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There are many reasons to feel positive about the increasing representation of women in business leadership in Papua New Guinea (PNG), according to speakers at a women in business breakfast event held in Port Moresby today to mark the launch of a new report from the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB’s) Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI). 

The event, hosted by PSDI in partnership with the Papua New Guinea Institute of Directors (PNGID) and the Business Coalition for Women (BCFW), convened a crowd of PNG’s government, business, and civil society representatives, to discuss the findings of the expanded Papua New Guinea edition of Leadership Matters 2024: Benchmarking Women in Business Leadership in the Pacific. 

The report found that proportion of women in business leadership in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is steadily increasing, but still lags the Pacific regional average. Women directors in PNG grew from 19% to 23% and the proportion of women CEOs grew from 5% to 9%. There was also an encouraging increase in women’s representation as directors on state-owned enterprise boards from 6% to 18%.

L-R Ms Evonne Kennedy, Executive Director, BCFW; Ms Sarah Boxall, Economic Empowerment of Women Expert, PSDI; and Ms Megan Taureka-Andrew, Chief Executive Officer, PNGID at the Papua New Guinea launch of Leadership Matters 2024: Benchmarking Women in Business Leadership in the Pacific. 

“In Papua New Guinea, we collected data from 95 organizations and also heard from more than 70 business leaders, through our interviews and surveys,” said report author and PSDI Economic Empowerment of Women Expert, Sarah Boxall. “Those conversations uncovered how many promising strategies are being implemented in organizations across the country to increase the number of women in leadership roles. As these initiatives start to yield results in the coming years, we can only expect the representation of women in these roles to continue to grow.” 

The event featured a panel on the theme of Advancing Women in Business Leadership: Progress and the Path Forward for PNG. Panelists Ms Julienne Leka-Maliaki, Ms Lorna McPherson, and Mr Anthony Yauieb discussed the factors that support and restrict women’s leadership in the private sector and their own experiences as business leaders in PNG. 

“We know the impact that increasing representation of women in senior leadership positions can have, not just for gender equality, but also for the profitability and operations of businesses and other organizations,” said Megan Taureka-Andrew, Chief Executive Officer, PNGID. “That is why PNGID is proud to be working to get more women into board positions, including through our work with PSDI on Director Development Training.” 

“BCFW is proud to have supported PSDI to collect the data for Leadership Matters 2024. It is so important to be able to benchmark and monitor progress around women’s representation in business leadership positions,” said Evonne Kennedy, Executive Director, BCFW. “We are pleased to see the improvements for Papua New Guinea in 2024, but we know there is a long way to go. BCFW is working to make sure the gap continues to narrow, including through our long-running partnership with PSDI to train and develop women leaders.”

Mr Said Zaidansyah, Asian Development Bank Country Director, at the Papua New Guinea launch of Leadership Matters 2024: Benchmarking Women in Business Leadership in the Pacific. 

Speaking at the event, Mr Said Zaidansyah, ADB Papua New Guinea Country Director, stated that “the Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative, or PSDI, is a program we at the Asian Development Bank are proud of. PSDI has been an integral part of our work since its inception in 2007 and has supported many crucial reforms in Papua New Guinea to reform the business environment, increase access to finance, and improve women’s economic empowerment.” 

He also noted that “we know that increasing the number of women in business leadership positions can create a positive cycle that inspires and empowers more women to aspire to similar roles, and we know that the improvements we have seen for PNG in the Leadership Matters 2024 report will only grow in time. This progress is testament to the hard work, determination, and talent of businesswomen across Papua New Guinea.”

Ms Di Barclay, Minister Counsellor, Australian High Commission Port Moresby, at the Papua New Guinea launch of Leadership Matters 2024: Benchmarking Women in Business Leadership in the Pacific. 

Ms Di Barclay, Minister Counsellor, Australian High Commission, said that “without reliable data, governments, civil society, and the private sector are limited in their ability to advocate for and develop programs and activities to increase women’s economic participation and business leadership. Everyone can use the information in the Leadership Matters 2024 report to inform our efforts to grow women’s business leadership in Papua New Guinea. And that’s the power of a report like this.” 

“Gender equality and women’s empowerment are at the heart of the PNG-Australia partnership across diplomatic, humanitarian, security, and development efforts. It is well documented that putting women into leadership and decision making roles at all levels is good for business, good for the economy, and good for social programs… So it’s really important for us as Australians to support great leadership in PNG, and through this partnership with PSDI we want to support more women into these leadership and decision making positions.”

His Excellency Peter Zwart, High Commissioner of New Zealand to Papua New Guinea, at the Papua New Guinea launch of Leadership Matters 2024: Benchmarking Women in Business Leadership in the Pacific. 

His Excellency Peter Zwart, New Zealand High Commissioner pointed out “the importance of the Leadership Matters 2024 report, benchmarking women in business leadership in the Pacific. A benchmark is only useful when you can compare it with something, and that’s why this second report is particularly valuable. The first one took stock of where the Pacific was, and this one allows for benchmarking over time, so we can start to see trends. It is complimented by some qualitative data, which is often where the real findings are, as these start to point to some of the obstacles and opportunities. So that’s why this report is important.”

L-R: Panelists Ms Evonne Kennedy, Executive Director, BCFW; Ms Julienne Leka-Maliaki, Country Manager, Tetra Tech International Development; Ms Lorna McPherson, Senior Vice President, Digicel Group; and Mr Anthony Yauieb, Deputy Chair, Nasfund; at the Papua New Guinea launch of Leadership Matters 2024: Benchmarking Women in Business Leadership in the Pacific. 

During the panel discussion, Ms Julienne Leka-Maliaki, Country Manager, Tetra Tech International Development, said “I’m glad to see the new Leadership Matters report come out. We see the statistics here and to me, that says the environment needs to be a bit more conducive. One thing I would like to see is, what’s next? What do we need to do with this report? We have conversations year in, year out, but the practicalities of making it happen is, in my view, what’s missing... For me, it’s all about influencing. It’s about mentoring the next generation of leaders. Because the statistics show there are not enough [women] in the room. And it is a generational thing. I think leaders after us will have more opportunities. I would like to see that this report gets to government, that this report gets to the public service machinery. We should be practical about this.”

Ms Lorna McPherson, Senior Vice President, Digicel Group, added that “I look at myself, and ask, how many women do you actually appoint and then the next part as well, is the support system. For example with childcare, I think as we go forward—to make changes and to drive changes—if you really want something to happen look at yourself, and you can appoint women into this role...But then when you have recruited women, it’s about making sure the support structures are there. Are you putting in the right training, are you teaching them, are you training them, are you mentoring them? And create the right environment where you let them develop… for example, where you can take time off for the kids.”

Meanwhile, Mr Anthony Yauieb,Deputy Chair, Nasfund stated that “I’m very pleased to see [in the Leadership Matters report] that there has been some movement, but it will take some time for transformation change to happen... One of the key impediments is really the legal environment…There is a suite of legislative amendments that will come in to tackle the gender gaps that we see now.”

Papua New Guinea launch of Leadership Matters 2024: Benchmarking Women in Business Leadership in the Pacific. 

Papua New Guinea launch of Leadership Matters 2024: Benchmarking Women in Business Leadership in the Pacific. 

Ms Sarah Boxall, PSDI Economic Empowerment of Women Expert, presents key findings at the Papua New Guinea launch of Leadership Matters 2024: Benchmarking Women in Business Leadership in the Pacific.