Telenor Pakistan Appoints Tayyaba Arshi As CEO to Celebrate ‘International Day of the Girl’

In line with its commitment to a diverse work-culture and focus on encouraging female participation in the workforce, Telenor Pakistan celebrated International #DayoftheGirl by symbolically making Tayyaba Arshi the CEO of the company for a day.

The purpose of this day is to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face while promoting girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights. This years’ theme for ‘Day of the Girl’ is ‘GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable’.

Tayyaba Arshi, an ex-employee at Telenor Pakistan, has won the accolade of her peers as being a perseverant and hardworking individual, in spite of her physical disability.

She started her journey by joining Telenor Pakistan under the ‘Open Mind Program’ as a fresh employee. Here, she was able to extend the stay from 6 months (the set duration of the program) to a well-deserved four years – all through hard work, honesty, and loyalty to her job. Tayyaba has attended and won a number of national and international forums and prizes, adding motivation and experience to her achievement arsenal that will enable her to keep succeeding in life. Currently, Tayyaba is serving in the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) as Management Executive.

Telenor Pakistan continues to empower societies trough reduced inequalities, with ground-breaking programs such as Open Mind Pakistan under which we have employed over 100 differently-abled individuals and Naya Aghaaz, which has re-employed over 70 women with career breaks. Telenor has made diversity and inclusion a part of its corporate culture and has established industry benchmarks with its policies.

While handing over the role, Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO Telenor Pakistan & Head of Emerging Asia Cluster said,

This occasion highlights the level of success we believe that all Pakistani girls and people with disabilities are capable of achieving if given the right opportunities and tools. We are committed to finding solutions for challenges that girls face, especially working towards bridging the digital skills gender gap and encouraging female participation in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) fields.

“We wish all Pakistani girls a happy and empowering ‘Day of the Girl’! Women truly are an unstoppable force and we will continue uplifting them in whatever way we can,” he gave hearty congratulations to Tayyaba for her great achievements.

As the symbolic CEO of Telenor Pakistan, Tayyaba Arshi highlighted the importance of ‘Day of the Girl’ and ‘Open Mind Program’ initiatives which aims to include women and people with disabilities to the workforce. She added that gender and physical abilities are in no way the determinants behind employee appointment, and instead, the selection should be based on skills, commitment, and hard work so that our society can absorb, celebrate and practice human rights and equality.