The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) said it has signed a MoU with Aurora50, a social enterprise focusing on achieving gender-balanced boardrooms in the UAE. 

 

The partnership will advance female representation on public and private sector boards consistent with international best practice through knowledge exchange and building a strong pipeline of female talent.

 

The deal was signed by Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, co-founder of Aurora50 and Abdulhamid M. Saeed Alahmadi, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE, at a virtual ceremony held recently in the presence of Dr Sabri Hamed Al Azazi, Chief Operating Officer of the CBUAE and Diana Wilde, co-founder of Aurora50.

 

On the partnership, Alahmadi, said: "The UAE has made remarkable progress in the past decade to increase the participation of women in the public and private sectors, and advancing gender equality is part of the UAE's 2021 National Agenda."

 

"As a regulatory authority for licensed financial institutions in the UAE, we are committed to supporting the national agenda through engaging with the nomination committees of the Boards of financial institutions to ensure a fair representation of women on their Boards, as required by the CBUAE Corporate Governance regulation," he stated.

 

According to him, the partnership with Aurora50 is aimed at enhancing and accelerating gender diversity in boardrooms and increase female representation. It provides a platform for knowledge sharing through conferences, meetings, seminars and workshops, and supports development of skills.

 

"The work that we do at Aurora50 and our Pathway20 initiative aims to develop resilient and high-performing boards based on the foundations of competence, diversity and inclusion," stated Alahmadi. 

 

Aurora50 has created an ecosystem of alliances and partnerships which include Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (Esca), Adnoc, Mubadala Investment Company, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Abu Dhabi Ports, Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA), Sandooq Al Watan, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), Dubai Financial Market (DFM), Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Dubai Future Foundation, Egon Zehnder, Fidelio, Hawkamah, Insead, Nasdaq Dubai and LinkedIn.

 

On the partnership with the CBUAE, Al Nahyan said it reinforces the link between the representation of women on boards and national economic development.