By Faye Pablo / Special to the BusinessMirror
FOUR of the country’s top woman entrepreneurs and corporate executives led discussions during the Legacies of Women Forum held for the first time in the Philippines.
The forum was organized by the Global Summit of Women, in association with the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and the newly launched Filipina CEO Circle. It was held on September 14 at the AIM Conference Center, providing an opportunity for Filipina business leaders to share their knowledge, experience and insights with the next generation of leaders.
The forum was attended by 450 participants, mostly woman students, community leaders and entrepreneurs, with a sprinkling of their male counterpart interested in women’s issues.
The forum sought to bring women who are currently in charge of different companies to share their success stories among the students, and community and small-business representatives.
Present during the discussions were Consuela “Zondy” D. Garcia, president and CEO of ING Bank Philippines; Rizalina Mantaring, president and CEO of SunLife Financial Philippines; Maan Hontiveros, president of AirAsia Philippines, and Marife Zamora, chairman of Convergys Philippines Services Corp., one of the country’s biggest business-process outsourcing companies.
Irene Natividad, president of Global Summit of Women and host of the forum, said, “Companies with more women in charge tend to survive the economic crisis.”
The panelists cited statistics stating that in Europe, 20 percent of companies’ board directors are women, while in the United States, there are only 19.2 percent. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, only 10 percent of the board of directors are women.
Zamora is the chairman of Convergys which has 34 call centers and 60,000 employees.
“It is true that there are many ways to make a living. What must change is the mind-set of the person,” Natividad said. “There are many opportunities. Women just have to intelligently pick what to grab.
“The generation today must have a mind-set that they need to finish school not only to earn the money to help their families but to achieve their dreams that can contribute in the nation-building. It doesn’t mean that if you’re a woman, you will just be staying at home to do chores. Being a woman has a responsibility of starting change, of creating change,” she said.