WISTA International and the Maritime SheEO officially announced the start of the formal partnership between the two organizations at the Maritime SheEO Conference in Mumbai this week. Following a successful history of working together on multiple projects, the organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding  at WISTA International Annual General Meeting on 26 October in Geneva, Switzerland.

The first activity under the new MoU is the second Maritime SheEO Leadership Accelerator Programme, which was announced at the conference in Mumbai, one of the biggest Maritime Diversity and Sustainability events attended by Ship Owners, Ship Managers, Technology Innovators, Liners and Ports, Supply Chain Experts and Education Institutes. At the conference entitled ‘Changing Leadership Paradigms’, 35 speakers delivered insightful and inspiring speeches in front of approximately 200 people from over 77 countries and more than 2,000 following the event online.

Sanjam Sahi Gupta, the founder of Maritime SheEO, founder of WISTA India and co-chair of the WISTA International Diversity Committee, declared: “It was a privilege that the first working together under the MoU looking at how we can increase and support leadership skills for women in maritime was at The Maritime SheEO conference. Especially as this year, the event had a particular emphasis on leadership. We can have our motivations to start our business. However, over time, these can change and sometimes it’s important to take yourself back to your original motivation and help you learn from other leaders. The attendees found connections and great learning opportunities for women in so many diverse areas of maritime.”

President of WISTA International, Elpi Petraki

, stated: “It was a genuine pleasure to be invited to speak at the Maritime SheEO conference, an initiative which, like WISTA, is passionate about driving change. It is widely known that diversity drives results. Many maritime organizations have found that women in the workforce and even more so in positions of responsibility have contributed significantly to enhanced innovation, increased productivity and competitive advantage.”

“If business leaders strive to offer equal opportunities to those with diverse cultural backgrounds, hiring without regard to gender, religion and nationality, we’ll be best placed to tackle the industry’s challenges related to sustainability, decarbonization and more. Collaboration is the key to bringing about real change and creating equal opportunities for all.”