With Bahrain already recognized as a leading regional financial hub, its financial services sector is increasingly acknowledged as being among the frontrunners in promoting career development for women.
In keeping with the upward trend in women entering Bahrain’s workforce, financial services companies boast one of the highest ratios of female to male employment across the business sector, with female employees comprising in excess of 25% of the workforce.
Islamic mortgage provider Sakana Holistic Housing Solutions’ toll of female employees stands at an impressive 46%, much above the industry average. These figures reflect Sakana’s recruitment policy which offers equal opportunities based on merit, regardless of gender.
Mr. R. Lakshmanan, Sakana’s CEO, confirmed:” Women are extremely well qualified to take up professional positions within the financial services sector. In fact, when Sakana began operations in 2006, our female workforce stood at an impressive 30%. But our policy of equal opportunities goes much farther than the recruitment stage as we actively encourage women to aim for senior positions in the company.”
Two of Sakana’s most senior women commented on their professional experience with Sakana.
IT officer, Anuradha Vemuri, said: “Sakana offers me the chance to use and develop my professional skills, and I am really enjoying the challenge of working in an innovative and growing young company. I know there are ample opportunities for me to progress and that is extremely motivating.”
Training is also an integral part of working at Sakana, something that adds value to the end customer experience – all-important in a service industry such as mortgage finance.
Customer services supervisor, Iqbal Al Baraheem, added:” The in-depth training adds a great deal of value by keeping us up to speed on current industry developments. It really adds to team morale, and encourages us to use our initiative and make decisions.”
Promoting equal opportunities is key in ensuring that women can excel in business and develop their talents within their chosen industry.
