20th of October – OPENING DAY
18:00 – 18:05 OPENING SPEECH
- Jovana Terzić, Partner Relationships at AFA
18:05 – 19:00 New Generation Leaders
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Each year WLS brings new generation of leaders, the young women from public and private sector, companies, startups, academia, NGOs, activists, and influencers from different fields who achieve extraordinary results in both, their carriers and social engagement. World needs more female leaders to solve rising number of challenges due to pandemic but also due to unprecedented changes brought by tech innovations, apart from well- known grand global challenges.
New Generation Leaders Inspirational Talks
- Ana Tomas Petrović, MD, PhD, Clinical Pharmacology Resident
- Jelena Vladić, Scientific Associate at Faculty of Technology Novi Sad, Serbia
- Nika Pintar, CEO and Founder of Cidrani
- Aleksandra Čuturilo, Deputy CEO at Luss Textile
- Alma Bašić, Co-founder at BASIC
- Jelena Jugović, Data Scientist at Generali
- Gala Mandić, Operations Manager at ACES
- Milena Radulović, Actress
- Nađa Subakov, Founder and Creative Producer at Humanmade Studio
19:00 – 20:00 AFA Club of Female Entrepreneurs
“How to Use Technology to Scale Your Business? “
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Just 30% of businesses in Serbia are led by women, out of that number 99% are micro businesses, mainly belonging to the lower value-added service sector, which is particularly vulnerable when it comes to crisis. Only 12% of startups are female-owned, and only 2% of startup teams are exclusively female. In the era of technological innovations that are rapidly changing the way we live and work, women are lagging not only in the startup and entrepreneurial scene but also in the labor market in general. In addition, the pandemic crisis is significantly accelerating digitalization, which is especially risky for women’s businesses, because 57% of women in Serbia are not even basically digitally literate. We are going to find out what are the best examples of domestic practice from successful entrepreneurs, but also about the challenges they face in the implementation and application of technologies.
- Marijana Agić Molnar, Founder and CEO at DATA DO
- Manuela Stamatović, Founder and CEO at Puzzle Consulting
- Milica Spužić, Co- founder at Eight Dots
Moderator: Jovana Terzić, Partner Relationships at AFA
21th of October – MAIN CONFERENCE DAY
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Women make up half of the global population, yet they are a minority compared to the men at the workplace. This gender gap applies not just to the employment, but also to the salaries, career opportunities, and leadership roles.
Furthermore, pandemic had long-lasting effects on millions of women according to Committee for Economic Development research and the exodus of women from the workforce is “a global emergency.” The gender gap according to the burnout is getting wider: 42% of women and 35% of men say they’re burned out, in comparison to 32% and 28%, respectively, in 2020, shows annual report from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org. On top of that, McKinsey global institute “envisages that as many as 50-200 million women worldwide will lose their jobs if they do not become skilled, mobile, tech savvy in order to make a career transition by 2030.” Expected time to close the global gender gap based on current trends has increased to 136 years, warns World Economic Forum.
Women’s leadership conferences play a critical role in gathering community, companies, leaders, and policy makers to advocate for inclusion, creating space that elevates, amplifies, and empowers women to create lasting impact. What long-term effects for women in the post-pandemic future we are going to see? What will it take, not only to recover from 2020 setbacks but to accelerate the pace of change? What opportunities, and what challenges, will the new future of work bring for gender parity? Why it is so important to have equal representation of women in creating new digital civilization?
All these questions will be raised at AFA WLS 2021.
Be part of the conversation, important not just for women but for the economy and society development and for the future of all of us. There are numbers of evidence that show how gender balanced teams are more creative, efficient, profitable, and ethical and that economy and society has better results when woman are equally involved.
9:30 – 10:00 REGISTRATION AND VIRTUAL EXPO VISIT*
*Please feel free to visit virtual stands in Expo Area and have a chat with companies’ representatives
10:00 – 10:05 WELCOMING SPEECH:
- Valentina Čolić Mihajlović, Head of Development at AFA
10:05 – 10:20 TOPIC INDTRODUCTION (Deloitte Survey)
“Women in Business World”
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Survey includes women from managerial positions in Serbia and shows their beliefs and attitudes towards gender gap and their position in business field, as well as how society relationships impact business community. Gender gap is surely decreasing but still in some segments, differences are so huge that they are terrifying.
- Aleksandra Petrović, Director in Financial Advisory and Leader of SheXO initiative, Deloitte
10:20 – 10:40 KEYNOTE CONVERSATION:
“It is possible! 50:50 CEO Gender Parity Example”
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According to the Women’s Business Collaborative, in December 2019, Women held 30 (6.0%) of CEO positions in S&P 500 companies. At the beginning of 2020, women comprised 6.7% of CEO positions and at the end of 2020, women held 7.8% of CEO positions across all the companies. The number of women CEOs rose by 2% last year to the historic level but still, these are small steps to achieving gender equality at the top company level.
Ikea is the best example what it takes to build gender diverse company culture and give equal opportunity to female leaders to achieve the highest positions.
- Ekaterina Egorova, CEO at Ikea in Southeast Europe
Moderator: Valentina Čolić Mihajlović, Head of Development at AFA
10:40 – 11:00 COFFEE BREAK (Feel free to visit virtual stands in Expo Area and have a chat with companies’ representatives)
11:00 – 12:00 TECH ROUNDTABLE:
“The Future of Women in technology as a way to reduce tech biases”
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Attracting, retaining, and advancing female engineers. Empowering and embracing men as allies, creating new perspectives regarding “what a leader looks like”.
Some important milestones in the number of women in Fortune 500 CEO positions and women on the boards of directors has been marked in 2020, but the pace of change is still too slow. What would it take to accelerate the move to gender equality at these roles? We are going to hear from the senior leaders and experts what they say about the obstacles and the general efforts to clear the path.
- Tamara Letić, HR at Microsoft Development Center
- Valentina Đorđević, Insights Delivery Manager at Things Solver – member of ASEE
- Rosanda Milatović Skorić, Regional Manager, Adriatic at SAS
- Nada Rajčić, HR director at CETIN
Moderator: Jelisaveta Lazarević, Head of Corporate Partnerships at AFA
12:00 – 12:20 MALE LEADERS CONVERSATION:
“Importance of male engagement in advancing women at the workplace and achieving gender parity”
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Why is male engagement in gender equality good for both, men, and women and how to maximize cross-gender workplace relationships in order to maximize career benefits for both? How should men show up as allies for women in the workplace? We are going to hear all the answers from our panelists:
- Rastko Petaković, Senior Partner at Karanovic & Partners
- Stefan Salom, Co-Founder and Director of Development at Infostud
Moderator: Valentina Čolić Mihajlović, Head of Development at AFA
12:20 – 12:40 FIRESIDE CHAT:
“Why women should be equally involved in creating digital future?”
- Nina Jocić, Analytical consultant at Google
Conversation Lead: Jelisaveta Lazarevic, Head of Corporate Partnerships at AFA
12:40 – 12:55 CONVERSATION:
“How to succeed in traditional, male dominant industries: Oil and Gas”
- Jelena Popara, Head of Internal Audit and Risk Management at Nis
- Manja Bogićević, Founder & CEO at Kagera
12:55 – 13:35 HOT TOPIC ROUNDTABLE:
“Gender and Talent Gap: Cyber Security Missing Female Leaders“
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The cybersecurity industry is a male-dominated one, since women make up 20 percent of the cybersecurity workforce. Aside from a gender gap, there is also a severe talent gap, with 53 percent of organizations reporting a “problematic shortage” of cybersecurity skills. Most industries rely on technology to get work done, and thus have needs in terms of cybersecurity. Having more women would help boosting the industry and satisfying the drastic need that companies have for top talents. The (ISC)2 study found out that women in this field are, in general, better educated than men, and the higher percentage of women are reaching top positions.
- Sanja Kekić, W4C Serbian Chapter Vice President
- Diana Gligorijević, Co-founder at TeleGroup
- Maša Andić, Security Digital Trust Leader for CEE at IBM
- Tijana Polak, IT Talent Acquisition Manager at Manpower Group Serbia
Moderator: Valentina Čolić Mihajlović, Head of Development at AFA
13:35 – 14:30 LUNCH BREAK AND VIRTUAL NETWORKING (Please join the virtual networking by clicking on a Networking button in a menu located on the left side of the virtual space)
14:30 – 15:25 STARTUP ROUNDTABLE:
“Why it is important to support inclusive entrepreneurship and how to bride gender divide and bias in male-dominant startup scene”
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Just 30% of businesses in Serbia are led by women, out of that number 99% are micro businesses, mainly belonging to the lower value-added service sector, which is particularly vulnerable when it comes to crisis. Only 12% of startups are female-owned, and only 2% of startup teams are exclusively female. We are going to find out from our panelists why this is the reality and whether the situation is better in the region or in the rest of the world, as well as how to overcome these challenges and how to create an inclusive entrepreneurship sector.
- Hajdi Ćenan, Co-founder and CEO at airt
- Zoja Kukić, Entrepreneur and Startup Ecosystem Expert
- Mirjana Perković, Founder and CEO at Heayp
- Maja Vujinović, Founder O Group
Moderator: Nikola Pavešić, Director of startups at Infobip
15:25 – 15:35 RETAIL PANEL DISCUSSION:
“Future of women in retail”
- Irena Tešić, HR Manager at Lidl
Conversation Lead: Valentina Čolić Mihajlović, Head of Development at AFA
15:35 – 15:40 FUTURE OF WOMEN IN MARKETING
- Anja Petrovski, Marketing Director at Audi Volkswagen Middle East
Conversation Lead: Jovana Terzić, Partnership Relations at AFA
15:40 – 16:25 FINANCE AND BANKING CONVERSATION:
“How fintech innovations transform traditional banking workplace and what skillset is required for work force to stay relevant?”
- Periša Ivanović, AIK Bank Executive Committee Co-Member
- Darko Jovišić, CEO and Co-founder at Robotiq
- Milan Nedeljković, Managing Partner at EM Analytic Solutions
Moderator: Milena Drača, Business development consultant
16:25 – 17:25 Girls Hack final presentations
17:25 – 17:40 COFFEE BREAK (+ Jury making the final decision)
17:40 – 17:50 Announcement of the winning team
17:50 – 18:05 KEY PROFESSIONAL INSIGHT:
“The Age of The Chief Product Officer”
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The role of the CPO in building a category-leading business, digital products that reshape business strategy, become crucial to survive during pandemic. CPO becomes the new CMO, and companies like Zoom, Slack, and Peloton, have key competitive advantage prioritizing to invest in their digital products.
- Marija Vik, Software Engineer at 3Lateral
18:05 – 18:20 WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY
- Peggy Rouffiac, Head of Marketing Central & Eastern Europe, Dell Technologies
Conversation Lead: Jelisaveta Lazarević, Head of Corporate Partnerships at AFA
18:20 – 18:50 CONVERSATION:
“Following the road less travelled: biotech technology, crypto, machine learning, data analytics CS, AI …”
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Interest in cryptocurrencies is surging, with reports estimating crypto markets to be valued over $2 trillion.
As in all other “risky” or more demanding new tech fields that disrupt with unprecedented speed all industry’s business modes, we lack participation and leadership of women. Should they be sceptical, or must they move fast to ketch up and explore new opportunities?
- Darinka Zečević, Site Reliability Engineering at Google
- Željka Motika, Founder of Law office Motika
- Nina Bošković, PhD student in In vitro fertilisation/ genetics, Karolinska University
- Maja Stikić, Data Scientist at Microsoft Development Center
Moderator: Ljubica Vujović, Program Manager 2 at Microsoft Development Center
18:50 – 19:05 GAMING CHAT:
“How to build inclusive gaming industry and attract more women?”
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Gaming industry is the fastest growing industry in the world with 3,24 billion of gamers, mostly consisted of digitally native generation Z and millennials who consider games as regular habit thanks to the smart phones. This industry globally made 160 billion of dollars. In gaming sector in Serbia, 2000 people are working in different fields. At the moment there are 90 opened positions for the new studying program at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade dedicated to the gaming industry.
- Milica Todorović, Associate Producer at Ubisoft
- Obren Kušić, Artificial Intelligence, ICT & Business student; Entrepreneur in “Play to Earn” Industry with Axie Infinity
Moderator: Jelisaveta Lazarević, Head of Corporate Partnerships at AFA
