On International Women’s Day 2022, UN Women and HeForShe today announced DP World Group Chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, as the latest HeForShe Alliance Member. The announcement took place during a high-profile event at the DP World Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.

With this announcement, Mr. Bin Sulayem joins a group of ambitious leaders from across government, the corporate world and third sector to transform patriarchal masculinities and develop the largest set of scalable solutions for gender equality’s most pressing issues. As the leading provider of smart logistics solutions, DP World is uniquely set up to advance the ambitious goal of gender representation and equality in the global supply chain.

Mr. Bin Sulayem is the first leader from the Middle East region to join this prestigious group.

Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO, DP World, said, “Becoming a UN Women HeForShe Champion is a great honour, and I feel very humbled to be working alongside such esteemed leaders to accelerate progress toward gender equality. I believe in not just attracting, developing and retaining female talent in the trade and logistics industry, but truly focusing on efforts to build a global ecosystem that is equitable and fair for all.

“Through DP World’s sustainability strategy, ‘Our World, Our Future’, we apply a gender lens in everything we do to ensure gender equality is integrated into all our processes, regions and across departments. I am personally committed to making a positive impact that increases female representation, eliminates skills shortages and advocates for the diversity agenda.”

Anita Bhatia, UN Women Deputy Executive Director for UN Coordination, Partnerships, Resources and Sustainability, and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, said, “We are honoured to welcome His Excellency Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World to the HeForShe Alliance. The commitment to improve representation of women in this sector will go a long way in reshaping corporate and social norms in a region that holds great opportunity for progress on gender equality. DP World’s commitment paired with their global reach will spearhead transformative change and allyship to achieve a gender equal world.”

In today’s world where we see more than 90% of Fortune 500 CEOs are male, there are obvious gains to be made involving more women in leadership positions. Women’s economic empowerment is proven to boost productivity, increase economic diversification and income equality, in addition to other positive development outcomes. Likewise increasing women’s and girls’ educational attainment contributes to more inclusive economic growth, especially to keep pace with rapid technological and digital transformation. Empowering women in the economy and closing gender gaps in the world of work is key to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

DP World has long been dedicated to making a positive impact for women and girls, both within the trade industry and wider society. In 2015, DP World signed the UN Women Empowerment Principles, and in 2018 it launched ‘MentorHer’, a global programme for the career development of female employees. The business also hosts regular WomenLead@DPWorld training programmes, aiming to support female managers to increase their impact and contribution towards their current roles and future career aspirations.

In 2021 alone, DP World invested over $1.9 million in gender equality projects, reaching more than 160,000 women in local communities. The same year, female employee representation across the DP World Group rose from 8.9% in June 2020 to 14.4% in December 2021. In 2022, the business intends to continue this investment by addressing the digital gender divide in education.