Saturday Sep 21, 2024
Saturday Sep 21, 2024
Tuesday, 16 March 2021 01:43 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
On 1 March, EY announced 14 female business leaders selected for the Asia-Pacific class of the 2021 EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women— a program designed to support women entrepreneurs to become global market leaders and to scale their businesses to reach full potential and break down barriers. Amongst them is Jetwing Travels Chairman and Managing Director and Jetwing Hotels Chairman Shiromal Cooray.
Joining at a time of unprecedented disruption, this year’s cohort of new entrepreneurs are focused on dealing with the significant global challenges of today. Representing six countries in the Asia-Pacific region, they each bring an innovative mindset, and some bring deep technological expertise which has led to breakthrough solutions in areas such as biopharmaceuticals, developing sharing economies and closing skills shortages with easy-to-use software tools.
EY Global Talent Leader, Strategy and Transactions and EY Global Executive Sponsor, EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women program Kath Carter says: “EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women is one of the EY organisation’s premier global programs, and it’s enormously rewarding to see how by championing women entrepreneurs, they are able to realise solutions that often address deep societal issues. Developing solutions, when others only see obstacles, is at the heart of the entrepreneurial mindset. This year’s cohort of Winning Women in Asia-Pacific shows tremendous potential for ground-breaking innovations at a time when societies need them most.”
This year’s participants run high-growth businesses across a wide variety of sectors, including education, architecture and engineering, pharmaceuticals, health care, home furnishing retail, consumer and hospitality. Their companies generated a combined revenue of more than $ 1.1 b in 2019 and employed more than 12,000 people.
EY Sri Lanka and Maldives Managing Partner Ruwan Fernando, commenting on this announcement stated: “Despite the many hurdles the pandemic itself and post-pandemic new normal has presented, the EY organisation kept to its many promises and amongst them is delivering on the core values of the Winning Women program – connecting unstoppable female entrepreneurs with each other and providing them with the advice and resources they need to unlock their full potential. The EY organisation is proud to take an active role in advocating for women and leading by example. Congratulations Shiromal Cooray on being selected as an EY Winning Woman.”
EY EWW Program Host Anoji de Silva said: “Accelerating women’s advancement is an economic imperative that creates higher growth, increased prosperity and stronger communities — it is key to building a better working world. One of the key benefits we have seen over the last five years is the very strong global network of women entrepreneurs we are connecting. They even end up doing business and also learn a lot from each other’s experience. The fact that so many of our Alumni was present physically and virtually today to welcome Shiromal is a testament to the fact they see the value of the program.”
The EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women program will build on the 14 business leaders’ successes by providing them with strategic support, training and access to the EY entrepreneurial ecosystem across the globe. The customised program will focus on areas such as:
The 2021 class will convene for a conference in Seoul – South Korea, later in the year. During the conference, the Winning Women will take part in activities aimed at strengthening cultural and commercial skills and learning the nuances of doing business in their host country. Throughout the year, they will also take part in a series of e-conferences, in-country business sessions and workshops.
The involvement of Winning Women alumnae beyond the first year is core to the program’s success. More than 120 alumnae make up the Asia-Pacific cohort. The Asia-Pacific region program is in its seventh year.
The Asia-Pacific program is part of a worldwide community of EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women. Launched in the US in 2008, the program now numbers more than 750 women entrepreneurs, building companies in over 50 countries across all industries. This program targets high-potential women entrepreneurs with established businesses who are ready to scale and grow their business globally.
