A closing ceremony to mark the successful completion of the third Women Fit for Business (WF4B) Cyprus program, took place on November 20, 2019.
The program, which was originally designed by AIPFE Cyprus Women of Europe in 2012, was this year carried out in Cyprus collaboration with EY Cyprus and The Cyprus Institute of Marketing (CIM) between April to November 2019. The WF4B initiative aspires to empower, motivate and connect young, unemployed, female university graduates by instilling in them the confidence and required hard and soft skills to enter or re-enter the labor market and/or start their own business.
This year’s cohort of graduates consisted of 14 aspiring individuals, whose interests varied from social entrepreneurship to technology and engineering to genetics, a testament of this generation’s core interests.
Speaking at the event, Yangos Hadjiyannis, CIM Deputy Director General said:
‘We at CIM feel very satisfied with the results of the WF4B project and we are proud to have been part of this amazing journey in the past 8 months. We have witnessed the participants develop their skills and we believe that they are now much better equipped for a successful career.’
Commenting on the WF4B initiative, Charalambos Constantinou, Partner and Head of Advisory Services of EY Cyprus said:
“Empowering women, and in a broader spectrum promoting diversity and inclusiveness, is a value that stands deeply within the EY culture, leading us towards our core value: building a better working world. During the program, I had the pleasure to meet these young ladies in person, as one of their trainers. I can see their progress in how they have built their confidence and self-esteem, in their improved communication and presentation skills, but mostly in their greater sense of freedom and empowerment to reflect on who they are and what they want to achieve in life.”
AIPFE’s President, Anna Koukkides Procopiou added:
“The greatest contribution of a leader is to make other leaders and that is why, we, as AIPFE Cyprus, an organization which focusses on female empowerment, invest effort and resources into this program. We want to see more women in decision-making positions, as this is integral in bringing about changes in the way our world is run. We start by trying to inspire a younger generation of female leaders to demand this and by providing them with a tool kit to do so”
Keynote speaker, Andrea Solomonides, presented some insight on ‘How to succeed as a multipotentialite. With an insatiable passion in music, politics, business and entrepreneurship, Andrea admits that she never truly had one single vocation.
’Certain people do not just have one true calling; there are people out there who are wired enough to pursue countless callings with success”.
AIPFE Communications Officer, Thalia Iacovou, facilitated a fireside chat with some of the WF4B graduates, giving the audience an opportunity to get a taste of the numerous projects which were conducted during the program.
Finally, the spotlight turned onto the WF4B graduates, who received their certificates with immense pride and joy.