Director General Of EGA’s GAC Recognised By World Bank’s MIGA For Contribution To Advancing Women And Dender Equality

Emirates Global Aluminium, the world’s largest premium-aluminium producer, today announced that the Director General of its bauxite mining and export subsidiary, Guinea Alumina Corporation, has been recognised by the World Bank Group’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, for her role in advancing women and gender equality.

Aïssata Béavogui, the first woman to hold such a senior position in Guinea’s mining industry, received the ‘Gender CEO’ award at a ceremony in Washington DC, before International Women’s Day which takes place tomorrow.

MIGA’s ‘Gender CEO’ award recognises senior managers who have a demonstrated track record of advancing women and gender equality while contributing to the World Bank Group’s twin goals of poverty reduction and shared prosperity. The theme of the 2020 award was ‘Women Driving Growth in Africa’.

In addition to her career-long commitment to advancing women and promoting gender equality, Ms. Béavogui was recognised for GAC’s ongoing work to empower women. GAC ensures women, who often work land that is owned by men, are included in the compensation process when land is acquired for mining and other operations GAC also promotes training and microcredit programs to assist women in communities neighbouring its operations to start their own businesses.

EGA’s Chief Executive Officer, Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, said: “I applaud Aïssata for this achievement, which recognises her work in promoting the role of women in Guinean society over many years as well as at GAC.  As the late Sheikh Zayed said ‘The woman is half of the society; any country which pursues development should not leave her in poverty or illiteracy’. This has driven our own work in Guinea, and Aïssata has been at the forefront of it.”

MIGA Executive Vice President Hiroshi Matano said: “MIGA appreciates its partnership with Guinea Alumina Corporation, and we think that shining a spotlight on you and the work of the company in Guinea will encourage new investments in the country that are essential for generating positive results in terms of development.”

Ms. Béavogui said: “This award is recognition for everyone at GAC and EGA. In my role as Director General, and as a proud Guinean woman, I want to play my part in ensuring the benefits of mining development are maximised throughout the Boké region. In particular I want to make sure that women are especially considered in all our decisions and actions, and that they have a voice, commensurate with the important role they play in our society.”

Ms Béavogui was appointed Director General of EGA’s GAC in 2016 and, since September 2019, she has also served as the company’s head of Corporate Social Responsibility.

In both Guinea and the UAE, EGA champions the role of women in heavy industry. In the UAE, women hold almost 20 per cent of supervisory roles at EGA. In Guinea, Ms Béavogui is the first woman to serve as Director General in the mining industry.

MIGA promotes cross-border investment in developing countries by providing political risk insurance and other guarantees to investors and lenders, and participated in GAC’s landmark $750 million project financing which closed last year.

EGA developed GAC as part of its strategic expansion upstream in the aluminium value chain, to create new revenue streams and to secure at competitive prices raw materials needed by the UAE aluminium industry.

GAC produces bauxite, the ore from which aluminium is derived. EGA has also built an alumina refinery at Al Taweelah in Abu Dhabi, which refines bauxite into alumina, the feedstock for aluminium smelters.