Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/769023
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 4 JANUARY 2017 17 Events LOCAL artist Josette Fenech, will be exhibiting a number of works at the 12 Star Gallery, Europe House in London as part of the EU Presi- dency celebrations organised by the Maltese Embassy in The UK's capital. The event will take place on the 11 and 12 January and will be a solo exhibition. The title of the exhibition is Horizons and it aims to reflect the themes of maritime, migration and the Mediterranean. This prestigious exhibition, of mainly abstract art, is the culmi- nation of a journey, a movement in her artistic career and reflects the culture, mind-set and deep passion of the Maltese Islanders. Josette's many abstract depictions of the Mediterranean are not just mari- time based but include visions of tranquillity, culture and the beat- ing heart of this tiny but steadfast island. Josette covers a multitude of passionate scenes, all internally driven, and all interesting in terms of metaphor and narrative. Many of the exhibit's paintings are con- cerned with the natural beauty of the sea and the island's vision of the Mediterranean looking out to- wards the horizons. Malta's unique history as a piv- otal and strategic centre of this great sea is also considered from a perspective of those moving past or looking in and also from those islanders looking out towards said horizon, anticipating their next part to play in this island's rich his- tory. From the powerful and stirring issues of migratory movement, to the pacifying peace of the many naturally beautiful scenes, Josette Fenech captures them internally and depicts them on canvas as part of her movement in personal and artistic terms, encompassing the Maltese culture, passion and warm traditional welcome as she delivers her beautiful message. Emirates announces daily service from Dubai to Malta via Cyprus EMIRATES unveiled plans to re- route its daily service between Dubai and Malta via Larnaca, Cy- prus, from 1 February 2017. This means that the current five weekly flights with routing Dubai/Tunis/ Malta/Dubai will be changed to Dubai/Larnaca/Malta/Larnaca/ Dubai, the same as the current flight operating every Monday and Wednesday. The Malta route al- lows travellers to book tickets be- tween Malta and Cyprus. Travellers from Malta can once again enjoy daily access to Larn- aca, as Cyprus is only two hours away. The daily Dubai-Larnaca- Malta service will be operated by a state-of-the-art Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a three-class configura- tion, with eight Private Suites in first class, 42 lie-flat seats in busi- ness class, and 310 spacious seats in economy class. Customers on Emirates' flights enjoy the famed hospitality of its multi-national Cabin Crew, in- cluding Maltese, as well as gour- met cuisine and Emirates' award- winning ice entertainment system. With more than 2,500 chan- nels of on-demand entertain- ment, from movies, television pro- grammes, games, audio books, and music from around the world, ice has been named the world's best inflight entertainment system by Skytrax for 12 consecutive years. As with all Emirates flights, pas- sengers also enjoy generous bag- gage allowances: 50kg in first class, 40kg in business class, and up to 35kg in economy class. Starting 1 February 2017, EK 109 will depart Dubai at 7.5am, arriving in Larnaca at 10.20am. It will then depart Larnaca at 11.50am, arriv- ing in Malta at 1.25pm. T he return flight, EK 110, will leave Malta at 2.55pm, arriving in Larn- aca at 6.15pm. It will then depart Larnaca at 7.30pm, and land in Dubai at 1.25am the next day. The timings are ideal for onward con- nections from Dubai to Australia, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and North and South America. Businesses and traders will also benefit from the aircraft's belly- hold to carry cargo on the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft by Emirates SkyCargo offering 23 tonnes of ca- pacity per flight. Further information and flight schedules are available from www. emirates.com/mt Cyprus is again reachable on a daily basis from Malta on Emirates HSBC supports diversity in Malta's boardrooms HSBC Bank Malta has become the first signatory in Malta to sign up to the new Women Directors Malta (WDM) charter. The Char- ter seeks to drive a step change in diversity within the board and executive levels of Malta's private sector. Today the share of women on boards in Malta stands at a low 2.5%, well below the EU-28 aver- age of 21.2% of board members of the largest publicly listed com- panies. These figures, from the European Commission, become starker when compared to the fact that 60% of new university gradu- ates across the continent are fe- male. The WDM charter goes beyond the tried-and-tested approaches of legislation, voluntary targets and quotas, and incentivises adop- tion by offering quality marks. A WDM Quality Mark is intended to demonstrate to staff, agencies, aspiring women employees, spon- sors and the public the commit- ment of businesses to equal ac- cess to the boardroom for highly skilled women. The Quality Mark is open to any organisation to attain in three tiers of entry, development, and full status. Each level however requires its own criteria: a clear boardroom diversity policy, transparency of the processes, open promotion, and proportion of women on board, amongst others. The Qual- ity Mark lasts for two years when it will be reviewed again. "What we are arguing is that in Malta there needs to be a focus on creating workplace culture free from bias, with policies and pro- cesses in place that ensure wom- en have an equal opportunity to progress to board positions, and a level playing field. This is what Women Directors Malta means by gender equality," said WDM President Michelle Gialanze. "With the Charter and the Qual- ity Mark, we are allowing compa- nies to show that they too believe in diversity on boards. HSBC is the first company to adopt the charter and as a result have set an example for other companies to follow suit," she added. According to her, a growing body of evidence shows that di- verse teams sustain higher and more consistent performance over longer periods and organisations that aggressively promote women to executive positions, have one quarter to one third higher prof- its than their industry average. For instance, Harvard Business Review (June 2011) reported a so-called 'C' factor, showing that work- ing groups with more women in them demonstrate higher collec- tive intelligence - problem-solving capability - because women listen better and encourage more par- ticipation. "I believe that diversity of thought is fundamental to making the best business decisions," HSBC Malta CEO Andrew Beane said. "Lead- ers in the corporate sector must have the courage to stand up and change the status quo as it is clear that diverse companies perform better and in today's world gender inequality is simply unacceptable." He added: "Change may start with words but ultimately is about action. At HSBC we already have five female directors across our three companies and a further three female colleagues on our ex- ecutive committee. Despite these talented women having reached the highest levels of HSBC, we have a lot more work to do to en- sure we have a strong and diverse future as a company. As examples, flexible working is now offered to all colleagues - female or male - re- turning from childcare leave on an 'opt out' rather than 'opt in' basis and we have changed our selection and talent development processes to remain entirely meritocratic, but to reduce the risk of gender bias in the outcomes these pro- cesses drive." The Charter and the Quality Mark were launched at the Casino Maltese, a symbolic choice as the iconic club refused entry to wom- en when it opened its doors in 1852. Women were finally allowed in 1941 starting with a dedicated 'Ladies Room'. "When Casino Maltese was first opened 164 years ago, women were not allowed in because it was only for 'gentlemen'. Since then obviously things have evolved and having held the public launch of Women Directors Malta Charter here shows that even in tradition- al, tiny Malta things change," said Minister for Education and Em- ployment Evarist Bartolo. "I would like this initiative of the private sector to be transferred al- so to the public sector. I will com- mit myself as the education and employment minister," he added. Other speakers at the event in- cluded Anton Borg, President of The Malta Chamber of Com- merce, Enterprise and Industry and Grace Camilleri, Executive Director at EY Malta, who, to- gether with Andrew Beane and Michelle Gialanze, took part in a frank and open panel discussion. "You look at the speed this coun- try is moving and see the success- es in labour force, in childcare sys- tem and yet on the other side, you see issues such as entrepreneur- ship, ease of doing business, and women directorship and we are failing," said Anton Borg, before inviting more women to become council members of The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enter- prise and Industry in its upcom- ing elections. Other distinguished guests at the event were Paul Bugeja, CEO of the Malta Tourism Author- ity and G. Kathleen Hill, the U.S. Ambassador to Malta. From left: Andrew Beane from HSBC, Anton Borg from The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, Grace Camilleri from EY Malta, and Michelle Gialanze from Women Directors Malta discuss the barriers that hinder women's progress into boards in Malta Horizons: A celebration of the Maltese EU presidency