On 23 October in Belgrade, the launch of the regional initiative Women on Boards Adria (WOBA) was officially marked, as part of the conference “Successful women for a successful region“, organised by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Sustineri Partners. The conference brought together over 100 representatives of governments, companies, and international organisations and institutions, companies, and leaders of business communities in the region and Europe, with the aim of further encouraging gender equality and greater representation of women in management boards and in executive positions in companies in the Adria region.

The most productive spirit of creation and work is when women and men work together and when there is no difference between us. Our differences are in nothing else but in a natural biology of how to maintain humanity, said today Marko Čadež, president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and member of the Advisory Board of the WOBA Association, at the opening of the conference “Women on Boards Adria – Successful women for a successful region” organised by the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, on the initiative and in cooperation with the consulting company Sustineri Partners.

As part of the “Successful Women for a Successful Region” conference, a panel discussion was held on how women on boards of directors can be the key to the business success of those leaders in challenging times, at which Nicolas Marquier, regional manager for the Western Balkans of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) spoke, together with Zeynep Yalim Uzun, member of the executive board of European Women on Boards, Maja Grubor, member of the executive board of AIK Bank, while the moderator of the panel was Vesna Bengin, co-founder of the BioSense Institute.