Mai Youssef - Afrikan Heroes

Canon Expands ‘Women Who Empower’ Program Across Central, North Africa and Middle East

November 10, 2021

Mai Youssef, Corporate Communications and Marketing Services Director of Canon Middle East, Central and North Africa and Turkey

Global photography equipment manufacturer Canon is rolling out newer educational courses, workshops and activities to support women empowerment across Central, North Africa and the Middle East. This is part of an on-going effort to augment, boost and celebrate female empowerment in the creative industries. To this end, Canon has elevated its ‘Women Who Empower’ program with newer educational courses, webinars and mentorship opportunities along with celebrating its ten selected winners from the Middle-East, Central and North Africa regions.

This is owing to the outstanding success and the remarkable response received for the ‘Women Who Empower’ initiative, the company kicked off its ‘Transform and Elevate’ webinar workshops in association with Transform8 to support women entrepreneurs to grow their business and reach their maximum potential.

The webinar series that started this September and plans to go on till March 2022, will delve deep into various aspects associated with the humanitarian side of leadership, with each month bringing in a new theme for learning and discussion aimed at providing engaging, educational, informative and impactful takeaways to support the entrepreneurial journey of participants. Additionally, two lucky winners will be selected each month to receive two leadership coaching sessions by a Transform8 coach. These sessions will present an excellent opportunity for the winners to dig deeper into topics of their choice, problem areas or skills they wish to hone further thus creating a valuable and thought-provoking experience.

The September webinar session focused on time management skills whereas the October session is directed towards dealing with self-criticism during an entrepreneurial journey. The latter sessions for this year will be pivotal in developing mind management skills such as enhanced concentration and focus along with reduced stress and anxiety. Subsequently, the first webinar for 2022 will begin on the note of advancing social enterprising skills teaching participants the significance of building a business that cares about the society as well as the planet. Following suit, February and March 2022 webinars will lean towards evolving creativity skills via a session dedicated on rewiring the brain and another one on building mental resilience. The last session scheduled for the program will be anchored on the science of manifestation in business, divulging key points related to goal-setting and achievements.

A series of webinars will be organized by Chit Chat with Nat of Egypt and Al Sahm Women of Algeria which are female only platforms that address issues affecting women. Encouraging discussion and engagement, the topics of ‘Female Founders: Business building as a woman in the twenty-first century and strategies to move the needle in your business’ will be addressed. Canon has also joined hands with AWIEF to organize a series of three educational masterclasses to be held in October, November and December 2021, which will focus on topics related to the digital sector. The AWIEF Community is a digital platform and community focused on empowering women to achieve business success and economic power through provision of masterclass, e-learning, mentorship opportunities, networking events and more. The AWIEF-Canon masterclasses will be duly supported by the APO group and will leverage the already existing AWIEF community and network, in order to maximize the learning output for participants.

Speaking about the new additions of the program, Mai Youssef, Corporate Communications and Marketing Services Director of Canon Middle East, Central and North Africa and Turkey said, “The outstanding response received for our Women Who Empower initiative goes to show the amount of female talent we have across our region. We wanted to extend the program further to support more women entrepreneurs by providing mentorship, guidance and skill-building opportunities. We are excited to collaborate with Transform8 and AWIEF to provide learning platforms for women that can benefit them in their entrepreneurial journey.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Sustainability, it’s in the details

March 31, 2021

Mai Youssef, Corporate Communications and Marketing Services Director - Canon Middle East and Canon Central and North Africa

By Mai Youssef

Adapting to new working practices presents an incredible opportunity (https://bit.ly/2O6wlrY) to assess and adjust our approach to sustainability. Changes don’t have to be extreme; they can include a range of small but effective actions such as embracing recycling and reusable materials, switching to more eco-friendly modes of manufacturing and reviewing transport or packaging best practice. Small wins across a wide range of areas can have a big impact.

Reduce, reuse, recycle

From separating the paper, plastic and cardboard used in the office, to reducing the use of disposable cutlery, sustainability initiatives often start with the little details first. One of those details needs to be equipment and technology decisions (https://bit.ly/2PGMDIK). The reason is obvious: technology – such as PCs, laptops, and smartphones – represented just 1 per cent of the world’s carbon footprint in 2007. Today, that’s already tripled and is on its way to exceeding 14 per cent by 2040. Whilst technology is intrinsic to the modern business, there are still small – yet hugely beneficial – changes organisations can make to address one of the most serious problems for the environment.

For example, keeping a business phone for three years instead of two, or a laptop for six years instead of five, can make an impact on a company’s use of materials. If enterprises are doing this on a national scale, there will be less demand to create as many new devices each year, reducing the overall amount of raw materials mined to match this demand. When companies need new products, they can opt for remanufactured or refurbished equipment. (https://bit.ly/3rDuKYD). As well as being better for the environment, companies can save on average 30-50 per cent of the selling price compared to the same equipment that has been made new. Furthermore, thanks to ratings programmes and awards schemes, customers have greater visibility of brands and products that are less harmful to the environment.

Cut the commute

Greener ways of commuting to work each day – or not commuting at all – can also be beneficial. The average co-working space, for instance a communal office closer to home, can help generate carbon emission savings of 118 metric tonnes annually between now and 2029 . Prior to the pandemic, a select number of companies had introduced more flexible working policies – allowing people to work from home or cultivate a co-working space in an agile environment. Now, many companies support a mixture of remote and office working [6] – reducing carbon emissions while improving staff wellbeing.

Technology is making this all possible. With the right solutions and printing capabilities, workers can seamlessly transition between the office and their remote working environment. For example, before 2020, video conferencing had already become a staple in workplace communication, connecting colleagues around the world, but under pandemic working conditions its usage increased dramatically to facilitate everyday meetings that could not be done face-to-face.

Reap the benefits

With so many opportunities to meet sustainability goals through incremental steps, it’s important to remember why they will remain so valuable over the next decade. A report published in 2020 found that 80 percent of Europeans think big companies and industry are not doing enough to help the environment – suggesting that businesses who strive to make a positive difference can attract customers, while those who don’t may lose them.

Taking action on sustainability can also increase the chances of attracting and retaining talent. Some 26 per cent of UK workers said they would accept a lower salary to work for a sustainable organisation , while half of those surveyed said they would consider declining a job offer from a company with harmful practices. A 2020 survey on the opinions of millennials across 43 countries found that the proportion who thought ‘reducing its impact on the environment’ is something their employer is doing well (61 per cent) was 22 per cent higher among those who intend to stay in their jobs for five or more years compared than those expecting to move on fairly soon.

Sustainability for businesses today is less about ‘if’ and more about ‘how’. The good news is that by working on the details and making small changes, businesses can make a significant impact. All it takes is the first step forward.

Mai Youssef, Corporate Communications and Marketing Services Director – Canon Middle East and Canon Central and North Africa (www.Canon-CNA.com).