An evening with women in payments

14 Aug 2015

They help advance the pace of innovation. They challenge competitors. They fuel the creativity and ambitions of their colleagues across diverse businesses. They represent deep and varied experience, as each has followed a unique path to her current role, and in July we celebrated them: the women in payments.

At this Payments NZ hosted evening, we learned about issues and trends, networked with peers and celebrated women’s achievements from across the payments ecosystem in our very first women’s event.

This event wasn’t only about recognising women in the payments industry today, but about supporting the next generation of women leaders that will help shape the future of payments.

Our Head of Strategy and Programmes, Jane Retimana, led a panel discussion with our very own female board members, Dame Patsy Reddy and Cath Henry. As trailblazers for women in business in New Zealand, Dame Patsy Reddy and Cath Henry offered some of their top tips:

  1. Never turn down an opportunity.
  2. Always have integrity.
  3. Build a team who know your worth.
  4. Stand up for what you believe in.
  5. Never talk down your achievements.
  6. No one will ever fight your battles better than you can.

An estimate was put forward that the payments industry has a near 70:30 male to female split. Meaning that for a room full of women working in an industry largely populated by men, the final words of Dame Patsy Reddy gave us all something to think about: “gender equality is still an issue. We need to keep on not making a fuss, but making a point.”

We’ve received such positive feedback from those who attended the evening that we look forward to hosting another women’s event in the future so watch this space.