2018 WEF (Women Economic Forum) The Hague

On 8-9 March 2018, the WEF (Women Economic Forum) was held in The Hague, the Netherlands.  Around 250 participants from 50 countries delivered and attended 70 sessions with a theme of “Women Empowering Agriculture, Circular Economy, Sustainability and Cyber Security“.

Due to work commitments on the morning of the 8th and then unfortunately being sick on the 9th, I only attended for the afternoon of the 8th. However these few hours at the Kloosterkerk were packed with plenty of inspiration.

Before I arrived, Dr Harbeen Arora, Global Chairperson at ALL Ladies League (ALL) & Women Economic Forum (WEF) opened the event along with a number of speakers including deputy mayor of The Hague, Karsten Klein.  To read more about Dr Arora and the India-based but internationally focussed organisation behind this event, visit: http://www.aall.in/about-us

I arrived late (around 2.30pm) as I was teaching that morning and attending the International Womens Day event at The Hague University of Applied Sciences.  The day 1 programme was full though with interesting sessions on the programme such as:

• The mechanics of creativity and innovation
• Empowering workplace well being and workplace design
• Political participation of women
• Women leadership in a multicultural society
• Can we learn innovation
• Digital transformation & cyber security – experience sharing by digital champions
• Innovation in travel, tourism & hospitality & responsible consumerism
• Purpose, potential & passion: role of corporate sector, CSR, the consumer & personal leadership
• Ecological entrepreneurship
• Implementing the organic agri revolution for sustainable development: how we all can grow our own food
• Harnessing social media for community action
• Women – building endurance and skills for facing challenges
• Be good, look good: branding your business
• Learning from the world’s leading women
• Towards creating a more sustainable, tolerant & integrated world

In the 3pm-4pm plenary, I listened to “The magic of wonders – innovation, entrepreneurship & startups” where a panel from around the world shared interesting stories.  To name just a few:

• Dr Letitia Wright (pictured below) from the USA, talking about crowdfunding and podcasting
• Stacey Canfield is a photographer from San Diego, USA
• Marina Tognetti is the founder of MYngle, language training online
• Marie-Anne Delahaut is from Belgium and created mad-skills.eu, a sharing skills database
• Rachel Smets is based here in NL, she speaks 6 languages and has lived in 7 countries

It is always great to catch up with two of my favourite entrepreneurs in NL, Lana & Eleonora of Co.LAB Community

I enjoyed chatting to Dr Letitia Wright about crowdfunding and podcasting, she told me about the Anchor app which I need to take a look at, as well as her own website about crowdfunding.

A local businesswoman I admire, Leontine Smith of Smith Communicatie spoke about sharing your story with the media.

Another inspiring NL based businesswoman Blanca Vergara was also part of the panel.

I just found that there is an 2018 WEF The Hague official album of photos here and discovered that there were even a few of me when I asked a question to the panel.  This was the 5pm-6pm plenary “Being open while addressing privacy and security concerns: the importance of continuing communication & dialogue”.  I asked journalist Sarah Jones about cyber security for children.

There is also a group photo at the end of day 1 that I was part of:

Unfortunately I couldn’t make day 2 of the conference as I was not well, but the programme looked very interesting with sessions such as:

• Training future leaders on sustainable development
• Turning your ideas into income
• Inspire, influence and impact: leadership innate in ALL
• Values and influential factors that determine success of female leaders
• Women in entrepreneurship: take control of your finances
• Promoting women’s leadership in all aspects of society and business
• Why face-to-face communication matters
• The power of education to make a positive change to our world
• Changing mindsets: beauty, gender, media
• Creative communication as a powerful shaper of change
• Reinventing skills: how to keep up with lifelong learning

There is another WEF (Women Economic Forum) already tentatively planned for March 2019 in The Hague, as well as other confirmed and tentative events in other locations including Australia, UK, India, South Africa, Bulgaria and more.  For full details and registration, visit:

http://www.wef.org.in/

For more photos I took on the day, visit my 2018 WEF album here.

I hope to attend and perhaps speak at the 2019 event in The Hague.

Renee