By Laila Mahran -MTax, FHEA, CMBE - Programme Leader, Accounting & Finance at AFG College with the University of Aberdeen
At the beginning of this year, I was thrilled to be taking part as a committee member on a new program launched for the first time in the Middle East by the CFA Society here in Doha. The program titled “Young Women in Investment Program” is being initiated in the third country globally and it has so much potential to grow over the next few years. In line with Qatar’s strategic 2040 plan, this program aims to encourage women to seek a new discipline by gaining practical and theoretical exposure in finance and deciding if it is something that they’d like to pursue as a lifetime career.
Working as a lecturer for the past three years at the AFG College with the University of Aberdeen, I was always mesmerized to meet some amazing female students that had the drive, persistence, and potential to go above and beyond and go something exceptional in their careers. In the earlier cohorts, I’ve noticed that a lot of the female students with talents in calculations and a clear understanding of the accounting & finance modules do not consider such a discipline as a major. When casually chatting with such students to try and understand their rationale, they seem hesitant to major in such areas due to the stereotypes surrounding its poor work/life balance and it being a male dominated profession.
With that being said, I always encourage the female students to go beyond their comfort zone and explore their interests outside what they think is a “suitable” career. Exploring their talents, accompanied with passion and persistence will allow them to utilize their maximum potential and take them to places far beyond what they have planned for themselves.
And while the current ratio for male to females in the finance discipline is 6:1, we are hoping to improve this figure locally and currently searching for ways to expand the initiative across the country. So far, we’ve had eight students take part in the initiative in its first wave and the outcome has been fantastic. They come out of the program with a fresh understanding of what the profession holds along with an opportunity to witness it practically through a matched internship for a period of six months.
I really enjoy helping our female students explore their potential beyond any glass or society ceiling and I know that by just pushing them on the right path, they’ll go above anyone’s expectations!
