Significant corporations should work to empower women
Large corporations have to play a significant role on empowering the country's women, said Simeen Rahman, group ceo of Transcom Ltd.
"We have to ensure that ladies get the same options and pay as guys when performing at the same level," she stated, while addressing a good webinar organised to tag International Women's Evening yesterday.
She said that large business have to lead just how by institutionalising an inclusive lifestyle and environment to empower women.
The function was organised by HSBC Bangladesh with Rahman, also a director of Mediaworld, on the panel.
During the 40-minute conversation with Mahbub ur Rahman, CEO of HSBC Bangladesh, Simeen reveal different facets of her career, like the role of her late father Latifur Rahman, the founding chairman of Transcom Ltd.
A respected businessperson in the country, Simeen said that while family group support is crucial for women to achieve success, the same can be true for men.
"I believe friends and family support is completely critical," she said, adding that whatever she's accomplished would not have been possible without the support of her mom Shahnaz Rahman, chairman and managing director of Transcom.
Simeen's quest within the conglomerate was an outcome her father's foresight, based on the group CEO.
"He could possess easily built us directors, but we joined right at the bottom so that we know every level of the business enterprise and build professionalism in us," she said. "Today, after all these years, I know precisely how each layer works."
When considering the value of family members support for a man, she thinks of her own son, Zaraif Ayaat Hossain.
"As he is pursuing his dreams and ambitions, I, as his mother, make sure that I am there for him mainly because a source of power and support," she explained.
Simeen went on to state that she always wanted to become a section of the family organization. However, she hadn't thought that she'd lead the group 1 day.
"I worked towards appearing the best version of myself every day. Anywhere deep within me, I dreamt of it, but I didn't think it could happen, maybe because I am female."
When she was 12, Simeen was fond of two literature -- 'Gone with the Wind' by Margaret Mitchell and 'A Woman of Compound' by Barbara Taylor Bradford -- both which influenced her to some extent.
Both protagonists -- Katie Scarlett O'Hara (Eliminated with the Wind) and Emma Harte (A Woman of Element) are strong women, she said.
Throughout her life, Simeen saw women's priorities being questioned, while people also doubted their capabilities, which made her work even harder to become more prepared for a specialist career.
There have been many challenges which made her take tough decisions while prioritising family and career.
She said that being truly a mother and a girl, she handled her womanhood by working significantly harder and being prepared each day.
"I would will have to show self-confidence and assertiveness when I spoke."
Recalling the occasions when she became taking care of director and CEO of Eskayef Pharmaceuticals, which this lady termed as among her most "significant career achievements", she explained it was a crucial decision that her father experienced to make.
"He made a decision to give myself the reigns of Eskayef," Simeen explained, adding that the positioning was vacated as the company's afterward managing director left out of the blue.
Before appointing her, her father spoke to numerous of his peers available community and was told never to appoint Simeen since she did not have a pharmaceutical background and that it's a specialised industry.
She herself was unsure and was apprehensive about her father's decision. However in reply, Latifur Rahman easily informed her: "I believe you can do it".
"I still hear his voice saying this if you ask me each and every time I am in doubt," Simeen said.
In the 1st year of her taking charge of Eskayef, the business broke all its past records, including sales.
At present, female professionals occupy about 25 per cent to 50 per cent of the positions offered by Eskayef. They all result from diverse academic backgrounds.
To Simeen, a true leader is anyone who has to carry his or her staff and bring everyone up to speed.
While the country has been led by a female, a generation of girls also took charge of a number of the largest businesses in the united states.
She needed equal rights for woman professionals with regards to pay, tasks and opportunities.
"If everyone works together, then you'll be able to have more ladies in the workforce."
As the group CEO of Transcom, Simeen has two priorities -- talent and technology.
"Without world-class talent, a good company is little or nothing," she said, even while stressing on the necessity to embrace contemporary technology to handle the fourth professional revolution.
Empowering a female in her career allows her to end up being independent, both financially and intellectually.
The biggest source of inspiration for Simeen is her father's illustrious legacy and knowing that her purpose is to take that legacy to greater heights.
"His legacy not merely includes building Transcom in to the enterprise it really is today, but can be a good example of a career and lifestyle lived with the values of ethics, integrity and honesty," she added.
