International expert session

“UNIDO: A Global Platform for the Development of Women's Entrepreneurship”

Organized by UNIDO within the program of the Second Eurasian Women’s Forum in St. Petersburg

Biographies of the participants

Ms. Fatou Haidara

Managing Director, Directorate of Corporate Management and Operations, UNIDO

Ms. Haidara holds a master’s degree in Economics and Business Management from the University of Reims, . Prior to joining UNIDO, she served the Government of Mali for eight years in several ministerial positions, including as Minister of Employment and Vocational Training and Minister of Industry, Trade and Private Sector Development. During her service as a minister, she was involved in the formulation and implementation of various country-level policies and strategies. She also actively participated in high-level strategic negotiations between the Government of Mali and Bretton Woods institutions, and with other development partners. She led many ministerial delegations at international forums, notably the first World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Seattle in 1999.

Ms. Haidara joined UNIDO in 2004 as Director of the Africa Programme. She was mainly responsible for the overall coordination of UNIDO’s activities in Africa, ensuring the development, implementation and evaluation of the continent’s projects and programmes. In 2006, she was appointed Director of the Special Programmes Group, which was in charge of promoting UNIDO’s cooperation with the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the implementation of technical cooperation projects. She was also in charge of mainstreaming South-South cooperation, and the Human Security and Youth Employment dossiers. From January 2011, as Director of the Policymaking Organs’ Secretariat, Advocacy and Communications, Ms. Haidara was responsible for coordinating and liaising with Member States and providing substantive support to the governing bodies of the Organization. In 2013, she mobilized the UNIDO team and, together with the Government of Peru, coordinated the historic 15th General Conference of UNIDO, which culminated in the adoption of the Lima Declaration that set the foundation for a renewed mandate of inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID).

Ms. Haidara holds the title of “Commandeur de l’ordre National du Mali”, awarded by the President of the Republic of Mali.

Ms. Galina Karelova

Deputy Chairperson of the Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation

Ms. Galina Karelova has a doctoral degree in Sociological Sciences. She has published more than 150 papers on economic, social and political issues.

Ms. Galina Karelova actively cooperates with non-governmental organizations dealing with the problems of children, women, veterans, and disabled persons.

In 1996 Ms. Karelova became a member of the Russian parliament. Since 2000 she served as the first Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Development of the Russian Federation. In this post, Galina Karelova was actively involved in protection of the rights of women and children. She was the coordinator of the presidential program "Children of ", aimed at rehabilitation of disabled children and providing social assistance to orphans. With her participation, a representative office of the UNICEF children's fund was opened in Russia and the institution of the Ombudsman for Children's Rights was established in the Russian regions.

Ms. Karelova also serves as a representative on behalf of the executive body of the state authority of the Voronezh region.

As Deputy Chairperson of the Federation Council, Ms. Karelova performs the following duties:

- Supervision of public complaints and appeals handling to the Federation Council - Coordinates activities of the Council of the Federation Committee on Social Policy, Federal Structure, Regional Policies, Local Self-Governance and Affairs of the North - Ensures interaction of the above-mentioned committees of the Federation Council with other committees when reviewing draft federal and constitutional laws, with the aim of devising a concerted position of the Federation Council

Ms. Gulnaz Kadyrova

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation

Ms. Gulnaz Kadyrova is a Doctor of Economic Sciences, an “Honored Economist of the Russian Federation”, and a 1st Class State Counsellor of the Russian Federation. She graduated with honors from the Faculty of Industrial Planning at the State Institute of Finance and Economics.

From 2003 to 2004, she served as the Deputy Head for Economics and Finance of the Administration of the city of Naberezhnye Chelny. She also worked as the Head of the Economics and Finance Depatment for the Industrial Union "ROSPROM". In 2006 – 2007, she was the Deputy Director of the State Industrial Policy Department in the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation. Since 2008, Ms. Gulnaz Kadyrova has worked as the Director of the Budget Policy and Finance Department of the Ministry of Industry and Energy of the Russian Federation, and as the Director of the Budget Policy and Finance Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. In 2014, she was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.

Ms. Kadyrova holds the title “Honored Worker of the Fuel and Energy Complex”. She is also an Honored Economist of the Russian Federation. She was a lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, where she was teaching a course on "Motivation and stimulation of professional activity" at the Department of State and Municipal Governance. Ms. Kadyrova was also a professor at the Department of State and Municipal Governance where she taught multiple courses to master’s students.

Mr. Jacek Cukrowski

Chief, Regional Division for Europe and Central Asia, UNIDO

Mr. Jacek Cukrowski is a MSc in System Engineering, PhD in Computer Science and a PhD in Habilitation (i.e., a senior post-doctoral qualification) in Economics.

Before joining the Europe and Central Asia Division, he led operations of the UNIDO Institute of Capacity Development. Previously, he worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a Millennium Development Goals adviser and a Team Leader at the Regional Center for Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States. Earlier he was with the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE) in and with the Economic Institute of Academy of Science of the Czech Republic.

Mr. Cukrowski has extensive experience in advisory and technical cooperation projects in most of the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He is the co-author of the UNDP Central Asia Human Development Report: “Bringing down barriers: Regional cooperation for human development and human security”.

In recognition of sustained professional and academic excellence he received the title of Professor, conferred by the President of Poland.

Ms. Monica Carco

UNIDO Senior Industrial Development Officer, Focal Point for women economic empowerment and youth employment

Ms. Monica Carco has worked as an international civil servant for UNDP, WFP, UNIDO and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more than 25 years. Having covered representation and management positions, Ms. Carco builds up public and private partnerships and strategic, multi-stakeholder alliances to enhance local development.

Monica Carco has run several technical assistance projects in the area of private sector development, women economic empowerment and youth employment through entrepreneurship development, and she is currently responsible for a regional programme in the MENA Region aiming at promoting women empowerment for inclusive and sustainable industrial development.

Monica firmly believes that strengthening the entrepreneurial eco-system and promoting entrepreneurship development for youth and women will contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development.

Ms. Amani Asfour

World President of International Federation for Business and Professional Women - BPW International,

An active proponent of women’s economic empowerment, Ms. Asfour also holds the following positions:

- Chair of the COMESA Business Council ( Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa) - Founder and Honorary President of Business & Professional Women (BPW- Egypt) - President of the Egyptian Business Women Association (EBWA) - President of African Alliance for Women Empowerment - President Afro-Arab Network for Women Empowerment - Chair of the Afro-Arab Mediterranean Congress for Women Entrepreneurs - President of the Organization for Women in Trade (OWIT) Cairo Chapter - Vice Chair of Human Resources, Science & Technology, AU- ECOSOCC African Union – Economic Social Cultural Council

Dr. Amany Asfour graduated from the Faculty of Medicine – Cairo University and earned her Medical Doctor & Master of Science in Pediatrics. In her academic career, she has been a lecturer of pediatrics at the National Research Center of Egypt. She joined the private sector while she was a student at the Faculty of Medicine. Within a few years she established her own company.

Her interests were not limited to establishing her private business. Soon she realized the importance of targeting the economic empowerment of women and young women’s entrepreneurship. As a result, Ms. Asfour established the Egyptian Business Women Association in 1995 with the objectives of promoting young generations of women entrepreneurs and giving guidance to women business owners of small and medium-sized enterprises. The organization supports gender mainstreaming in the global market.

Dr. Asfour then founded the organization, Business and Professional Women of Egypt (BPW – Egypt) to empower women and link female entrepreneurs to regional and global markets, and build the capacity of women owners of SMEs and youth business startups.

Ms. Marianela Santos Cabrera

Member of the Coordination Committee of the UNIDO Project, "Strengthening of the competitiveness, organizational performance and export capacity of the Cuban music industry", and Marketing Executive for Bis Music, Cuban Record Label

Ms. Santos Cabrera was born in Cuba and studied at the University of Havana, graduating with a degree in Social Communication in 2005. She has taught at the University of Havana in several disciplines of social communication. She has conducted research on communication, image and organizational culture in various Cuban organizations, and has done postgraduate studies in Communications, Business Management in Music, Market Research and Digital Commerce of Music. From 2006 until 2009 she was head of the Communication Group of the Television Studies of Mundo Latino; then she worked as a Communication Specialist at the Cuban Institute of Music (2009-2015). Since 2015, Ms. Santos Cabrera has been the Marketing and Communication Executive at Bis Music, Cuban Record Label. She has worked in the management of organizational image (media management, community manager) and marketing; strategic campaign planning, launch of new products; internal communication and public relationships; organization of events and participation in business events in Cuba, the , and .

Ms. Santos Cabrera is a member of the Coordination Committee of UNIDO Project, "Strengthening of the competitiveness, organizational performance and export capacity of the Cuban music industry", participating in various training workshops for executives, musicians and producers of the Cuban music value chain.

Ms. Elfi Klumpp

Head of Business Development and Global Education in Festo Didactic and General Manager of the WorldSkills Foundation –

Elfi Klumpp holds degrees in Business Administration and Economics with international studies (Sorbonne University, Paris, France; Gannon University, Pennsylvania, USA).

Since 1989, she has been working for the Festo Group in Esslingen, Germany. Within various positions at Festo Didactic, Ms. Klumpp has been responsible for numerous international large-scale projects in the field of education, qualification and workforce development.

Between 2005 and 2013, she was assigned by the Festo Group to set-up the WorldSkills – Germany organization, as the Managing Board Member. Under her 8 years of leadership, WorldSkills – Germany was founded and developed. She successfully initiated and acted as Germany’s bid leader to host the 42nd WorldSkills Competition 2013 in . Ms. Klumpp set-up the event company, WorldSkills Leipzig 2013 Ltd., and was a key decision maker in preparing and delivering the Mega-event WorldSkills Leipzig 2013.

Since March 2014, Ms. Klumpp has been the Head of Global Education Projects at Festo Didactic. Her responsibilities include the set-up of educational projects and the development of strategic partnerships for education and skills development. Furthermore, from 2005 – 2011, she served as a member of the presidium of WORLDDIDAC – The Global Trade Association for the Education Industry based in Berne, . Most recently, in October 2017, she has taken the role of the WorldSkills Foundation General Manager.

Ms. Sanem Oktar

Secretary General of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of (KAGIDER)

Ms. Oktar’s career started in Colgate Palmolive in 1993. She established her first company, Tribeca Communications, in 1997. Since then, she has founded Tribal Sales & Marketing Support Services (1999); directComm (2002), a database marketing company; and Limonsocial (2011). In 2015, WPP announced that GroupM, the leading global media investment group, had acquired a majority stake in directComm.

Recently, Ms. Sanem Oktar has become partner and CEO of Wunderman İstanbul. A serial entrepreneur, she was listed as one of the Top Ten Women Entrepreneurs of Turkey in 2010, and her numerous works and projects have been awarded many times. Since May 2015, she has been the Secretary General of KAGIDER and a member of the Women 20 Steering Committee.

Ms. Veronika Peshkova

President of the Public Diplomacy Foundation “Women’s View”, Member of the Expert Council of the OPORA RUSSIA Women‘s Entrepreneurship Development Committee

Ms. Peskova is a member of the board of OPORA Russia, and a member of the Expert Council of the Women's Entrepreneurship Development Committee. She is the federal expert of the Business Success national award. She hosts the business competition of investment projects at the Central Russian Economic Forum. She is the organizer and mentor of the APEC award for best women's business projects. Besides, Ms. Peshkova is a lecturer of business administration and executive business at the Russian Academy of Science under the president of the Russian Federation.

From 2009 to 2012, she worked as a CFO in the "Rolf" group of companies. She was engaged in carrying out activities aimed at promoting entrepreneurship in various regions of the Russian Federation. She was also responsible for the development and implementation of the federal educational program, "Mother-entrepreneur". Since 2010, Ms. Peshkova has been engaged in business consulting.

Ms. Peshkova cooperates with UNIDO in the field of women economic empowerment.

Ms. Serena Romano

President of Corrente Rosa and International Gender Parity Consultant

Serena Romano has an extensive European experience in the area of legal, regulatory and antitrust affairs, notably in the banking and telecommunications sectors. She managed innovative international projects at Eurocard, Europay International, Mobistar, Olivetti and Telecom Italia’s international regulatory and international institutions department.

From 2003 to 2010 she served as Vice-Chair of the Information Computer Communications Policy Committee (ICCP) for the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD.

Serena Romano is co-founder and current president of Corrente Rosa, a women’s advocacy association that promotes women’s participation in business, institutions and politics to achieve a greater balance of talents in society.

In 2009, she became a participating member of the OECD-MENA Women’s Business Forum, and has since been actively pursuing the development of an action plan for women in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Serena Romano is a member of the Comité d’honneur of Women’s Tribune , an association that takes stock of the progress of women in the MENA region; a member of the Governors of the Euro-Mediterranean Women's Foundation, that promotes gender equality in the Euro-Mediterranean; and a member of the pool of expert resources of the European Institute for Gender Equality. Since January 2016, she has been the Italian Focal Point for the Women’s Empowerment Dialogue of the Union for the Mediterranean.

Since 2010, Serena Romano has managed a consultancy business that advises corporations and institutions in the telecommunications, energy and gender parity sectors. Her customers include the OECD and ’s largest power company ENEL. She leads EuropeAid-funded projects on gender-related issues in the Eastern Partnership countries of , , , , Moldova and ; in the South Neighbourhood countries of the South Mediterranean border; and in the Western Balkans.

Serena Romano’s education includes studies in Paris, and . She holds a degree in Law from Université Libre de Bruxelles.