As part of the initiative to get like-minded people from the industry to network and share experience  and challenges  around Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), MyWIE (Malaysia Women in Energy)  and PLWN (PETRONAS Leading Women Network) jointly organized an industry networking event on Thursday, 13 Sept 2018.  A total of 110 participants from  the government agencies, energy companies and NGOs  attended the 3-hour breakfast session at PETRONAS Art Gallery at Level 3, Suria KLCC.

The event started with a short welcome remarks by Rosman Hamzah, Secretary General of MGA who welcomed the participants and shared the activities carried out by PLWN and MyWiE.  He said that much is needed to be done in order to achieve diversity and inclusion in the energy sector. He urged the audience to create a mutually conducive  and supportive work environment that promotes the workforce as an integrated unit unbiased by gender, race or creed, in order to achieve the ultimate goal of capturing the tremendous growth opportunities that makes any company resilient, robust and successful in  the long term.

The main highlight of the event was the one hour moderated panel discussion to learn how different industries did or tried to do to create a more  inclusive environment to promote diverse workforce. The panellists were Sivakumeren Narayanan (Deputy CEO TalentCorp), Brigadier General ® Dato’ Norhuda Ahmad (Ministry of Defense) and Max Vorobiev (Head of Petroleum Engineering COE PETRONAS).  The session was moderated by  Low Wan Ching, Senior Petroleum Engineer, PETRONAS.

Mr Siva started off by sharing the statistics study on benchmarking companies with best diversity practices and various  initiatives carried out by TalentCorp  to promote work life practices, followed by the inspiring sharing from Dato’ Norhuda on how she had to go above and beyond expectation to achieve her 1^st female Brigadier General rank from general duty and breaking through the “brass ceiling” within the military. Adding on, Mr Max shared his working experience and interesting views on gender diversity back in Canada before moving to PETRONAS office in KL with a different cultural background and expectation.

The panel discussion ended at 10 am followed by presentation of token of appreciation to the speakers by Pn Emeliana Rice-Oxley (VP of Exploration Petronas & Co-chair of Upstream PLWN).   The guests spent a great deal of the next hour networking and engaging  in conversations around the D&I topic  that seems to evoke lots of interest from the workforce, and the female population in particular.  Guest also took opportunity to immerse themselves in the CERITERA KITA exhibition that is currently taking place at the PETRONAS Gallery until 30^th September 2018.