economic empowerment

Al Omar confirmed that KFH was one of the very first private-sector companies in Kuwait to mobilize business action towards women’s economic empowerment.

He said that KFH pledged its support to advance and invest in women empowerment to create an inclusive women-empowered business environment that would enable access to diverse resources, opportunities, skills development, productive and up-to-date training.

He added that women and men employees at KFH are paid the same for performing the same role or different work of equal or comparable value.

Success story

Al Omar expressed his pride that KFH has made big strides in its women empowerment strategy within the Bank, as it capped off its achievement by implementing UNDP sustainable development goal with regard to empowering women.

Moreover, he confirmed that KFH ensures equal pay and fair compensation for all employees regardless of gender, adding that roles for both genders are the same as KFH seeks that no inequality would take place.

Al Omar said: “The Bank has provided equal access to education, training and acquiring new skills. Consequently, women at KFH enjoy equal access to higher management positions. Also, KFH provides the appropriate environment that caters to our female employee’s needs.

The next step, Al Omar revealed that KFH will look into plans and strategies and practices to drive more empowerment of female employees at the bank in promoting economic empowerment.

He added that KFH currently has high rate of female employees in branches, and it will continue working towards building a corporate culture that will generate a new pool of female talent and women leaders and further empower the role of women at KFH.

He added that KFH has provided a solid foundation and healthy environment in which female employees built up their leadership personalities.  KFH has an inclusive corporate culture, and several women hold executive management posts as they have proved their ability to shoulder significant and important roles. Moreover, women representation ratio at KFH branches approximated 35% while the recruitment of women in Forsa training program approximated 53% as at 2022.

Also, Al Omar said: “55 employees from both the Middle & Senior Management at KFH are female, and recently we’ve seen that the management had started empowering women at a rapid pace.