Women shine at the 2009 Westpac Women in Business Awards

Thirteen of Papua New Guinea’s high achieving women were honoured on Wednesday night when 260 people attended the 2009 Westpac Women in Business Awards at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Port Moresby.

Guest of honour, Honorable Powes Parkop, Governor of NCD and General Manager of Pacific Jane Kittel were amongst the dignitaries who enjoyed the event.

“As developing nations grow and strive to meet their potential - the role of women must continue to change and evolve.  The Westpac Women in Business Awards aim to recognise and highlight the outstanding contribution women are making to the development of the nation of Papua New Guinea,” said Mr Ross Hammond, Managing Director, Westpac Bank-PNG-Limited.

“All our finalists are winners.  They were winners before they were nominated.  Representing the private, public and community sectors, each and every one of them is truly inspirational, and it is a honour to be able to recognise them through the Awards,” Mr Hammond continued.

"Networking is one of the fundamentals of business.  Going forward we will put our support behind the development of a Women’s Business Network in Papua New Guinea.  We’ll build on the networks already established by the Westpac Women in Business Awards, and will continue to foster the growth of women in business."

The Westpac Women in Business Awards is a series of five sponsored-awards with one overall winner. The 2009 winners are:

Overall winner of the 2009 Westpac Women in Business Awards & Daltron Entrepreneur Award winner – Betty Higgins

The PricewaterhouseCoopers Private & Corporate Sector Award recognises outstanding achievement by a female manager in the private and corporate sector who has contributed significantly to the performance of a company or business unit.  The winner this year is Mary Handen.

The Cardno Acil Public Sector Award recognises outstanding achievement by a female manager in the public sector who has contributed significantly to the performance of any government service.  The winner this year is Dr Rona Nebita Nadile.

The Trukai Community Responsibility Award recognises outstanding achievement by a female manager working in the not-for-profit or non-government organisation sector.  Tessie Soi is the winner this year for this category.

The IBBM Young Achievers’ Award recognises outstanding achievement by a young woman under the age of 30 in any field.  The winner this year is Monica Pomat who will receive a scholarship from the PNG Institute of Banking & Business Management valued at K18,000.

All category winners will receive a trip to attend the 2010 Australia/PNG Business Forum in Townsville, Australia and the overall winner will also receive Brian Bell gift vouchers valued at K2,800; and an all expenses paid trip to attend one of the Westpac Women’s Markets “Learn, Lead & Succeed” events in Australia next year.

Westpac operates in seven Pacific countries including the Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.  It was established in PNG in 1910 when its first branch opened in Port Moresby and another soon after in Samarai.  The Westpac network in PNG now includes 16 branches.

  Read the full media release (PDF 188kb)

Media contact: Cynthia Kewei, Westpac PNG. Tel: (675) 322 0725 or email.