Young Women Challenge finalists 2018;

On Friday 7 December, Deloitte Luxembourg recently welcomed 36 finalists who engaged in the firm’s sixth edition of its Young Women Challenge during an insightful day addressing the theme of gender balance in the workplace.

Each year, Deloitte Luxembourg extends an invitation to a number of business schools and universities across Europe with the objective to gather fresh perspectives on the topic of gender balance within the corporate sphere. With diversity and inclusion high on Deloitte Luxembourg’s agenda, participants were asked to suggest a solution to the following challenges: the first, “how to make audit, tax and consulting careers more appealing to young female students” and secondly, “how to improve the retention of female professionals and ensure gender balance at all grades.”

This year, the challenge received over 200 applications from across 38 different academic institutions. This alone is a testament to the outreach and impact of the initiative and the relevance of the topic itself. The finalists were invited to Luxembourg to present their projects and ideas on how gender balance and the attraction and retention of female professionals could be improved in the professional service sphere.

“We understand the significance of connecting with these young women. We want to hear their views and learn how to meet the expectations of today’s young female professionals. The participants give us the opportunity to consider and implement creative and original ideas addressing the question of gender equality,” explained John Psaila, Managing Partner at Deloitte Luxembourg. “As in previous years, the quality of the candidates and the projects presented is outstanding. The impact created by the success of the initiative has gone beyond our expectations in all respects,” he continued.

Following a day of presentations and jury feedback, the award ceremony took place on Friday afternoon. 13 Deloitte Partners, including the firm’s Managing Partner, as well as external guests: Corinne Lamesch, Head of Legal Services Europe at Fidelity International, and Michèle Berger, CEO Pictet Funds (Europe) SA Funds Services, were present to congratulate the winners as follows:

Subject 1:

1st place: the team from ICHEC Brussels 
2nd place: the team from Bocconi University

Subject 2:

1st place: the team from Tilburg University
2nd place: the team from HEC Paris