Serving the Teesside Business Community | 33
INSPIRING
A CAN DO
ATTITUDE
SABIC hosts Tees
students on International
Women’s Day
Inspiring - Yasmin Khan and Jo McCue with SABIC’s
Nicola Duffey (centre) and local students at the
International Women’s Day event.
T
eenage girls from schools across
Teesside were inspired by Tees
Businesswomen Awards double-
winner Yasmin Khan during a special
event held by SABIC to mark International
Women’s Day, the theme of which was
‘Better the Balance, Better the World’.
SABIC linked up with Redcar &
Cleveland’s Foundation for Jobs/Inspiring
Women initiative, which was the inspiration
of Redcar & Cleveland MP Anna Turley.
Anna launched the annual event in memory
of one of her trailblazing predecessors,
Mo Mowlam, who oversaw the signing of
the historic Good Friday Peace Agreement
during her term as secretary of state for
Northern Ireland.
SABIC ran a full day event featuring a
site tour and interactive workshops for
35 female year 10 and 11 students from
schools including Huntcliff, Ryehills, Acklam
Grange, Red House, Egglescliffe and
Hillsview Academy.
The day gave the young women an
opportunity to meet many of the global
chemical firm’s successful female
employees from across the business, who
took time out to discuss their roles and
career paths.
The event also gave centre-stage to two
female speakers from the local business
community including Yasmin Khan,
winner of the Inspiring Others category
(sponsored by SABIC) in the inaugural
Tees Businesswomen Awards. Yasmin’s
Teesside-based charity, the Halo Project,
has helped more than 1,000 women
flee violence, and was the winner of the
Charity/Voluntary Award at last year’s Tees
Business-organised event.
The second speaker at the event was
local WattFitness and Beauty business
owner Jo McCue, who talked about the
importance of making the right choices and
working hard to achieve your ambitions.
Organised by Nicola Duffey, SABIC’s
senior manager, HR, the students
undertook a soft-skills workshop to help
build their communication and teamwork
abilities. They also attended a ‘speed dating’
session to learn about career opportunities
within different SABIC departments.
Nicola said: “One of the aims of this
fantastic initiative is to inspire young
women to take up challenging and
rewarding careers in fields or industries
they may not have previously considered.
“Between us, we hope we inspired a
few of the female students who joined us
to raise and widen their career aspirations.
Perhaps in the future we’ll see some of
them back at SABIC as members of our
team.”
It’s a
woman’s world
I
nspiring women from across Redcar and
Cleveland were honoured at a special
ceremony on International Women’s Day
– with local firms SABIC, PD Ports, First
Choice Labels, Sembcorp, Beyond Housing
and Taylor Wimpey sponsoring the six
categories.
Held in the Lakeside Restaurant at Wilton
Centre, near Redcar, the fourth annual
Inspiring Women Awards saw charity leader
Gemma Sands named the winner of the Mo
Mowlam Award in memory of the former
Redcar MP.
Gemma, who also won the Inspiring
Others Award, sponsored by Sembcorp,
established a charity, Remembering
Rebecca, in memory of her daughter and
now leads fundraising activities that provide
equipment, holidays and support for children
with severe disabilities.
Other winners were: Individual
Achievement Award (sponsored by First
Choice Labels) – Carol Dawson; Volunteer
Award (PD Ports) - Eileen Founds; Woman in
Business Award (Beyond Housing) – Victoria
Smee; Community Group Contribution
Award (SABIC) – Rubies; Young Woman
Winning - sponsors with winners at
the Inspiring Women Awards.
Award (Taylor Wimpey) - Mahlliah Joel.
Hosted by Zetland FM’s Julie Donaldson –
who was shortlisted for the Inspiring Others
category in the 2018 Tees Businesswomen
Awards – the event featured talks by Redcar
& Cleveland MP Anna Turley, Redcar &
Cleveland Council’s chief executive Amanda
Skelton and Sue Jeffrey, leader of Redcar &
Cleveland Council.
Kat Kempen – star of TV documentary
‘The Mighty Redcar’ and herself a former
winner – undertook the catering through
the charitable organisation, Footprints in the
Community, while musical entertainment
came from last year’s Women in Business
winner, Joanna Andrews.