Meat Business Women chair Laura Ryan.

A NEW mentorship initiative aims to improve career opportunities for women in the global meat industry and help meat businesses develop a strong pipeline of future female leaders has been launched.

The program created by Meat Business Women was launched this month to enable women working in the meat supply chain anywhere in the world to find a mentor, become a mentor or both.

Meat Business Women chair Laura Ryan said a strong mentoring relationship can be transformational for an individual’s career prospects and the meat businesses they work for.

“Our mentorship programme makes it easy for our community around the world to connect, exchange knowledge and gain new skills, while helping meat businesses develop a strong pipeline of talent and future leaders.

“We have a growing number of female and male business leaders joining the platform to help support our launch,” she said.

In 2020, research by Meat Business Women revealed that women make up just 36 percent of the meat industry’s global workforce and hold just 5pc of chief executive roles.

MBW said the mentorship program will run on a purpose-built, interactive platform on meatbusinesswomen.org. To participate, women must be members of Meat Business Women.

To make the programme as widely accessible as possible, Meat Business Women is offering individual memberships for the first time. Previously, women could only become members if their employer was a corporate partner of Meat Business Women.

Ms Ryan said the feedback from the body’s global community is clear

“Women want to take their career development into their own hands, no matter who they work for or where they are in the world.

“Becoming a member of Meat Business Women is a great way to connect with like-minded peers, acquire new skills and build your domestic and global networks.”

In addition to the mentorship program, MBW said the benefits of joining the body include:

• Market-leading suite of career development tools
• Access to bespoke monthly online masterclasses
• Trusted guidance on meat industry best practice
• Ability to network with an established global community through online forums and members directory

Meat Business Women conferences and events will also remain open to non-members.

Meat Business Women works in partnership with meat businesses to remove the barriers that stop women from reaching their full professional potential. It has the strategic backing of industry partners such as AMIC, B&L NZ and MIA. In 2019, it was officially recognised by the United Nations as a solution to one of its Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Visit meatbusinesswomen.org to join.