Eleni Korovesh and Dr Haya Rashid Al Naimi
Doha: At age 23, over 13 years ago, Dr Haya Rashid Al Naimi charted her long term career path and aspired to be a chief financial officer (CFO) someday. Today, Al Naimi, who is the Head of Financial Control at North Oil Company (NOC), is not only closer to her career target, but she has also become the first Qatari woman who has reached a managerial post in the country’s oil and gas-financial sector.
After 28 years of experience working in finance sector and various industries, Dr Deepa Chandrashekar, Deputy Chief Financial Officer at Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance Company (QGIRC), recalls growing up as a shy and naïve girl in a limited geographical region in India. While she has always been good at mathematics from childhood, it is ultimately her perseverance that brought her to faraway places and succeed in her career. A natural go-getter, Chandrashekar remains driven to grow and has set her sights towards greater achievements.
Eleni Korovesh, a Financial Analyst at Al Jassimya Investment, is a young woman who is breaking barriers and stereotypes in the male-dominated investment management sector. As she continues to climb the corporate ladder, she has also made it her goal to empower other women struggling in the field.
Al Naimi, Chandrashekar, and Korovesh, are all trailblazing women who are currently creating an impact in Qatar’s finance sector. They are among only a handful of women who have reached leadership positions in the finance sector, which has long been known as a male-dominated industry.
According to the latest Women in Financial Services 2020 report by leading global management consulting firm Oliver Wyman, there has been a slow progress on gender diversity in the finance sector, with 20 percent representation of women on executive committees and 23 percent on boards. The progress is not enough, and there is still a long way to go to create an industry in which women have equal access to opportunity and positive outcomes, the report added.
In Qatar, women working in financial services express the same concerns. “Women are being employed in mid-level and junior level, but to break that glass ceiling and move up the ladder is extremely challenging in a male-dominated sector.
If you narrow it down to the region itself, I don’t think there’s more than 2 percent representation of women at the senior level. So you see that a lot of women who are unable to break that barrier, instead of wasting their energy in trying to challenge the current set-up, they try to diversify themselves and look at other entrepreneur options where they go solo or independent,” Chandrashekar said in an interview with The Peninsula recently.
Speaking about the slow progress on gender diversity in the industry, Al Naimi added: “The appointment of women leaders in the sector just started picking up the pace in the past two to three years. And I’ve noticed that the appointments that female leaders received in Qatar are mostly because of merits, rather than a target of diversity and inclusion. There have been old social norms in the olden days that we’re picking up right now. There has been huge paradigm shifts in the past decades, especially from the early 2000s. The very visible leadership of H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser has driven so much change for women across all sectors, not only in leaderships but social norms and perspectives as well”.
Korovesh, who is also a member of Women in Investment Management (WIM) under the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society, added that in some situations it is the women who hold themselves back from progressing in their careers or taking up leadership roles.
“All of us see that men are dominating the industry. But again, from our experience, men are not pushing us back. They are actually being very supportive. We have women that are stepping back because they need to prioritise their families, and we also have women who feel uncomfortable to work and network in environments dominated by male colleagues, which is cultural in perspective. But some of us believe that we’re in a good path, and have decided not to step back in our careers. We realised that no one is stopping us more than ourselves,” added Korovesh.
Studies show the economic and social benefits of having gender diversity and inclusion in the workforce, and policymakers are now being involved in an attempt to solve gender biases in the workplace.
Deputy Chief Financial Officer at Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance Company (QGIRC) Dr Deepa Chandrashekar
“For corporates to open up, I think government interference is required to push that agenda until such time it becomes inherent policy for every corporate to actually eliminate gender bias,” said Chandrashekar.
“To address this problem, we need to work together with corporations, HR departments, societies, as well as the government, which may put some quotas where women will have to be included,” added Korovesh.
However, Al Naimi also warned: “But it also has to be the right person. Because if we hire the wrong female leader based on quota and she fails to deliver, we will only block the way for future female leaders. And having the right leader starts from the beginning, from the way we hire, with the right training, support, and promotion”.
All three women earned the necessary educational qualifications and professional experience needed to progress in their careers. But the whole journey has not been like a walk in the park.
“I’ve had my own challenges and very frustrating moments. I’ve had moments where I felt very discouraged. I’ve had people talk to me in a very condescending manner as well, which makes you feel very demotivated. But one thing I did, and because of my family’s support, especially my husband’s support, was that I never gave up. I was pushed to keep moving on, and keep saying ‘it’s ok’. You are going to come across challenges, but you cannot let that stop you from moving ahead,” added Chandrashekar.
Al Naimi, who has two children, added: “Every time I come back from maternity leave, I do question if I can go back. I do go back on time. But it’s normal to go through thinking process, ‘is it worth it’ or ‘can I leave my little baby and walk away’. And then I learned to teach myself not to mute that voice, just get use to it. And if you come to office anyway, you better make an impact out of it. So there’s really no need to slow down, just focus on delivering with quality”.
Al Naimi and Chandrashekar, who have both been married with children for the past several years, give the most credit for their career success to their supportive families, especially husbands, who are also successful in their own fields.
“It’s very important and critical for the spouse to be absolutely supportive and not bring egoism into place. You respect each other’s career and passion and you support each other. And it is possible. But I’ve also seen couples who have both been so focused on their careers that they end up neglecting their family, and that shouldn’t happen,” Chandrashekar added.
To cope with the growing challenges in the sector, all three women believe on the importance of networking in order to create an impact in the field.
“My success has been because of my networking. Men are successful because they go out there, they network, and showcase their talent a lot more. Women also need to develop relationship-building and not shy away from personal branding. You need to know what is happening in the industry. Reading the news and books are limited words. You go and talk to the people in the industry. You also need to have the attitude of a go-getter, know how to tap an opportunity and grab it. You cannot afford to waste time. The environment today is extremely competitive that you need to see yourself two steps ahead. And I’m still not stopping, I still have a long way to go. There’s always the burning desire to improve myself, and that’s something that you need to keep having as a leader,” added Chandrashekar.
Al Naimi, who values the importance of mentorship, added: “You must build your knowledge base or skill pool. And that doesn’t happen by jumping around from one job to another every six months or a year. University degrees only get you to the door, but what gets you to the next level is being able to consistently deliver with excellence. And make sure that your name is associated with your work, otherwise you’d be invisible. But marketing yourself on no basis is dangerous because reputation is sensitive. Once you acquire a reputation of someone who does nothing but talks a lot, it’s difficult to go back from there. The only solution is to change the workplace. Equally important is to learn from those who are experienced around you and to work with an employer that provides opportunities for development. And I am fortunate to have found that”.
And while the industry is growing to be more competitive, Korovesh believes it’s just a matter of perspective to succeed in the field without focusing on the competition. “You always need to contribute to your fullest and not compete with your colleagues. As long as we understand that we don’t compete with each other, but we support and grow together. There is a place for everyone, we’re very different from each other. So working together will bring us stronger and closer, and have far more positive output than seeing it as a competition,” Korovesh added.
