In early June, EPRA launched a Mentoring Programme to support and empower women in their careers, help them develop their skills and increase leadership succession.
The programme was addressed to senior-level female candidates, both from property companies and investors, who wished to further their career objectives, overcome barriers and increase self-confidence in their workplace. On the mentor’s side, the programme was open to female or male professionals from the C-suite level and management teams from EPRA member companies.
Although many property companies have internal mentoring programmes, and several national projects are already in place, we found that our industry was lacking a more global approach, dedicated to listed real estate practitioners, where mentoring could happen cross-company and cross-border to enhance the exchange of best practices.
There is extensive research that demonstrates that diversity and inclusion in a company go hand in hand with its performance. However, the listed real estate industry has still work to do in terms of female representation in top leadership positions and talent development.
Encouraging feedback from our members reinforced our opinion that there is an appetite for this kind of initiative, especially in the post-pandemic world where the focus on the employee and corporate social responsibility is more important than ever.
