+IMPACT MAGAZINE ISSUE 18

WOMEN
WOMEN
FORCE FOR NATURE
Driving the female agenda in property
Founded in 2001, the Women’s Property Network has a simple but powerful vision:
substantially increase the participation of women in the commercial property sector
across the value chain and in the driving seat.
WORDS Jutta Berns
We are a membership-based organisation
that thrives on engagement and interaction
with our members from across the property
sector. We count many listed properties
companies as well as small businesses and individuals
among our members and our engagements are through
our regional Chapters in Gauteng, the Western Cape
and KwaZulu-Natal and of course through our various
activities nationally.
As a women-led advocacy and knowledge organisation
our mandate has always been to promote the participation
and integration of women within the commercial property
space. We do this through various platforms and activities:
• We lend a strong and leading voice in the advocacy
and advancement of the gender equality conversation.
• We create platforms through which women can
engage for the purpose of sharing knowledge, skills
and resources that can be ploughed back into the
environments in which we operate.
• We foster partnerships where we are a network of
networks across various industry bodies.
• We grow talent through the Women Property
Network (WPN) Educational Trust and by supporting
the advancement of the Student Chapter agenda at
our key tertiary institutions.
• We have been recognising outstanding women in
the property industry at our Annual SA Women in
Property Awards (SAWIPA), where we celebrate
women – both regionally and nationally – who have
stepped up and shaped women’s roles within South
Africa’ s commercial property sector.
• And importantly, we advance the climate agenda
for a resilient property industry.
More than two decades since the WPN officially
launched and a proud history of achievements later, we
can see that we have made inroads. While we, no doubt,
continue to have our work cut out, we can see an increase
in women representation on boards and in decision-making
Jutta Berns,
Chair, Gauteng
Chapter of
the WPN.
positions across the commercial property sector, some of
which is evidenced in the WPN’s 2021 inaugural report
on the “State of Gender Diversity in the Listed Real
Estate Sector”, where we see a 5% increase in female
representation on boards between 2013 and 2020. By 2020,
20% of executive director positions in the SA REIT sector
were occupied by women. So, it’s onwards and upwards
and it represents golden opportunities for companies and
organisations to lead by pushing gender diversity forward,
purposefully and meaningfully.
“We need more qualified women on corporate boards – and we
need boards to value the sustainable thinking that women bring
to the table. We need rising stars to show how the construction
industry can provide challenging and rewarding career options
that also make a positive social and environmental impact.”
– Romilly Madew, former CEO: Green Building Council, Australia
THE WPN EDUCATIONAL TRUST
A considerable part of our mandate focuses on the WPN
Educational Trust, which was specifically set up to ensure
that women in the commercial property sector have
opportunities for further education. The Trust particularly
supports young women from previously disadvantaged
backgrounds to grow in the industry and further their
career objectives.
Through our members’ contacts and networks, we can
secure female participation in the industry’s educational
activities, we support development and growth through
skills development workshops/programmes and importantly
every year we make available several bursaries at tertiary
institutions for approved property courses. Applications
for the 2023 WPN bursaries will open in November 2022
follow this link.
THE STUDENT CHAPTER
The WPN maintains Student Chapters at our key tertiary
institutions, with the University of Pretoria Chapter having
just been launched. Student membership is available –
and free – to all female students in second year and above,
studying towards a property-related degree or diploma.
The Chapters run regular networking events and are a
hive of activity and engagement. To join, follow this link.
WHERE TO NEXT?
The challenges of the past couple of years have not left
us unscathed and delivering on our mandate has not been
easy. But now that we find ourselves in a manageable
(post-) Covid world, we are again rolling up our sleeves:
to re-energise our mandate, to re-start our conversations
and to re-connect with our members.
And the timing couldn’t be better: in the climate space,
the property sector is clearly at the nexus of mitigation
and resilience. In my role as the new Chair of the Gauteng
Chapter of the WPN and as the founder and director
of Ecocentric, a green building consultancy which I
established in 2007, I understand the critical role of women
in the green property industry.
As women we bring a truly unique perspective to the
built environment; we tend to be great systems thinkers
and we know how to build relationships across disciplines
and outside our professional communities. We know that
moving beyond silos and into meaningful and accelerated
collaboration is critical on a path to what I still hope will be
reversing a climate breakdown and preventing catastrophic
biodiversity loss. This is where we as women are needed.
And when I look around, so many of my colleagues in
the green building industry are female – from those of
us running small green building consultancies to the
formidable CEO of the GBCSA, Lisa Reynolds, from my
incredible all-women team at Ecocentric to the exceptional
women in the sustainability driving seat at property funds.
Where education has always been a central tenet of
our mandate, we are now actively extending this into
bringing everyone along on the sustainability journey. We
recently introduced our monthly Women in Green Series,
an online – and offline – platform for topical conversations,
education and information sharing in the green property
space. We are opening this up to everyone – members
and non-members alike and even the guys are welcome!
As women we bring a truly unique
perspective to the built environment;
we seem to be great system thinkers
and we know how to build relationships.
Over the next few months, we will cover topics ranging
from setting science-based net-zero targets across
property portfolios, we will unpack embodied carbon
concepts, explore the pivotal role of small businesses in
tackling climate change and run through the immense
business opportunities that present themselves in the
green property sector.
Together we can leverage our network of impactful women
in the property industry to accelerate the sustainability and
female agenda. Talk to us, follow us, join us. We are always
open to conversations, ideas and partnerships.
WEBSITE
LINKEDIN
NATIONAL CHAIR
Thuli Mpuntshe, Senior Manager: Indirect Investments
REGIONAL CHAIRS
Gauteng: Jutta Berns, Founder and Director:
Ecocentric, jutta@ecocentric.co.za
Western Cape: Lara Schenk, Asset and Leasing
Manager: Ingenuity Property Investments
WPN EDUCATIONAL TRUST: TRUSTEES
Ipeleng Mkhari, CEO: Motseng Investment Holdings
Jackie van Niekerk, CEO: Attacq
Refqah Ho-Yee, Director: Smith Tabata Buchanan Boyes
WPN NATIONAL COORDINATOR
Tel: 031 764 4645 Email: info@wpn.co.za
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