By Business & Finance 
Pictured, left to right: Suzie Nolan, Patrizia Libotte and Claire Solon from Friends First.
To mark International Women’s Day in Ireland, hundreds of events are taking place around country; here we highlight activities from Business in the Community Ireland member companies.
To mark International Women’s Day in Ireland, hundreds of events are taking place around country; here we highlight activities from the sustainability network Business in the Community Ireland (BICI) member companies. The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day 2018 is #PressforProgress.
Friends First – Investing in women
Friends First highlight the fact that they are turning Financial Services gender parity trends on their heads within their Investment Division with management and investment strategy for the Friends First Commercial Property funds and a range of Portfolio funds (Magnet and Compass) led by a female Investment Management team. It’s a sector where females are currently under-represented by and large. At Friends First, Senior Property Fund Manager Suzie Nolan, Director of Multi Asset Funds Patrizia Libotte and Head of Property Claire Solon contribute to the success of Friends First funds ranges and has had a significant positive impact on the business.
Northern Trust
Northern Trust, Dell EMC, Johnson and Johnson, Bank of Ireland and WiSTEM2D in association with The University of Limerick will be running the International Women’s Day Conference. Up to 150 participants from across the University sector, local business networks and the local community are expected to attend.
Fujitsu
Fujitsu are co-sponsoring The International Women’s Day event in association with the Dublin Chamber on Thursday March 8th at the Alex Hotel Dublin. This event will celebrate Ireland’s successful business leaders and female entrepreneurs. The guest speaker on the evening is Geraldine Swarbrigg, a successful female entrepreneur who along with her family set up the Inglot Beauty brand in Ireland. Other speakers on the evening will include Ericia Sheenan, Homespun Foods, Roisin Lafferty, Kingston Lafferty Design, Niamh Herrity, Pink Kong Animation who will discuss their careers, challenges encountered and offer practical advice to other female leaders.
State Street
The Professional Women’s Network in State Street are hosting an internal Panel Discussion and Networking Lunch in their headquarters to mark the day. The panel will discuss the important findings of the recently published 30% Club research: “Making the Change Count – A Study of Women in Financial Services”.
Axa
Axa aims to engage as many of their employees as possible across all sites to raise awareness of gender parity and reinforce that gender equality at Axa is about ensuring women and men are given equal rights at work. Events include a lunchtime session with Barbara Brennan on personal resilience and promoting positive mental health and wellbeing, and an afternoon tea with Alison Comyn, focusing on Personal Brand, the difference between how men and women communicate and an important message; you are your best asset.
KPMG
For the centenary of women’s suffrage in Ireland in 2018, KPMG as part of their ‘Family for Literacy’ programme are partnering with Children’s Books Ireland’s on the Bold Girls project. Bold Girls will launch on International Women’s Day, at the Old Library in Trinity College. Bold Girls project aims to break down societal barriers and to instil confidence in girls and young women by showing them female characters in children’s books with agency, power and opinions. For more information about Bold Girls, visit www.childrensbooksireland.ie
Siemens Healthineers
As part of International Women’s Day, Siemens Healthineers in Swords are organising a collection for Aoibhneas www.aoibhneas.org, a women’s and children refuge located in Coolock. Collection boxes have been placed around the Siemens Healthineers site where employees can donate clothing and toiletries.
eir
eir are sponsoring the Dress for Success International Women’s Day campaign again this year. The campaign, will see workplaces and individuals across Ireland raising funds and holding clothing collections to support the invaluable work of Dress for Success.
Johnson & Johnson and Janssen
Johnson & Johnson will take part in the #PressforProgress conference at University of Limerick (UL) with Northern Trust, Dell EMC and Bank of Ireland. Kyran Johnson, General Manager, Janssen Sciences Ireland, will participate in a panel discussion focused on the challenges facing women in STEM. A number of second and third year UL students involved in J&J’s WiSTEM2D (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Manufacturing, and Design) programme will be presented with awards at the conference.
Fidelity
Transition year students are visiting Fidelity’s Galway and Waterside offices for a half day to take part in STEM based workshops to hear from women in Fidelity on ‘A Day in The Life’ of their jobs.
Sodexo
To mark the occasion Sodexo are making a number of webinars available to employees on topics such as flexibility, moving beyond bias and managing your personal brand. They are also hosting a ‘Women in Engineering event’ in partnership with BIFM and are fielding speakers to external conferences, where they will discuss Sodexo’s commitment to gender balance. They are also communicating a #IWDeveryday campaign across their business to raise awareness on an ongoing basis.
Deloitte
Deloitte will be supporting Debra Ireland with their mission to support those suffering with Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) and progressing the research that is ongoing for this illness. Two of their female partners – Valarie Daunt and Eimear McCarthy will travel to the Arctic next week with 18 other like-minded women to trek through this harsh and unknown environment for 5 days to honour the mothers of children who suffer from EB. The mothers of these children are usually the main care-givers of this torturous condition and for this reason, the expedition will be a female only one.
William Fry
William Fry will be supporting Dress for Success Dublin’s International Women’s Day 2018 campaign this year as part of their Making a Difference Diversity & Inclusion programme. Staff at William Fry will be doing a clothing collection and holding a coffee morning on Thursday, 8 March in support of Dress for Success International.
Oracle
Oracle Women’s Leadership group will host Press for Progress, an inclusive event for all employees, with a panel of entrepreneurs, each of whom have pressed ahead to start their own business, followed by an inspirational workshop with Kerry Lyons, author of The Imperfect Life Planner, on how to wipe out every fear that might be holding them back.
