Caroline Hadrbolec
Today we celebrate International Women's Day and I would like to express my warmest congratulations to all women in our internal Eurazeo teams, in our portfolio companies and in our ecosystem in general! During this special day, let’s all celebrate together the professional and personal contributions of all of us women!
International Women's Day is an annual milestone highlighting progress for equality between women and men. It helps to raise awareness about the importance of gender equality in the business world and more largely in society.
At Eurazeo, this goal is not new, and we have been acting on it over the past decade already. Today, women represent 47% of all our colleagues, which is about 20 points higher than the average of the PE industry.
In our investment teams the share is about 23%, while the average in the PE sector is estimated to be around 14%.
Last but not least, about a third of our top management positions, including our CEO, are held by women, ensuring deal sourcing and execution, fundraising and LP servicing, and the overall flawless functioning of our public-listed company.
We are proud of these achievements, but we want to go further. By accelerating one of the pillars of our ESG Strategy O+, which is inclusion, Eurazeo strives to build an inclusive work environment, open to all, where everyone, including women, feel supported and can give their best. Clear objectives have been set at Group level, supported by all management levels in our organization and progress is thoroughly measured by our top management.
In 2021 Eurazeo engages to continue its multiple commitments : special attention to gender parity during the recruitment processes; identification of high potentials and tailored development programs; strengthening of training programs ; tailored approach, coaching and mentoring of our female colleagues during the key moments of their career; an even more flexible organizational set-up (work-from-home agreement, parental help, parental act); incentives to participate in various networks and outreach events that aim to promote diversity.
Moreover, Eurazeo actively participates in improving Diversity and Inclusion practices across its ecosystem and leads by example. We are for instance engaged in multiple associations and events that encourage gender diversity and female leadership in the Private Equity sector (France Invest, SISTA, Level20).
Regardless of the economic and social challenges that 2020 has brought for all of us, we are convinced that diversity and inclusion should be at the core of an organizations’ culture. We pursue our commitments and enable women to benefit from the same opportunities as men for their career advancement and access to managerial positions.
