Nairobi Securities Exchange joins 43 other Stock Exchanges globally to ‘Ring the Bell for Gender Equality’ commemorating the International Women’s Day (March 8) to raise awareness on the importance of Gender Equality in the Capital Markets.

The event is supported by a global partnership between the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, UN Global Compact, IFC, UN Women, Women in ETFs and the World Federation of Stock Exchanges. NSE, as a partner to the SSE initiative, joins this global collaboration for a second time, to highlight the business case for women’s economic empowerment, as well as opportunities for the private sector to advance gender equality and sustainable development.

This year in Kenya, the celebrations to mark the International Women’s Day were preceded by a one day training for senior female executives of listed companies. The training targeted senior executives who have the skill, competence and professional experience to join a corporate board. The training was organized by NSE, International Finance Corporation (IFC), UN Women and the Global Compact Network Kenya.

Speaking during the event, NSE Vice Chairman Mr. Bob Karina noted,” The Exchange is committed to improving the number of women represented on the boards of listed companies and we are hopeful that the numbers will increase to at least a third female board representation in all listed companies by 2020. Listed companies must adhere to better corporate governance practices for the benefit of the investors, organizations and the economy at large.”

Judy Njino, the Country Coordinator of Global Compact Kenya stated, “Gender equality is essential for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, and the private sector must play its role by providing equal opportunities for women throughout their operations and value chains. Stock exchanges can have an enormous impact by encouraging gender diversity within listed companies and ensuring accessibility of capital market services to women-owned businesses and female entrepreneurs.”

This year the event brought together the regulators, listed companies, member firms, civil society and investors. These events are in line with the SSE’s larger effort to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In September 2015, the SSE published an SDG briefing document in advance of its SDG Leaders’ Luncheon at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) which identified Goal 5, Gender Equality, as one of four goals stock exchanges are best positioned to support.

For More information contact:

Ms. Waithera Mwai

Head of Brand & Corporate Affairs

Nairobi Securities Exchange

wmwai@nse.co.ke

About the Partner Organizations

Nairobi Securities Exchange

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) is the principal securities exchange of Kenya. Besides equity securities, the NSE offers a platform for the issuance and trading of debt securities. The NSE is a member of the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) and the East African Securities Exchanges Association (EASEA). It is an affiliate member of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE),an associate member of the Association of Futures Markets (AFM) and a partner Exchange in the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (SSE).

IFC 

As a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working with 2,000 businesses worldwide, we use our six decades of experience to create opportunity where it’s needed most. In FY16, our long-term investments in developing countries rose to nearly $19 billion, leveraging our capital, expertise and influence to help the private sector end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative

The SSE is a peer-to-peer learning platform for exploring how exchanges—in collaboration with investors, regulators, and companies—can encourage sustainable investment and enhance corporate transparency, and ultimately performance, on ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) issues. The SSE is convened by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Global Compact, the UN Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).  For more information, visit www.sseinitiative.org.

Global Compact Network Kenya

The United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and to take action in support of UN goals and issues embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals. The Global Compact Network Kenya is the local focal point working to support companies to integrate the ten principles within business strategy and operations. For more information, visit www.globalcompactkenya.org.

UN Women

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality. For more information, visit www.unwomen.org