Women’s Development Forum launch

Monday 10 November 2014

This first Women’s Development Forum Jersey event will take place at The Royal Yacht, St Helier on Tuesday 11 November from 12 pm to 2 pm and is open to members and non-members.

The Women’s Development Forum (WDF) is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting women, enabling them to maximise their career potential through collaboration, networking and development initiatives, and has been successfully running in Guernsey since 2009.

EY restructuring partner Samantha Keen, who is guest speaker at the event, will speak on the value of investing in diversity and inclusion in the workplace. She will be joined by Wendy Martin, EY Channel Islands tax executive director who will be leading an interactive question and answer discussion.

“At EY we recognise how essential having a diverse and inclusive workforce is for streamlining performance. In an era of globalization, diversity alone is not enough; inclusiveness is vital to unlocking and capturing a diverse workforce’s full potential,” said Mrs Martin. “As founding sponsor we are pleased to support WDF’s growth in the Channel Islands. It is encouraging to see so many businesswomen have signed up to get involved in this first Jersey meeting.”

Michelle Johansen, founder of WDF in the Channel Islands, will host the meeting which is particularly designed for new and prospective members. She will be explaining the organisation’s values and mission, how it supports its members and leading a discussion to ascertain from attendees what they believe are the unique challenges facing women in Jersey.

Mrs Johansen said: “The level of interest we have received from local women has been remarkable. We have reached capacity and now have a waiting list in place.
“As the first WDF Jersey event, this will be a great opportunity to listen to the local needs of women so that we can ensure we tailor future meetings accordingly.”

WDF Jersey will be running a series of events throughout the year designed to appeal to working women in order to help build strong network connections in an easy, friendly community of like-minded people. The events will involve guest speakers, panel discussions and less formal table conversations with each meeting tackling subjects pertinent to women in the work place and their career development.

Future WDF Jersey meetings are likely to cover a wide range of topics such as empowering the next generation; health and wellbeing in the workplace; flexible working; diversity and inclusion; money and relationships; and tomorrow’s workplace.