14 Mar 2023
The Institute of Director’s Women’s Leadership Conference took place on Friday 10 March in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Belfast and NIE Networks was proud to be an associate sponsor.
The event united a community of inspiring and innovative leaders with approximately 500 attendees under the theme "You can't be what you can see".
During her opening remarks, National Director, IoD NI, Kirsty McManus told the conference it was an honour to be celebrating International Women’s Day with so many accomplished women.
“After a challenging time for many in our local economy, being able to come together and celebrate the successes of our speakers, sponsors, and delegates is a timely reminder of the importance of making time to reflect on our own achievements and leadership ambitions.
“The calibre of our speakers was truly exceptional and I am sure their words will resonate with our audience long after the conference has come to a close and help them introduce new ideas and opportunities within their own organisations.”
Keynote speakers included former children’s TV presenter and social activist, Baroness Floella Benjamin, DBE and Sarah Brown, former President and now Chair of Theirworld and Executive Chair of the Global Business Coalition for Education.
Throughout her address, Sarah Brown spoke about childcare, the need to invest in youth skills, and how education could be used to tackle many global problems including child and forced marriage and the climate crisis. She told the Belfast audience at the Crowne Plaza Hotel that throughout all of the global and grassroots campaigns her team had been involved with the three key ingredients needed to bring about effective and meaningful change were patience, organisation and teamwork.
The final keynote speech came from Dame Kelly Holmes, Olympic, Commonwealth & European champion who spoke about being authentically you and the need to push yourself out of your comfort zone to reach your full potential.
The event also included a 'Pitch Perfect' competition where a number of female entrepreneurs competed for a chance to win a £4,000 bursary for their start up business. After a live audience vote, this was won by Catrin Kincaid, founder of Cubefun, an educational game for children, who intends to use the prize fund to develop an updated version of her product specifically for use in healthcare settings.
Paula Leathem, Head of HR with NIE Networks said: “We’re passionate about empowering females across our business to realise their potential and to step into any area that interests them so we were delighted to sponsor the IoD Women’s Leadership Conference.
We are on a journey towards a fully diverse and inclusive society so it’s really important to take time out to empower female colleagues to learn from and encourage each other and to inspire them to reach new heights. Today has been a very positive and uplifting event and we know that attendees will leave with increased confidence in what they’re doing and in what they can achieve.”