KPMG partners with W20

The Women 20 (W20) is the premier platform bringing women’s issues to the G20 process. They strive to achieve gender parity for women across the world and in all sectors by advocating and lobbying for policy changes that empower women to succeed. In efforts to support and sponsor the dialogue sessions of the Women 20 (W20), we at KPMG, have signed a strategic partnership with AlNahda Society, the lead organization in the facilitation of W20. With our devotion to the empowerment and professional development of women and we are pleased to have partnered with W20 and AlNahda Society in th eyear that Saudi Arabia hosts the G20 meetings.

KPMG strongly supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, especially number five aiming at ‘achieving gender equality and empowerment to all women and girls.’ As pioneers in hiring women, we recuited the first female employee in 2007 and were also the first of the Big 4 in the Kingdom to appoint a first female partner. The percentage of our female representation has steadily increased over the last three years and we are proud that most of our female employees are Saudis.

To ensure the support of our female team members, we have monthly Lean-In circles, where we discuss our progress in a respectful environment, drawing strength from our differences and accomplishments. We contributed to a program that was initiated by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on “Women Leadership 2030,” a five-day training program by INSEAD that took place at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University (PNU) in Riyadh. We are proud that six of our KPMG colleagues took part in this program.

Within our global network, we have extensive research, thought leaders, and development programs about women in the workplace. In Saudi Arabia, we are adopting the best practices from these to benchmark and fit our culture and strive to align with W20 in the best possible ways. 

At KPGM, we empower women by adopting different retention initiatives, development programs and workshops. Our inclusion and diversity team is focused on the 2020 International Women’s Day theme implemented: I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women's Rights. In our efforts to never stop learning and improving, we consistently research for better strategies of empowering and supporting women. As bold thinkers who value integrity, we are proud to partner with AlNahda and W20 this year.

Head of Inclusion & Diversity
KPMG in Saudi Arabia

W20

W20 is one of the a policy recommendation engagement group of the G20, and aims to ensure that the gender considerations are mainstreamed into G20 discussions and translate into the G20 Leaders' Declaration as policies and commitments that foster gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. Through a broad dialogue facilitated by digital tools, expert meetings, roundtables and the final summit, W20 delegates jointly formulate concrete actionable policy recommendations to advance gender equality in G20 negotiations. Every year, the W20 develops and addresses to the G20 Leaders a Communique which contains a series of actionable policy recommendations aimed at fostering gender equality and women’s economic empowerment in order to boost gender-inclusive economic growth for each and every country.

AlNahda Society

AlNahda Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering women socially and economically through the execution of numerous projects and programs. Its work has evolved over the year sin response to women’s changing needs and to the local socio-economic porjects and programs. With a vision for women to be active partners in the development of Saudi society, it has established its mission to work on ensuring an environment that takes pride in women’s participation and preserves their dignity while building women’s capabilities to reach leadership positions across society.

Throughout the duration of the partnership with AlNahda and W20, there will be a range of dialogues ranging from meetings to webinars to discuss economic, social and financial challenges on the table of the G20.

In February, the W20 had its inception meeting at Princess Nourah bin Abdulrahman University followed by a second meeting hosted at Effat University in Jeddah with the participation of Princess Lolowah AlFaisal, vice-chair of Effat University Board of Founders and Board of Trustees, and general supervisor of the university and Dr. Thoraya Obaid, chair of W20.

While confirming the importance of the outputs of the dialogue sessions of W20, as the sessions will present recommendations and policies related to the economic empowerment of women, Rasha Al-Turki, executive director of AlNahda Society, commended the role of KPMG in Saudi Arabia in supporting and sponsoring the series of national dialogues for Saudi women and how it will highlight our role in empowerment in actives roles among different sectors such as economy, technology and entrepreneurship.

Kholoud Mousa commented on the strategic partnership by addressing that, “the context of KPMG’s continuous endeavor to enable national cadres, Saudi women in particular, to contribute to enhancing the developmental role and benefit from the national expertise and capabilities.”