Women in leadership honours inspiring female professionals in 14 categories

The Women in Leadership (WIL) has honoured inspiring female professionals of the country at the seventh edition of the Inspiring Women Award.

A total of 17 winners and 10 honourable mentions were awarded this year through a ceremony that took place at the Le Meridien Dhaka.

This year's theme of the Women's festival was "WIL Women Change the Game".

The Inspiring Women Award is the flagship accolade of WIL, recognising outstanding women leaders in various frontiers.

The seventh Inspiring Women Award recognised the leaders of tomorrow, inspiring female professionals, and changemakers of Bangladesh.

"Inspiring Women Award helps women in the fight of leadership -- both inside and outside the professional world. It is not easy to be a woman, but it is easy to be an inspiring one," Nazia Andaleeb Preema, president of the Women In Leadership, said at the event.

In welcome speech, Shariful Islam, founder and managing director of Bangladesh Brand Forum, said: "As men, no matter how much we try to understand a woman's journey, it is really difficult to comprehend, especially in Bangladesh as one of the most underutilised resources in Bangladesh is indeed women's participation."

This year, the esteemed accolade received an overwhelming number of nominations from across the country.

A total of 350+ entries were received from 125+ organisations and institutions under 14 categories.

Three jury panels, consisting of experts and renowned professionals selected the winners and awarded them in two levels -- Honorable Mentions and Winners.

For the last 6 years, WIL has been encouraging professional women to pursue leadership in their careers.

The Inspiring Women Award was first given in 2014.

The Seventh Inspiring Women Award organised by Bangladesh Brand Forum is an initiative of Women in Leadership, which is powered by Daraz and supported by Akij Tableware, Joya Sanitary Napkin, Shwapno, Ossum & Team.

The event's strategic partner is Bangladesh Creative Forum, event partner Le Méridien Dhaka, technology partner Aamra Technologies Ltd, PR partner Backpage PR and.