Roseann Kelly, owner of an established marketing consultancy, was one of the founding members of Women in Business NI [Northern Ireland] in 2002. Over the next six years she worked as a voluntary committee member and director, holding the roles of vice chair, treasurer, coordinator and company secretary. Roseann became Women in Business chief executive in 2008 and she is a director on the board of Women TEC, an ex-committee member of the Community Women’s Fund NI, a member of the Ministerial expert panel for the Review of Apprenticeships and also sits on the panel for the Review of Youth Training.
“…The business case has been made for diversity – fact. We need women’s voices to be heard in all areas…”
Becoming chief executive of Women in Business NI
My first job after graduating with a degree in history, was as a marketing assistant with a double-glazing window company – it was actually a customer complaints job! As with everything, even complaints, you always learn. I moved along in my marketing career and after a number of years I was part of the senior management team and marketing manager with a large FMCG [fast moving consumer goods] company on Northern Ireland.
From there I progressed to my own marketing business, and as a self-employed business women I became very interested in what support or networks were available, so when Women in Business NI (WIB) was launched I signed up! It was through my involvement with WIB that I better understood that business women lacked and needed networks and support in order to develop and grow.
As chief executive of WIB, no day is the same but the majority of my time is taken up with stakeholder, partner and sponsor engagement. This requires a lot of meetings and networking. I spend time exploring new revenue streams for WIB and a key priority is lobbying for Government support for female enterprise.
Support for women in business in Northern Ireland
Women in Business provides more than 70 events per year, including masterclasses in social media, marketing and finance etc. to a 2500 membership. We also host an annual conference, an annual awards and a chairs’ lunch. We deliver a wide variety of support to our members. Our programmes include mentoring, communications, leadership, women returners, and even a choir! Outside of WIB in NI there is very little female specific support.
Gender balance in politics
Gender balance in politics in Northern Ireland sits at around 20%-25%, so not good at all, however at the senior level three of the five main political parties are currently lead by women which is great.
The business case has been made for diversity – fact. We need women’s voices to be heard in all areas. Finding and listening to solutions that come from a diverse perspective will without doubt lead to a better society. Businesses need to understand that diversity, even gender diversity, is not just a women’s issue. It is a business issue and only the most progressive companies who have stopped doing tick box exercises will benefit and grow.
Coming up next
Women in Business is working with our Male Gender Diversity Champions from all sectors will launch a NI Gender Diversity Charter Mark in 2017. This is a huge initiative and it’s new to NI. We will continue to keep women’s equality on the agenda.
http://www.womeninbusinessni.com/
https://www.facebook.com/WomeninBusinessNI
Belfast City Hall image credit: User:Thardas [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
