The Levant Family Business Podcast – The Evolution Of Women In Family Business: A Conversation With Caroline Fattal.

Episode 10 – The Evolution of Women in Family Business.


For a long time, family businesses around the world have overlooked the professional capabilities and competencies of women – yet women have played key roles in firms, albeit away from the public eye and widely unrecognised. In regional family businesses, statistics show that women are still underrepresented, and grappling with ways to define the roles they can, should and wish to play in the family firm.

In this episode we are joined by Caroline Fattal, Board Member of the Fattal Group and Founder of Stand For Women, a social enterprise which aims to accelerate progress for women in the workforce across the Middle East. Caroline shares her personal experience as a professional woman, working in the family business, as well as her knowledge and insights as a supporter of more diversity in leadership.


What are the most common challenges for women in family business?

“The challenges for women are to firstly remain in the business as shareholders, and then consequently to exist in the business as managers or as board members. It is extremely difficult for women to make their way, statistically family businesses account for 80% of business in the region, and still there are few women who are in management positions.”

Caroline Fattal


KEY QUESTIONS DISCUSSED IN THE PODCAST

  • What was the role of women in family enterprises in the past and how has that role evolved?
  • What are the economic advantages of including women in the family business?
  • What can be done to develop female talent in the family business?

Episode 10 features expert insights from guest speaker Caroline Fattal, Caroline combines 25 years of corporate business experience with the skills of a professional business coach. Caroline is also a shareholder, a board member and a senior executive at Fattal Group, a multidisciplinary distribution company operating in the MENA. Caroline completed accreditations with both the Mudara/Institute of Directors & the Institut Francais des Administrateurs to become among the first female certified board directors in the region. The episode is hosted by Farida El Agamy, General Manager of Tharawat Family Business Forum and Cherine Debbas, Co-Founder of AGW Family Business Advisory. 

You can listen to the full series of The Levant Family Business Podcast on www.soundcloud.com/tharawat


This podcast series is designed by The Tharawat Family Business Forum and produced in collaboration with AGW Family Business Advisory. More information on www.tharawat.org and www.agw-advisory.com. More information on Stand For Women can be found here: https://www.standforwomen.org/sfw/