Aussie CEO tapped for EY entrepreneurial leadership program for women
Nicola Mills selected for prestigious program.
Fourteen women executives—including the head of an Australian QSR firm—will participate in Ernst & Young’s (EY) first leadership program for female business leaders this year.
Nicola Mills, founder and chief executive officer of food retailer Pacific Retail Management Pty Ltd., has been selected with 13 other female executives from Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea for EY’s first-ever “Entrepreneurial Winning WomenTM Asia-Pacific,” a customized, year-long program designed to help women executives grow their businesses globally.
”I want profitable franchisees who are raving fans of the brand they have engaged with, as it provides them with strong profit results, and jobs for the local community they are in. That also means being fully self-sufficient from its founder (me), so that it achieves profitable results for its franchisees, it’s employees and its shareholders,” Mills said on EY’s website.
Pacific Retail Management owns and manages over 50 retail stores and commercial kitchens in Australia, including sushi brands Go Sushi, Wasabi Warriors, Sushi Ginza, and Sushi Tribe, as well as fresh juice brand Kick Juice Bars.
Last September, Mills went further and formed Ready Fund Go, a crowd-funding business for Australian entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurial Winning WomenTM Asia-Pacific aims to broaden women executives’ know-how of business strategies and practices and help them tap strategic alliances, customers, suppliers, and capital. In addition, the program will also strengthen their executive leadership and business skills and boost their visibility among corporate stakeholders.
“As the world leader in advising, guiding and recognizing entrepreneurs, we know that access to successful role models and business-building networks is critical for entrepreneurs to accelerate growth. This year-long program is designed for established, women-led businesses who are ready to scale operations and become global market leaders,” EY said on its website.
An earlier EY advisory (https://www.ey.com/AU/en/Services/Advisory/The-role-of-women-in-unlocking-Australias-productivity-potential_1_Untapped-opportunity) noted that Australian women who postpone advancing their careers also risk losing out on important employment benefits, including a chance at attaining leadership roles.
“As women move from full-time to part-time employment to accommodate the needs of their families, their careers are interrupted, for which they pay an excessive price. Women who put their careers on hold for even a couple of years are left with risks of being on lower salaries than men; side-lined from leadership positions; and with little in the way of retirement savings,” EY said.
The same advisory noted that while gains were being made in Australian female workforce participation, an Australian Bureau of Statistics’ report for fiscal year 2012 has placed female labour force participation at 65%, still lower than the 79% for the male workforce.
