IGI teams up with Career Excel to empower female employees

International specialist commercial re/insurer International General Insurance Holdings (IGI) is to support the women in its organisation on International Women’s Day by investing in their personal and professional development.

As part of its ongoing Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) initiative, IGI will offer Career Excel to every woman within its global organisation, which spans five offices. Female employees will be able to access the online program from any location, complete it at their own pace and take away actionable strategies to advance their careers.

Backed by principles of psychology and neuroscience, Career Excel is an 18-week e-learning curriculum that addresses the challenges women face in the workplace and helps develop critical soft skills to overcome them, including self-advocacy, networking, confidence, assertive communication and more. Participants learn through weekly “Insights-to-Action” masterclasses, exercises and group coaching calls to discuss workplace challenges.

Career Excel was designed by Jennifer Willey and Hira Ali, who combined 35 years of business, HR and training experience with academic and proprietary research to build the programme.

“IGI is at the forefront of supporting women to ensure they have the same opportunities as men,” said Aaida Abu-Jaber, head of marketing and PR at IGI and the company’s D&I Champion. “We are an equal opportunity employer with a 50:50 male to female ratio workforce, and we understand that investing in developing young women’s leadership skills will not only change the course of their future, but also that of their communities.

“Diverse and inclusive businesses are more innovative, creative, profitable and fun, but female leaders continue to be under-represented in insurance. At IGI, we like to work with credible and competent entities to tackle the important issue of D&I and combine those efforts with real action. We are delighted to partner with Career Excel to build on our D&I efforts and to help the women at IGI realise their full potential as future leaders.”

Career Excel co-creator and CEO of Advancing Your Potential, Hira Ali, said: “IGI has a longstanding commitment to D&I initiatives. Because we share those values, our partnership to empower the women of IGI is even more rewarding. Jenn and I also have diverse backgrounds - Jenn is an American living in New Jersey and I am a Pakistani residing in London. Our varied professional experiences and cultural influences have shaped Career Excel’s curriculum, making it relevant for women around the world.”