One of the foremost obstacles professional women face in their career is clearly illustrating inspiration. Although women are poised to play a pivotal role in taking leadership positions in the fourth industrial revolution, there is a yawning gap in giving women opportunities to rise up to their career; in addition to a dire need for the overall eco-system to be responsive.
One entity that strives to create a difference in Pakistan and across the world is CIRCLE. With a logo that exemplifies a ‘timeless, multicultural and universal image’ cultivating bonds both firm and fluid; CIRCLE aims to build, support and develop the entrepreneurship and leadership capacity of women and youth in Pakistan and regionally. It develops the capabilities of professional women and entrepreneurs through proven methodologies: Adaptive Leadership developed at Harvard University and the psychodynamic-systemic approach to coaching out of INSEAD’s Global Leadership Centre.
Former COO and CEO of Kashf Foundation – one of Forbes’ Top 50 microfinance institutions, Sadaffe Abid – founder of CIRCLE chats exclusively with Ananke’s Sabin Muzaffar about her groundbreaking initiative empowering especially women and the youth of Pakistan.
Tell us about yourself and the journey that led to CIRCLE.
I was the founding team member of Kashf Foundation, a pioneer in bringing microfinance for women in Pakistan, inspired by Professor Yunus. We started from two small rooms with less than 100 clients, it was about incubation and learning from the ground level, assessing the financial needs of women and building trust and systems that are inclusive.
It was an exciting journey with many insights on how to scale an idea, build a financially sustainable enterprise with a double bottom line and also create a platform that provides transformational change for women. In twelve years, we grew to serve 300,000 women clients, disbursed over $ 200 million in micro loans and employed 2000 plus staff members. I was the Chief Operating Office and later became the CEO of Kashf Foundation.
I then helped set up another enterprise, Buksh Foundation with the goal of providing energy financing to women amongst other services. I got a scholarship from Harvard Kennedy School for my Masters and was thrilled to have the opportunity to meet some outstanding colleagues working in challenging environments and take some thought provoking courses around leadership. I met my husband at HKS and we moved to Dubai. It was here in Dubai that I began to think about how I could leverage my experiences to make a difference in the region and create value. Then at a conference I met two other dynamic women and we started sharing our own journey, inspiration and challenges, that’s how CIRCLE as a network emerged.
So what happened next?
Being in Dubai known for its tallest towers and biggest malls etc., I had to reinvent myself. It was a challenging time period for me as I crafted a new identity. It was confusing, messy and frankly I did not know where to begin. Then I decided to experiment. I had taken this fantastic course at the Kennedy School called Adaptive Leadership which had a powerful impact on me and my class fellows. The course encourages you to experiment, build allies and to learn by doing. I went back to Harvard and worked with my Professor, Ron Heifetz during the winter. I returned to start running leadership programs with women working for entities such as PWC, Dell, Sharjah Business Women Council, DP World and others. It was very interesting to see so much diversity in the same room, discussing barriers and challenges to women’s empowerment and advancement; especially cross-cultural challenges. My colleagues joined in designing and running these programs.
We cannot ignore women’s perspectives. CIRCLE believes that “investing in and advancing women is the smartest economic venture of today”. An effective way to promote women’s economic empowerment is to recognize their talents and potential by inviting them to high-impact panels. This creates a visible cohort of role models for other women to follow and brings a wide range of perspectives to the table, which benefits the economy and the society.
Tell us about CIRCLE’s launch in Pakistan.
Last year, I brought this platform to (the Southern, port city of) Karachi, Pakistan. Our partners like Standard Chartered, Engro Corp sent high potential as well as emerging women leaders to our leadership programs and conversations around women and leadership.
We brought diverse stakeholders together to discuss and come up with solutions on the challenge of growing women leaders highlighting the role of CEO to be instrumental as a champion. To date, over 350 women and male leaders from UAE and Pakistan have participated in these seminars and workshops.
Pakistan as a country faces complex challenges but there is also a great opportunity to make a difference. CIRCLE has also grown and now we are working with both women and youth on advocacy, leadership development and social innovation. McKinsey estimates that full gender parity would add $ 28 trillion to global GDP in 2025. There are huge gains for a country like Pakistan, which has low levels of female labor force participation. Our aim is to engage with policy makers, corporate leaders, civil society activists and youth to create momentum towards this.
You have another initiative – Elevate?
This year, I launched our flagship, Elevate Campaign on International Women’s Day. The platform aims to involve both men and women to actively collaborate for progress. The #ElevatePak campaign aims to facilitate the inclusion of women on high-impact panels, key discussion forums and committees. #Elevate encourages leaders from corporate, government and social sectors to join a growing movement by pledging that panels of three or more must include at least one woman panelist resulting in a more inclusive, diverse and enriching engagement.
#Elevate is a home grown movement inspired by the UN Sustainable Development Goal Five on Gender Parity and the UN Women’s Planet 50-50 Step it Up. Seven leading CEOs have joined as Founding Members including Telenor, Mitsubishi, Coca Cola, Bayer, Aman Foundation, Gul Ahmed Ideas and AbacusConsulting. CEOs of Unilever, English Biscuit are supporting the campaign as well as thought leadership forums such as Nutshell.
Why is Elevate important for the cause of women?
The vision is simple, we want to bring in woman’s perspective into high impact panels and forums because we believe women are change-makers who can bring in a different perspective leading to new conversations, and new solutions. Our ultimate aim is to increase women’s employment and advance women in leadership and on boards.
The idea started when I realized that in Pakistan public speaking forums and conferences are disproportionately dominated by men. According to CIRCLE’s internal research, during the major conferences held this year, only 15% of the speakers comprised of women.
We cannot ignore women’s perspectives. CIRCLE believes that “investing in and advancing women is the smartest economic venture of today”. An effective way to promote women’s economic empowerment is to recognize their talents and potential by inviting them to high-impact panels. This creates a visible cohort of role models for other women to follow and brings a wide range of perspectives to the table, which benefits the economy and the society.
CIRCLE has been running social media campaigns on this issue on Facebook and Twitter to raise awareness.
The idea started when I realized that in Pakistan public speaking forums and conferences are disproportionately dominated by men. According to CIRCLE’s internal research, during the major conferences held this year, only 15% of the speakers comprised of women.
What are your plans for Elevate?
The exciting thing about Elevate is that it is an ongoing campaign and not a one-off initiative. We map conferences that are happening in Pakistan and reach out to organizers to increase women’s participation. We have built a database of experts and women speakers from different fields and are initiating public speaking workshops for women to build a strong pipeline. We are now working on expanding Elevate to the region.
What would be your advice to aspiring women – both young and old?
Women need to believe in themselves. It is fundamental to believe in yourself. I think one goes through periods of self-doubt where you question yourself and your capabilities. It is important to have anchors in life that ground you. Identify what excites you and more importantly have a sense of purpose, a goal bigger than yourself.
As Women we need to build a network but don’t wait for it to come to you. There are so many digital platforms and social media can be harnessed for empowerment, so reach out. Make time to go to different forums and networking events. Get out of your comfort zone to speak to new people. Women have a lot of responsibilities so they tend to de-prioritize creating a strong professional network.
The other important piece is to mentor young women. They have immense talent and ideas. Women in positions of influence can visibly demonstrate support for other women and create circles of trust.
You can learn more about CIRCLE by visiting the website http://circlewomen.org or follow them on Twitter: @circle2020
