International Women’s Day is commemorated on 8th March every year as a general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women for their economic, political and social achievements. The day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities. In order to observe the occasion, Bangladesh Brand Forum has been working relentlessly since 2014.
This year Women In Leadership (WIL), along with its implementation partner Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF), organized Inspiring Women Award 2017, Powered by ACI PURE Spices to mark the International Women’s Day 2017 at hotel Le Méridien Dhaka. The award aimed at recognizing the inspiring women in different sectors who have contributed to the organization as well as to the society. The gala ceremony was the second part of the daylong initiatives taken by WIL, following the Le Méridien Dhaka Women Leadership Summit 2017, Powered by IPDC Finance Ltd.
UNVEILING THE CURTAIN
Mithila Farzana was the master of ceremony for the award ceremony. As the Master of the Ceremony, she introduced Inspiring Women Award with some statistical information on women all over the world. She also added how women were empowering other women and how they were taking lead in diverse work place.
SPONSORS AND PARTNERS
The award ceremony was Powered by ACI PURE Spices, and Supported by RFL Plastics Limited and The Daily Star as In Association With, Advance Development Technologies Ltd. as Lifestyle Partner, Le Méridien Dhaka as Hospitality Partner, The Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) & Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Dhaka (MCCI) as Partner, Colours FM & Marketing Society of Bangladesh (MSB) as Strategic Partner, GTV as TV Partner, Masthead PR as PR Partner and WebAble Digital as Social Media Partner.
WELCOME SPEECH
Mr. Syed Alamgir, Managing Director, ACI Salt Ltd. & Executive Director, ACI Ltd, gave the welcome speech and inviting all the guests to the gala. He also emphasized on the contribution of women in workplace and how diversity is the key for Bangladesh to move to a middle income country.
SPECIAL SPEECH
A special speech was given by Ashwani Nayar, General Manager, Le Méridien Dhaka. Mr. Ashwani congratulated the winners in advance and also praised all the nominations for their hard work that their respective organization has already recognized as an inspiring leader. Mr. Ashwani also shared about the involvement of Le Méridien Dhaka in empowering women and expressed his delight to be associated with the award.
WORDS FROM THE WIL PRESIDENT
The opening speech was delivered by Nazia Andaleeb Preema, President of WIL. According to her, women have a natural leadership or mentorship quality along with various extraordinary features. Women have proved that they are not only good in making food or taking care of children, but also excellent in leading the society and promoting better generations. She believes that inspiring women is important to empower them. She also stated that WIL is taking this step forward.
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
In this 3rd edition of the award, the response from the stakeholders were remarkable. The call for nomination of Inspiring Women Award included 12 categories. More than 150 nominations under different professional categories from 58 organizations were received. More than 50 female students were nominated under IPDC Leaders of Tomorrow category from 18 universities by their respective university authority.
JURY RECOGNITION
Three jury panels consisting of total 20 jurors evaluated the nominations based on set criteria of respective categories. Among the winners of the 16 overall categories, eight were chosen by the honorable jury members. Those categories include: Aspiring Woman Leader, RFL Plastics Progressing Woman Leader, Le Méridien Dhaka Inspiring Woman Leader, Le Méridien Dhaka Most Female Friendly Organization, IPDC Leaders of Tomorrow, IPDC Inspiring Female Startup, Colours FM Power Woman of the Year, & ACI PURE Spices Inspiring Woman in Culinary Art. Other winners were selected through different partners and stakeholder of the award. The juror were present during the gala. To honor the contribution of the judges for the cause, MC accounted names in alphabetical order.
THE AWARD CEREMONY
The gala started in a flamboyant manner. The invited guests of the award included winners & their family members, ambassadors of different embassies in Bangladesh, female activists, academicians, politicians, social and media celebrities, high officials from corporate sector, students and others. All were eagerly waiting to know about the winners of this year.
Soon MC invited special guests on stage to announce then winners and handover the award to the deserving female leaders, and organizations. The awards were given as winners and honorable mention. A total of 14 women professionals, 10 student leaders, two organizations and one initiative were awarded. The crown became louder and louder as more awards were revealed.
CULTURAL PERFORMANCE
To jolly up the occasion there was a soothing musical performance and one dance performance. Elita Karim a renowned singer throughout the country made the crowd relaxed and made the event more colorful with her songs.
After her performance came on stage Troupe Bhabna. The dance performance was choreographed and directed by by Samina Husain Prema. Their dance performance had a significant meaning related to women in recent times. It sent an essential message especially to women that they should not hold themselves back even if no one supports them, encourages them, or walks with them throughout their empowerment. If there is no one to answer to their call, women should walk alone and strive for excellence. Obstacles and hindrances will be there in the form of discouraging comments from the society. But women have to overcome all those in order to achieve ultimate success.
CLOSING REMARKS
The MC dropped the curtain of the event by requesting the winners and the guests to pose for a group photo on stage. She sincerely thanked everyone and especially the sponsors and partners because of whom it was possible to hold the grand ceremony. With promises to drive changes towards women leadership in Bangladesh, the celebration ended with scrumptious gala dinner.
