International Women’s Day is a Historical day that cannot be celebrated enough. On that day, we honor women and their long journey, fighting for their basic rights.
In 1977, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 8th as the UN Day for women's rights and world peace. Every year, the UN issues a theme for that day, raising awareness on specific causes. The theme for 2018 is #PressForProgress to press forward and progress gender parity. This year’s campaign is a call to all groups and organizations, jointly and universally, to be persistent together in speeding up gender parity. It is a call to motivate and unite peers, friends and communities to act and think “gender inclusive”.
At LibanPost, we continuously push for gender parity. Today, March 8, 2018, we chose 10 of our women who occupy key positions throughout the company, to honor and thank. We chose them according to their seniority or uniqueness. Read about 10 of our amazing ladies below.
VALENTINA KAROUT
Postal Agent
Valentina is the first female employee who joined LibanPost since its start in 1998. She did 2 years of studies at University level in English Literature and worked in a school for 6 years prior to joining the company. At LibanPost, she has held several positions in the Beirut Sorting Center where she is now considered as an expert matter on mail types and mail addresses.
HODA MIKDACH
Postal Agent
Hoda graduated from the Lebanese University in Political Sciences & Administration, and started working in the Sorting Center of LibanPost thereafter. Together with Valentina, Hoda is the first woman to have joined the company since its inception in 1998. She is the mother of two children and feels she has gained deep knowledge of the Postal Industry during her stay at LibanPost where she is considered as a pillar!
DOLLY AWAD
Junior Letter Carrier
Dolly worked in the Security field for around 4 years, prior to joining LibanPost in February 2016, in the capacity of the first female letter carrier. By daring to perform an unusual role till then exclusively handled by men, Dolly opened the door for several other female colleagues to join LibanPost in such positions and proved that a letter carrier role may be equally well handled by a woman as by a man, yet with an extra feminine touch!
MLADINKA MAALOUF
Senior Letter Carrier
After spending around 12 years as an airline hostess traveling around the world and discovering countries, Mladinka decided that it was time to be back to her beloved hometown Batroun. She searched for a job in the area for several years without success, prior to hearing about the vacancy at LibanPost Batroun within the distribution team. She decided to apply for the Letter Carrier role in 2017, disregarding what her surrounding thought about this unusual step. She loved the idea of being a woman pioneer and soon proved to be hard working and very responsible. To her surprise, after only a few months at LibanPost, she was promoted to become the first female letter carrier in charge of a complete Distribution Center.
COLETTE AUDE
Retail Supervisor
Colette Aude is a graduate in business computer. She started off her career as an accountant, then joined LibanPost in 1999 as the first retail female employee. Colette rapidly proved to be one of the department’s pillars and was promoted to become senior, then supervisor. She is known for her exceptional devotion and hard work, as well as for her ability to lead from the heart and go beyond the call of duty when faced with humanitarian cases. For all of that, and much more, we would like to thank her!
SANA ABOU HAIDAR ELIAS
Retail Manager
Born in 1973, Sana is married and has two kids. Optometrist by education, she soon found her vocation at LibanPost where she was hired, in 1999, as a Postal Agencies Representative. Thereafter, Sana held various responsibilities from Post Master in the Retail network, to District Manager Retail & Distribution, to being in charge of the Services Unit, to heading the Call Center. In 2011, she was promoted as Retail Manager in charge of around 100 Post Offices and 300 people. She is often referred to, at LibanPost, as the “has done it all” expert!
RITA NAJEM
Accounting Manager
Rita holds a BA in Business Management followed by a Maitrise in Finance from Saint Joseph University (USJ). Her journey with LibanPost began in November 1999, where she started as a Junior Accountant, and was gradually promoted to become Senior Accountant, Revenues Supervisor, Chief Accountant and now Accounting Manager.
For Rita, LibanPost is “home away from home”. She feels fortunate to work in an environment where high values and commitment to excellence prevail.
HIND FADEL
Marketing Director
2010-2013
Hind is currently the Head of Marketing at BSL BANK. Prior to her present role, she lead marketing teams in Telecom, Logistics and IT industries, in Lebanon and MENA, and was namely for 3 years the Marketing Director of LibanPost where she largely contributed to its image transformation. She also collaborated with Government agencies for their Communication and Public Information strategies.
Hind offers expert advice to startups and NGOs and actively contributes to Financial Education initiatives.
She graduated from Université Paris XI and Ecoles Universitaires de Management in France. She is a happy mother of three, and spends her little free time painting wooden pieces.
NADA GENADRY
HR Director
Nada is the HR Director at LibanPost since 2011. Prior to that, she has structured and launched the HR Department at a Holding level for an ensemble of companies in Lebanon and the region, after having contributed to establish the HR, Communication & Quality functions for over 11 years at Hotel-Dieu de France Hospital. While abroad, Nada has contributed to innovative organizational behavior research with the INSEAD Business School (France) for several years, and has held R&D positions in Telecom engineering with Bell Northern Research (Canada) and the CNET (France).
Nada has lectured at USJ (HR DESS courses), and facilitated conferences and workshops at AUB, USJ and AUST. She has also co-written HR articles and chapters published in international magazines and books. She holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree (with distinction) in Electrical Engineering from McGill University (Canada), a DESS in HR from USJ, a Mediation Diploma from USJ, as well as a Coaching Diploma from the Coaches Training Institute (Dubai).
“During the past 7 years, Nada has managed to lead the Libanpost HR department with utmost qualifications and professionalism, starting by identifying the right talents, to recruiting, training and retaining them. But above all, she has managed to do all that with a feminine touch, with heart and fairness in any decision she has defended or taken. For Nada, an employee is nothing less than a member of the Libanpost family.”
Khalil Daoud, Chairman and Managing Director, LibanPost
NIAM KAWAS
Board Member
After graduating with a degree in Business Economics at the American University of Beirut, Niam moved to complete executive programs at Stanford University and INSEAD. Niam’s career began with Investcom. As part of the executive team, she implemented strategies for innovative international mobile telecom services in some African countries and fixed telephony services in the United Kingdom and Monaco, assisting in listing Investcom shares on the London stock exchange and the Dubai Stock Exchange. She has been an instrumental leader within the Group for over two decades. Niam is a member of the Investment, Budget, and Remuneration Committees at M1 Group and a Board Member in the majority of the Group’s Companies. She is currently the Deputy CEO of M1 Group and the CEO of M1 Capital, the Asset Management Company of M1 Group and is a Board Member at Libanpost.
“I have had the privilege of starting my mission at Libanpost reporting directly to Niam, and nothing made me more proud than doing so. A woman that has all the qualifications needed to lead and manage the most complex situations, companies, and people. In 16 years of cooperation with Niam, i have learned the true sense of professionalism, compassion, patience, support to others, and undoubtful loyalty to the shareholders, the organizations that she has managed and the employees that she worked with.”
Khalil Daoud, Chairman and Managing Director, LibanPost