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Women in Logistics and Transport (WiLAT) Sri Lanka Chairperson Gayani de Alwis, was invited as the key note speaker at the fourth WiLAT Nigeria day on 28th July at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos. This year’s theme of the conference was “Mentoring”. The Global WiLAT convener Hajia Aisha Ali-Ibrahim in her welcome address spoke of WiLAT’s activities, which she added is not limited to material support for women entrepreneurs, encouraging women worldwide to always work their way up to the top positions of their organizations and the continuing expansion of WiLAT into several countries, etc. She further said that China is to launch WiLAT this year which means WiLAT will be in 19 countries.

De Alwis’s key note speech titled “Mentoring – an irreplaceable ladder for sustainable development” was based on WiLAT Sri Lanka’s pioneering case study on “Ignite” mentoring programme.  She went on to explain mentoring as a key Global WiLAT strategic thrust and WiLAT’s long term commitment to empower women. She said that, “If a woman is empowered, she will feed the family and also benefits will extend to the society at large’’. She further said that by having more professional women at work will help economies to flourish. De Alwis said that women should endeavour to mentor their young ones to climb the career ladder. The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves she added. She urged mentors to try and understand their mentees to enable them to see hope in themselves. She reiterated that mentoring programme can only be successful if both mentor and mentee understand each other, committed to the cause and be flexible in their interactions. She elaborated on stages of a mentoring relationship as pairing to ensure the right fitment between the mentee and mentor, setting expectation at the outset to make the relationship more meaningful, working together on the improvement plan and supporting the mentee’s goal attainment. The mentor should lift the spirit of mentee and with that, you are assisting other young women to climb up the career ladder and shatter the elusive glass ceiling she said.  De Alwis urged the mentors to cherish this mentoring experience as a leadership moment. Remember mentoring is a two-way street. You get out what you put in, she stressed.

Her key note speech was followed by WiLAT Nigeria unveiling the WiLAT Impact, Mentoring Programme.  The chief guest, Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Usman, the first lady to hold this position, urged women in the maritime industry to engage in mentoring other women in logistics to complement men’s efforts in creating value to the industry. Four other speakers graced the occasion.

The conference was followed by an awards dinner where WiLAT Sri Lanka Chairperson was awarded with the “Distinguished Mentor and Role Model” award for her leadership in rolling out mentoring globally.

The Women in Logistics and Transport (WiLAT) forum in Sri Lanka was formed in 2013 by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Sri Lanka to encourage the representation of women in the transport and logistics industry and to address the wide gender imbalance. WiLAT Sri Lanka creates awareness on career opportunities, increases access to information and supports continuous professional development. The Forum also offers networking opportunities to share industry best practice as well as training and mentoring opportunities. Ignite mentoring programme is the flagship event of WiLAT Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is the first WiLAT forum to launch the mentoring programme and WiLAT Chairperson is the Global WiLAT team leader for strategic thrust on Mentorship. Currently Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Nigeria and Singapore have adopted mentoring.