Today is International Women's Day, and this year's theme is "Inspire Inclusion"! We caught up with our colleague Paulien Hop, to hear how she champions inclusion within NIBC Commercial Real Estate, especially in the male-dominated world of 'Real Estate' 🏗
For over 2.5 years, Paulien has been leading the Real Estate & Infrastructure business alongside Jan Willem van Roggen at NIBC Bank. She began her career as an intern in the Energy Finance team at NIBC and after a stint at ABN Amro, she returned to NIBC five years ago, stepping into her first leadership role.
Paulien reflects, "During my early years at NIBC, I had the privilege to work on numerous transactions, where I quickly assumed significant responsibilities. Throughout most of my career, I had a female manager, along with other role models, who instilled in me the confidence to aspire to leadership roles myself.
Actively promoting diversity and inclusion within our teams through workshops and discussions on improvement areas is our approach to fostering an inclusive work environment. We've made our job postings more inclusive and ensured that the team conducting interviews reflects diversity. Additionally, we're dedicated to strengthening the connection between our Dutch teams and international colleagues through joint team events, temporary exchanges, and cross-country deal and project teams.
To aspiring female students and young professionals, Paulien advises, "Consider a career in real estate finance; it's a dynamic sector that addresses significant societal challenges such as housing shortages and sustainability. While the sector is predominantly male dominated, there's no reason to perpetuate that. It would be fantastic if HR departments and other managers within organizations actively encouraged female talent in their career advancement. It's widely known that women tend to be more cautious in pursuing new ambitions and may not always step forward for a promotion or job opportunity if they're unsure about meeting all the required competencies. Proactively offer positions to women, approach them, and engage in timely discussions about their aspirations for the next step.
Provide them with confidence and occasionally that extra push to realize their ambitions!"💪
#InternationalWomensDay #iwd2024 #InspireInclusion #DiversityandInclusion #WomenLeadership #RealEstateFinance #EmpowerWomen
Director, Head of Regional Financial Crime Investigations, APAC, Hong Kong
7moproud of you 👍