Strengthening the role of women

GRI: [

103-1
103-2
103-3
203-1

]

103-1
103-2
103-3
203-1

Champions of Change Club

Since 2018, the President of the Management Board is a member of the Male Champions of Change club
– an association of the presidents of major Polish companies who wish to proactively increase the number of women employed in senior positions and improve their employment conditions. The club’s goal is to educate, increase awareness, share good practices, and create specific tools for the optimal engagement of both male and female talent as well as the promotion of diversity.

Przemek Gdański, the President of the Management Board, is one of the six founding members of the club, which was initiated by the Sukces Pisany Szminką Foundation and the Australian Ambassador in Poland, Paul Wojciechowski. In 2019 the club was constituted by 11 presidents of the largest Polish companies.

In 2019, the members of the Male Champions of Change club set three main goals for themselves:

increasing the number of women in senior positions,
closing the pay gap,
introducing tools which will contribute to the optimal engagement of the talents of both sexes

Club members also wish to promote parental leave among men, encouraging them not only to take paternity leave, but also to share parental leave with partners. As a result, women will be able to return to work faster.

Businesswoman of the Year, 10th edition

The Bank was a partner of the 10th edition of the Businesswoman of the Year competition, organised by the Sukces Pisany Szminką Foundation. It recognizes women who have been successful in the areas of business, science and culture. Przemek Gdański, the President of Bank BNP Paribas, was a member of the judging panel, and the Bank funded the prize in the Start-up of the Year category. The prize is awarded to women who have recently created companies with revenues below PLN 5 million per year and have developed an innovative product (or its prototype) or an innovative solution.

The 2019 prize in this category was awarded to Olga Grudniak. Her company has developed an advanced medical tool which allows doctors to select the optimal antibiotic therapy for a given disease and given type of bacteria. The judges’ assessment took into consideration, i.a.: company scalability, innovativeness, effective use of financing sources, competitive advantage, market potential and experience of team members. In addition to a trophy, the winner received an invitation to the largest Health IT congress in Europe – DMEA in Berlin.

Find out more about the award

Przemek Gdański President of the Management Board at BNP Paribas Bank Polska SA

Bank BNP Paribas cooperates with start-ups whose innovative solutions are implemented in our organization. Therefore, the Businesswoman of the Year competition, and specifically the Start-up of the Year category are extremely close to us. Our experience shows that innovative start-ups often need financial support, but also international contacts. We hope that Ms Olga's trip to Berlin will create new opportunities for the Biolumo company.

Agro on Heels

We continue to support women, with a special focus on women in the agro sector. We appreciate their growing role in the development of the entire sector: women from rural areas are often the decision makers when it comes
to self-managed businesses or family farms. Furthermore, they are active in their local communities: they serve
as mayors or create village housewives’ clubs. To show them our appreciation and at the same time offer a moment of respite and entertainment, we launched the Agro on Heels project, organised by women for enterprising women.
In 2019, the 4th edition of the project was carried out. This time, the project was also refreshed, it received a new logo and rebranding.

A key element of the project are meetings, during these women participate in cultural events (such as concerts or theatre performances), but also have the opportunity to exchange experiences.

In 2019 we organised 3 meetings, attended by 1,900 women:

Białystok: the main attraction of the evening was a musical theatre performance „Do not pull your chairs,
or a short history of pop music” staged by the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic together with the stars of the “Roma” Theater. Over 900 ladies took part in the meeting. An important part of the event was an awards ceremony: together with the project partner – Podlasie Chamber of Agriculture – we presented the Farmer of the Year awards.
Lublin: over 650 participants took part in an Iza Połońska and Mieczysław Szcześniak concert entitled „We play green” at the Lublin Philharmonic.
Gdańsk: we invited 350 women to a Waldemar Malicki concert in Stary Maneż.

The media partners of the events were the Gospodarz.pl agrocultural portal and local media. At each location
we were accompanied by representatives of local government authorities and representatives of agrocultural organizations (mainly women). The project will be continued in 2020.