With the World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap Report findings telling us that gender parity is over 200 years away – we can’t be complacent. With global activism for women’s equality fuelled by movements like #MeToo, #TimesUp and more – there is a strong global momentum striving for gender equality.
Moneytrans has always been committed to gender equality within its own premises but now we want to extend the movement and put out a strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive.
There has never been a more important time to keep motivated and #PressforProgress.
Plenty of companies claim to work towards the empowerment of the women and putting females first, but how many can tangibly prove that they’re doing just that? It’s one thing to work with a mission of serving and bettering the lives of women through transitional and transformative life moments, but it’s another to do so while simultaneously hiring, promoting and retaining an employee base of women as the majority.
And that’s exactly what Moneytrans Group excels at doing. The company serves a high percentage of women by helping them to send money to their family in more than 140 countries and so it was normal to firmly believe in equality gender and women empowerment.
At Moneytrans 70% of the teammates are WOMEN.
We sat down with Leticia Carbajo, Country Manager of Spain & Head of Marketing for Moneytrans group to talk about the company’s 20+ year history of being ‘for women, by women’ at a time where it’s more crucial than ever to put women at the forefront.
Explain more about this notion of being run “By women, for women” – How exactly do you see it playing out in Moneytrans Group?
About “Run by women…”, the numbers speak for themselves: in Moneytrans 70 percent of our company employee base is female. As women move up through the ranks they typically vanish, but we’re proud of the fact that at Moneytrans Group, not only do we have that 70 percent number, but also 50 percent of our executive board is female.
Our CEO, Francisco Sanchez Appellaniz and all the management team strongly believe that men and women deserve an equality in the opportunities and equal pay based off of experience and qualifications. When we are hiring for a role, we just look at the best candidate, the best fit.
About “…For women…”, let me give you some figures produced by UN Women’s Economic Empowerment Section for the “Promoting and Protecting Women Migrant Workers’ Labour and Human Rights” Project, supported by the European Union.
In 2015 there were approximately 244 million international migrants globally, most of whom send a significant proportion of their wages home to their families and communities. Moreover, women made up 48 per cent of all migrants in 2015, and increasingly, women are migrating independently for employment and to support their families. A growing body of research has outlined how gender impacts financial remittance amounts, the choice of Remittance Service Providers and the ways in which remittances are allocated.
Remittance sending patterns are affected by factors including age, gender, education, marital status, skills, nature of migration, institutional constraints and familiarities. Putting our customer first we strive to understand what women needs are in the remittance sector and how Moneytrans can make the difference.
The stats show that women are more engaged and better leaders. Do you think it is right?
I’ve been reading some studies about leadership, but i am really pragmatic and prefer to talk about a more specific point than a global approach. From my experience, women outperform as promoters of workplace engagement.
Working with passion and fully engaging with your job seems quite hard in today’s economy, but it is not impossible. There are plenty of ways to keep your passion for work burning and install it in your team.
I truly believe we need to encourage the professional and personal development of our co-workers. Higher engagement levels often lead to higher performing teams.
Despite advances in education and social tolerance, discrimination in the workplace remains a serious issue. Every day, individuals are unfairly judged based on their age, disabilities, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, and so gender.
Have you noticed some improvement and in particular your sector?
Well, I am not sure we can talk about a relevant advance when reading the World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap Report but I think that we are assisting to a raise of awareness in our society.
I am going to share a conversation I had with some colleagues at one of our annual conference last year. One of our business partner asked me if it was difficult to work in the remittance sector that is inherently masculine. I replied to him that I worked previously in aeronautics, IT and telecommunications and that it was nearly the same for me. No matter the sector you are working for, being a woman push you to be the best possible version of yourself and to work harder than your other male colleagues to prove that you are totally capable of being the best leader for a team and achieve great results.
Another colleague looked at me and replied a bit sceptic: “Well, this problem does not exist anymore! Look around you, you can see lot of women”. And me to reply: “Do you think that 30% is a lot? I don’t”. I think that this small group was the pure reflect of our society. More and more people are conscious about woman being a strong asset in an organisation, but other ones may be less likely to prioritize gender diversity of initiatives to support women simply because they don’t think there is a problem in the first place.
I did not really want to enter into a polemic conversation, nor to place myself as a victim. From my very young age I tried to make sure my employer’s corporate culture was in line with what I find important; gender equality for sure is one value that comes first.
I want people judge me for what I achieve, for what I bring on the table and I am proud that Moneytrans stand for those values and prove it.
If you ask Moneytrans owner and executive board members why they love working with women they agree to say that women are more patient, show stronger business ethics and are better community builders.
If you could give some pieces of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and particularly females, what would they be?
I wish being a female entrepreneur were no different than being a man. But the truth of the matter is being a woman in the work force has challenges. I would probably tell them to:
– Be their true self and make decisions for themselves. It is important not to be held down by judgments, and to do things their way.
– Be hungry and think you can always do better
– Don’t wait for evolution, just evolve
– Don’t be afraid of failure. You must move outside of your comfort zone. Failure is an inevitable part of success, from which we learn.
– Put always your customer or user first and really think about their needs, you’re going to win every time.
– Don’t overthink things and not take yourself too seriously… be proud of what you bring to the table, but not take yourself so seriously that you think it’s all going to fall apart if you’re not there.
The international Women’s Day 2018 campaign theme is #PressforProgress. What will be Moneytrans main commitments?
We want to commit to a “gender parity mindset” via various action.
– To maintain a gender parity mindset. We will #PressforProgress and:
- question any lack of women’s participation
- identify alternatives that are more inclusive
- nominate women for opportunities
- always include and support women
- think “50/50” as the goal
– To influence other’s beliefs / actions. We will #PressforProgress and:
- campaign for equality in meaningful ways
- lead by example via inclusive actions
- be a role model for equality
- actively contribute to changing the status quo
– To celebrate women’s achievements. We will #PressforProgress and:
- value women’s individual and collective success
- believe achievement comes in many forms
- ensure credit is given for women’s contributions
- celebrate women role models and their journeys
- support awards showcasing women’s success
– To challenge stereotypes and bias. We will #PressforProgress and:
- question assumptions about women
- challenge statements that limit women
- always use inclusive language
- work to remove barriers to women’s progress
- buy from retailers who position women in positive ways
And we have chosen to specifically concentrate on forging positive visibility of women: customers, workers, partners… and improving lives (education and financial inclusion):
- identify ways to make women morevisible: share the stories of women from our community and connect women from all over the world
- support visiblewomen: interviewing and organising talks with women activists/entrepreneurs
- assume women want opportunities untildeclined: internal promotion journey for women
- extend opportunities to womenfirst: be the best employer for women in our sector
- support girl education inAfrica: empowering Mweya Elisa School
Something you would like to add?
Yes, in fact. For this special day, we #PressforProgress by interviewing and sharing to our community the story of a Nigerian woman entrepreneur and activist, Orobola Akinradewo. It is a message of hope and an example for all migrants over the world looking for a brighter future.
Also we will share a nice moment at the office, pizza, talks, messages… Keep Posted!
At Moneytrans, we support women equality and empowerment. Furthermore, we bet on technology that helps you send money to your loved ones. You can check our website to send money online or through our mobile application.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to learn more about our projects.
#PressforProgress #FutureisFemale #WomenDay2018
