NEWS DIGEST
SCHOOL Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIM Indore), India CONVENTION FOCUSES ON SOCIAL IMPACT OF HIGHER EDUCATION W ith a focus on business education as a force for good, IIM Indore hosted the latest Eduniversal World Convention last month. Addressing an audience of more than 150 deans and directors, IIM Indore director Himanshu Rai spoke of the importance of encompassing ethics in leadership development during the opening keynote: “Education must go beyond success. Our mission is to shape leaders who act with courage, compassion and clarity of purpose.” Leaders at two dual AMBA & BGA accredited institutions – SGH Warsaw School of Economics’ Mariusz Próchniak and Goa Institute of Management’s Ajit Parulekar – then participated in a panel discussion on embedding social impact into a school’s DNA, through curriculum design, research priorities, partnerships and community engagement. On the second day, Sherif Kamel, dean at the American University in Cairo (AUC)’s Onsi Sawiris School of Business, chaired a discussion on responding to geopolitical uncertainty. Later, Assylbek Kozhakhmetov, the founder and president of Almaty Management University and Corvinus University of Budapest rector Bruno van Pottelsberghe featured in a panel on internationalisation strategies. Pushyamitra Bhargav, the mayor of Indore, praised IIM Indore for enhancing the city’s intellectual stature. “Indore has emerged as a vibrant centre of innovation, culture and economic growth,” he enthused. TBD
“GLACIAL” PROGRESS TOWARDS GENDER PARITY ANALYSED IN REPORT
men attain a tertiary qualification in South Africa and that they represent 46 per cent of its economically active population. “Creating a world where women on boards are valued with the same enthusiasm and opportunity as their male counterparts is not only the right thing to do ethically but also makes solid business sense in terms of performance and gaining competitive advantage – yet business is not listening to sense in this regard,” Bosch advised. The latest Women’s Report is the 15th instalment of the business school’s annual publication providing evidence-based insights about women at work. With its focus on board representation, the report delves into the reasons for South Africa’s lack of progress and consider the merits of quota systems. “While quotas and targets are seemingly bearing some fruit in diversifying boards, it is unclear whether there is a recipe or process to follow,” Bosch noted, adding that fixed quotas can be polarising and run the risk of leading to unintentionally negative consequences for women. EB
SCHOOL Stellenbosch Business School Stellenbosch University South Africa
outh Africa’s comparative lack of progress towards gender parity on company
S
boards has been highlighted in conjunction with the release of Stellenbosch Business School’s 2025 Women’s Report . Around 19 per cent of directors of companies listed on South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange are women, a figure said to have remained fairly static over the past five years and one that is some way short of the global average of 23 per cent. Anita Bosch, research chair in women at work at Stellenbosch Business School and editor of the report, described the country’s progress as “glacial”. Bosch, who is also a professor of leadership and organisational behaviour at the school, recommends a 30 per cent target for women on boards, pointing out that more women than
SHARE YOUR NEWS AND RESEARCH UPDATES by emailing Business Impact editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul at t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
9
Business Impact • ISSUE 6 • 2025
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online