WESTPAC Bank has accredited six Papua New Guinean women for their exceptional achievement in a number of areas of industry at the 2012 Westpac Women in Business Awards.
The awards were held at Port Moresby’s Gateway Hotel on Wednesday night.
According to Ashleigh Matheson, Managing Director of Westpac PNG, the awards play an important role in helping improve gender equality in PNG by recognising high-achieving women.
“In our country, women, girls and their families face numerous challenges in their pursuit of equal opportunities in education and employment,” he said.
“We know that when women are engaged in the economy, the economy grows, so these exceptional women aren’t just achieving in their own right; they’re helping create a brighter future for our country.”
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| Ms Susil Nelson, Westpac Business Woman Award winner for 2012 |
As with the previous years’ awards, individual category winners automatically qualify as nominees for the overall Westpac Business Woman of the Year award.
However, for the first time, Westpac has also opened the overall winner prize for contest by women who were not selected to win an individual category.
The evening’s biggest accolade went to Susil Nelson, named as Westpac Business Woman of the Year for 2012. Susil was recognised for her contribution to local business through her work with the PNG Sustainable Development Program and as an active member of the Business and Professional Women’s Club, focusing on building a strong network for women and supporting educational opportunities for women and girls in PNG.
While accepting her award, Ms Nelson said she believed that anyone with the benefit of an education had a duty of care to educate and inspire others to achieve all they want out of life.
“I also believe we all can be the best at what we are doing,” she said. According to the judging panel, Susil stood out as the overall winner because her qualities touched on a number of categories. Not only has she enjoyed a successful corporate career, but she is also heavily involved in community work; advocating for human rights and coaching and mentoring women.
Five individual sponsored categories were awarded:
The PricewaterhouseCoopers Private & Corporate Sector Award for outstanding achievements by a female manager in the private and corporate sector went to Florence Willie.
As Executive Director of the Employers’ Federation of Papua New Guinea, Florence works tirelessly to ensure a safe and fair working environment for all Papua New Guineans.
The Steamships Public Sector Award for outstanding achievement by a female manager in the public sector who has contributed significantly to the performance of any government service went to Eleina Butuna.
Eleina is a lecturer at the University of Papua New Guinea and successfully coordinated funding that led to the development of a state-of-the-art demography lab for the university. Ms Butuna thanked God for the reward saying it was made possible through God.
The SP Brewery Entrepreneur Award for outstanding achievement by a woman with more than 50 percent shareholding in an organisation for innovation in new products and services went to Helam Koaik.
As a secondary school teacher, Helam saw the need to cater to students who did not have access to the formal education system.
This led her to create the Nojanah Integrated School. To date, 80 students from her school have been invited to attend schools to complete grade 11. The Trukai Community Responsibility Award for outstanding achievement by a female manager working in the not-for-profit or non-government organisation sector went to Mary Pohei.
Mary founded Pedih Wane Titpuke H&S Project in 2004 to encourage women to achieve their potential in life and ran literacy and life skills training for women in a number of settlements. She also started the Yumi Lukautim Mosbi Project in 2007, aimed at reducing crime in Port Moresby.
The IBBM Young Achiever’s Award for outstanding achievements by a young woman under 30 in any category went to Naime Tom.
Naime is employed at Kiunga Stevedoring Limited (Steamships Ltd) and was one of the company’s first female forklift operators.
She has been successful in a predominantly male business and aspires to manage one of the Steamships ports and stevedoring operations within the country. When receiving the award she encouraged more young women to take up opportunities in stevedoring.
Karni Liddell, guest speaker at the awards night, is one of Australia’s most successful and well-respected Paralympic swimmers.
Liddell addressed the 300 attendees with an inspiring speech based on her own experience overcoming obstacles to achieve her goals.
Emphasising the importance of self-belief, Ms. Liddell said: “Whilst you have no control over the circumstances in your life, you do have a choice in how you handle the obstacles you face in life.”
Westpac thanked, sponsors PricewaterhouseCoopers, Steamships Trading Company, SP Brewery, Trukai Industries and the Institute of Business & Banking Management for commitment to recognise the achievements of PNG women.
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