Leadership is key to women capital development, Diane Karusisi, the chief executive of Bank of Kigali Group, the largest financial services firm in Rwanda, said on Tuesday, June 21, at the Commonwealth Women’s Forum.

Speaking during a session themed; "Human Capital Development: Building Girls Leaders of Tomorrow” that focused on how digital technologies continue to impact human capital development, Karusisi said, "Skills are important but, as a Rwandan, I think we can testify about the importance and power of leadership in empowering women to be continually prepared for an increasingly changing and dynamic work environment."

She added that, while Rwanda is not necessarily the most skilled country, in most cases it ends up being ranked among the top performing nations when it comes to gender equality and parity.

"Skills are important, but I think they are not the most important,” Karusisi said, before adding that "we are not short of studies from very prestigious houses showing the importance and all the social, economic returns of investing into gender equality. All of that is there. It’s out there on the internet and everyone can have access to that information,” she said. 

Karusisi, who previously worked as head of strategy and policy unit at the Office of the President, quoted President Paul Kagame who earlier in the day had said that "people can have great plans, they can have great visions, but it all comes to implementation and execution.”  

She added that: "it is what we have been able to do in Rwanda; implement, execute and put the women at the centre of everything we do. Skills are also important, it is not only about leadership.”

More than 500 delegates attended the Commonwealth Women’s Forum in Kigali to discuss solutions to address pressing challenges affecting women and girls across the Commonwealth, and to ensure member countries have robust policies and programmes to meet gender equality targets by 2030. 

The Forum, which happened in Africa for the very first time, had a theme: Delivering a Common Future: Transforming Gender Equality.

Besides the Women’s Forum, several other clusters have been lined up including the Heads of Government Meeting (the main event), the Youth’s Forum which started on Sunday, June 19, People’s Forum, and Business Forum that both started on Tuesday, June 21.