“We wish extra ladies in strategic areas of the monetary market”, says Maria Cristina Sampaulo, from Goldman Sachs

Executive is one of the leaders at the head of the Dn’A Women – Develop and Achieve initiative, in partnership with BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Grupo UBS in Brazil

Four big banks are trying to change “the face” of financial market in Brazil. Today, men occupy 76.38% of the positions in the sector, while women are in only 23.62% of the positions, according to data from the B3. In an attempt to attract more women, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and UBS Group in Brazil they take the course Dn’A Women – Develop and Achievean initiative to open up career opportunities in this market.

Diversity and Inclusion Leader for Latin America at Goldman Sachs, Maria Cristina Sampaulo is one of the leaders ahead of the project, and says that career opportunities within the financial market do not reach the professionals’ knowledge. “In Goldman itself, we realize that we can attract women to support positions, for example, controllership or HR, but for the business areas, those that generate revenue for the bank – investments, research areas – it is much more challenging” , notes.

Therefore, the idea behind the project is for women to also consider strategic positions within companies, whether banks, investment brokers, fund managers or fintechs. “After the first edition, we carried out a mapping and found that 70% of the women who participated in the course went to work in the financial market”, says Maria Cristina. “The results were surprising because, when they entered the program, only 25% of the professionals looked at the sector as a job option”, she recalls.

The mentees receive classes divided into five modules: communication, personal finance, financial market, leadership and self-knowledge. In addition to technical skills, the course focuses on behavioral skills, soft skills, with mapping of behavioral profile, work style and professional motivations. The 60 students selected in each class also receive personal mentoring from executives from the banks. In all, there are 120 mentors.

The 2022 edition is already underway and graduation is scheduled between the end of 2024 and 2025. For those interested in participating, it is worth keeping an eye out: vacancies for the next edition should open in June 2023.

Dn’A Women also has the support of WILL (Women in Leadership in Latin America), Cescon Barrieu, Grupo Cia de Talentos, Bettha, Bloomberg and B3. The program content is facilitated by companies also led by women such as Serh1, Denise Damiani Consultoria, Eufrásia, Assessorlux, SHP Training, Impulso Beta and The School of Life.

committed leaders

For Maria Cristina, the more companies develop the theme of gender diversity among their leaders, the better the cultural perceptions among employees — which has a direct impact on the permanence of women in the corporate environment. “How often are women seen as aggressive when making similar career moves as men? When they ask for salary increases, promotions, how do we evaluate women’s discourse? These issues are worked on at Goldman in internal training”, says the executive.

The partnership format between the four big banks is another successful bet of the Dn’A Women program, evaluates Maria Cristina. “The more institutions involved, the better, it is even richer for the participants. The movement must be one of cooperation between companies, of working together in order to bring another perspective into the financial market”, she concludes.

Source: Época Negócios