It’s rare to find a company with women well represented from top management to lower ranks. Yet at Villa Rosa Kempinski Hotel this has been the norm – a fete that has attracted the attention of the United Nations.
The hotel, opened a few years ago in Nairobi, says the inclusion of women at every level shaped it into one of the leading players in the hotel industry.
On Monday, UN Women awarded it a charter for implementing policies geared towards balancing the long tilted scales of gender at the workplace. Villa Rosa Kempinski Hotel is one of the institutions that supports the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP), a partnership of UN Women and the UN Global Compact.
The charter is selectively given to institutions that have taken concrete and innovative actions to advance women in the work place. The UN body has long held that women’s inclusion drives development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals and national economic and development plans requires rapidly moving towards gender equality.
“We are continuously seeking avenues to give women a chance, empower them and improve their skills while securing their roles in the society. This charter highlights the inspirational women of Villa Rosa Kempinski whose presence here has helped grow the business,” says Ms Jacque Odero, the People Service Manager at the hotel.
“This is an endorsement that we are doing something right in our business and it’s a call to action for others to do the same and empower women at the work place,” she adds.
UN Women and the UN Global Compact has about 40% of women employees in top management, while the rest are spread out across the business.
