The Women’s Foundation and the 30% Club Hong Kong aim to increase board gender diversity in Hong Kong. It has been well documented that greater board diversity improves decision-making, positively impacts corporate culture and the bottom line, board diversity is a fundamental aspect of good governance and delivers benefits for broader society.
Creating Visibility for Women in Hong Kong
We strive to address gender imbalances across diverse boards, including those of listed companies, for-profit organisations, private equity, NGOs, and educational institutions.
This is supported by the HKEX’s mandate for increased female representation on listed Hong Kong boards by 2025.
Facilitating Searches for Female Board Directors
Our Women to Watch Platform features accomplished senior women leaders actively seeking board opportunities.
By providing access to the Platform, we aim to support organisations in their search for female board directors.
Application Process
The Women’s Foundation will grant access to to the platform to a range of board searchers, including, but not limited to:
– Listed companies
– Private equity firms
– Search firms
– 30% Club Hong Kong members
– Subsidiaries of multi-national companies
If you are an organisation involved in the search for board members wishing to apply for access to the Platform but you are not listed above, please contact us.
Apply NowAny individual from your organisation may fill in the form. However, you must enter contact details for the person who will be conducting searches for board candidates on the Platform. This person can differ from the person completing the application.
The person conducting searches should hold a sufficiently senior role and have authority in the board search process, such as:
- Company secretaries
- Board members or chairs
- Nomination committee members or chairs
- Search firm executives or advisers mandated by corporates consistent with the aforementioned criteria
- Head of human resources
The Women’s Foundation will review each application to ensure that companies are consistent with our requirements for authority in the board search process.
If we believe that the company or elected search nominee does not fulfil our criteria, or, if the purpose of your access to the Platform is not in line with our requirements, we may ask you to re-apply in future.
The Women’s Foundation is a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls in Hong Kong. We rely solely on donations and support from our partners to pursue our mission and fund our work, including the creation, curation and maintenance of the Women to Watch Platform.
As a token of support for our important mission, we would greatly appreciate a discretionary donation to support the Women to Watch Platform.
For corporates who are based outside Hong Kong, we reserve the right to request a mandatory donation.
In the future, we reserve the right to request a mandatory fee from all companies in order to gain access to the Platform.
Once the application has been approved, the users granted access to the platform will receive a confirmation email from no-reply@twfhk.org or 30percentclub@twfhk.org.
The account should be used by the authorised person only and should not be shared or used beyond the purpose of board search as set out in the terms and conditions.
The account will be automatically deactivated after 3 months from the date this notification is sent. Access is available for 3 months from the date this notification is sent, after which you may re-apply for continued access.
Our Role in Board Searches
Our aim in advancing female leadership in Hong Kong is to encourage and support Chairs and CEOs to pursue equal representation of women on their boards. Our role in the process is confined to sharing the details Women to Watch applicants have provided. We do not undertake vetting, reference-checking or review of the qualifications that applicants provide, nor do we add any recommendations in the process. We advise all users of the Women to Watch Platform to conduct their own due diligence of potential candidates. The board selection process and final appointment decisions are in complete discretion of the selecting organisation.
All Women to Watch have been reviewed by our Women to Watch Review Committee to be included in the Platform. This is to ensure that all our candidates are senior leaders with a depth of experience that is appropriate for a board role.
TWF’s introduction of candidates via the Women to Watch Platform is part of TWF’s mission to empower women and increase the number of women on boards, and shall not be deemed as TWF’s intention to operate a business or provide recruitment services for any board or executive roles in any way.