Women in Finance and Technology: Advocating for Opportunity
The Family Office is evolving in MENA and taking forms that are significantly different from the traditional construct first used by European industrial families to manage their wealth. Similar to most business and investment endeavours in MENA, it is the specificities unique to the region, its nuances, growth and dynamism that are also shaping the family office space. And it’s those same regional influences that will likely help define the role women play in family offices over the coming decades. Ekta Tolani is the Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer of Astrolabe Holding and runs the Family Office for one of Kuwait’s largest families. She has seen the challenges that still exist for women in MENA, and how technology and startup culture has become a popular option for women who face the region’s barriers of entry into finance and investment. The opportunities are growing for women, but more support and sophisticated conversations are needed to elevate their contribution in the investment sector and the Family Offices within it. It can be a fight, but women must advocate for the education they need and the business positions they want. In this episode of the WIFB podcast, Ekta and Farida speak about how the finance sector is changing, why education is the engine driving that change, and what her journey to the top of one of Kuwait's largest family offices was like.