Raouhda Lagha is an engineer employed by Sofrecom Tunisia since February 2015. She is one of the six Tunisian award winners at the 2016 edition of the TechWomen mentorship and exchange program. Her success is a source of pride for Sofrecom for whom diversity, multiculturalism, gender equality and know-how sharing are fundamental values.
Tunisia has participated in TechWomen since 2012. Its six winners this year make it the most successful country of all those represented. One winner is Raouhda Lagha, an engineer and team leader at Sofrecom Tunisia. Raouhda brilliantly incarnates our "Know-How Network", an international network of experts - including women. She is just one of our many female consultants and experts whose energy and motivation to move forward illustrate the important role that women can play in business and national economic development.
For many years, Sofrecom has pursued a voluntarist policy to promote diversity and gender equality across all its agencies worldwide. The AFNOR Diversity Label obtained in 2015 affirms its efforts. Sofrecom encourages women employees to work in technical areas and to accept positions of responsibility, and one way of doing this is to allow them to participate in initiatives like TechWomen.
TechWomen, first announced during Barack Obama's Entrepreneurship Summit in 2010, is in perfect resonance with Sofrecom's approach, since it aims to empower, connect and support the next generation of women leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East. It enables emerging female techies to meet others and professional counterparts in the USA in order to advance their careers, reach their full potential, and become role models for women and girls in their communities. Another goal of the program is to facilitate mutual understanding between leading professional networks and thereby strengthen relations between the United States, the Middle East and North Africa.
Raouhda Lagha joined the other TechWomen 2016 laureates in San Francisco for five weeks of total immersion working with cultural and technical mentors and developing her personal project.
Raouhda Lagha remarks: "Cultural mentorship is particularly useful for people like me working in an international company. It's important to fully understand the cultural codes and behaviors of contacts and avoid offending people who might have different viewpoints. In every difference we observe, I think there is always something positive to be learned. We become more tolerant and open-minded and assimilate new ways of doing things. We must always find the best ways of working together if we are to propose optimal solutions to customers."
| "I am so proud of Raoudha Lagha's initiative. It strikes me as symbolic of our dynamism and our openness to the outside world which are helping to make Sofrecom Tunisia and its host country a preferred choice for local and foreign investors wishing to develop premium services activities. The excellence of higher education in Tunisia and the level of its engineers - both men and women - are advantages that assure incomparable quality of service for our customers. Today 32% of our employees are women, which is evidence of our firm commitment to professional equality and diversity. Raoudha's distinction should serve as an encouragement for all other Sofrecom Tunisia employees." Siwar FarhatCEO, Sofrecom Tunisia |
