Leading Arab Firm Announces Regional Ground-Breaking Affirmative Action Plan for Female Managers and Professionals

CAIRO - The Arab world’s leading professional services group, Amman-based TAGO (www.tagi.com), has taken a unique first step in the Arab world by setting minimum hiring quotas for female professionals and mangers, requiring that 35% of professional positions be set aside for female candidates. The Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization, a diversified professional group that spans the Middle East providing accounting, consulting, legal, IT, and other services, is known for its reputation as a model corporate citizen, its forward vision, and its social consciousness; these traits are personified by its founder, chairman, and CEO, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh. Abu-Ghazaleh, often referred to as “the father of the Arab accounting profession” has a reputation for identifying and capitalizing on trends long before anyone else; it was this unique ability that led him to develop the Arab world’s leading intellectual property firm, even before intellectual property protection existed in most Arab countries. His broad network of professional service businesses in the Arab region are united by two things: the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAGO), the holding company that bears his name, and his unique sense of social consciousness and mission.

The TAG Organization includes in its mission statement a commitment to “the socioeconomic development of the Arab world.” It is not surprising, then, that Abu-Ghazaleh and his organization were the first in the Arab world to join the United Nation’s Global Compact, a global corporate citizenship initiative sponsored by the United Nations. It aims to enlist the resources of the global business community to support sustainable socioeconomic development, and is based on nine core commitments in the areas of labor, environment and human rights (www.unglobalcompact.org). Abu-Ghazaleh and his group participated in organizing the inauguration of the Arab network of the Global Compact in Cairo earlier this year. Their adoption of the new affirmative action program arose out of their search for tangible ways in which they could demonstrate their support for the United Nation’s program that seeks to meet development goals through corporate efforts.

The recent announcement of their adoption of an affirmative action plan for Arab women is groundbreaking in the Arab world but not surprising for TAGO, in light of their long record of forward-looking advocacy and development initiatives. It is sure to be welcomed as a positive step by development experts. Abu-Ghazaleh says that the measure is intended to set an example that others firms will hopefully follow. “Educating and empowering Arab women,” he said, “is one of the key requirements for the Arab region to accelerate its progress in achieving development targets.” But according to Abu-Ghazaleh, the best development efforts are sustainable, and prove themselves by being internally self-reinforcing. He says he has no doubts that getting more Arab women into educational and employment paths will boost productivity and social and economic performance indicators. But, “ultimately,” he says, “the measure is likely to benefit the firm’s bottom line.” “Arab women,” he concludes, “are a valuable and essential part of my management, and supporting greater inclusion of female managers can only benefit us.”