women director participants
editions
women director participants
editions
For the past 15 years, Santander has been running one of the world’s best women leadership programmes: Santander W50 (SW50). This initiative, in partnership with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), seeks women directors in every industry to help them refine their leadership style, increase visibility, gain recognition, and form part of a prestigious global network of women leaders.
At Santander we are firmly committed to women’s leadership and equal opportunity. Over 1,700 women directors from several countries have taken part in SW50’s 16 editions to showcase the role of women in business.
What's Santander W50 all about?
SW50 runs contests in several countries to choose 50 women who stand out for their high potential, leadership, excellent track record, and transformative vision.
In its first section, successful applicants attend an in-person event where the 50 local winners are announced and invited to join the global SW50 community, which enables them to build relationships among each other and with Banco Santander directors. Moreover, they get access to an exclusive, online course on women’s leadership that the LSE certifies.
In the second section, they can take part in the Santander W50 global contest. LSE chooses 50 women to receive in-person training of the highest quality at its London campus.
This year, the 16th Santander W50 will run local contests in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, the UK and Uruguay to find 450 finalists (50 per country).
The SW50 Summit has become a key meeting point for high potential women directors and middle managers.
In its second year, 500 women directors from 24 countries gathered in London. They shared tools and experiences on leading teams, managing crises and transformation, driving diversity and inclusion, and harnessing artificial intelligence for more informed and responsible decision-making.
In addition to the thematic sessions that took place over the Summit's two-day itinerary, participants were able to grow their professional network and forge close, long-term ties that bolster the 1,700-strong SW50 community.
The sisterhood that the programme fosters among its participants is one of the things that makes the Santander W50 experience unique. These women support each other, share experiences and give each other visibility in a community where they are all mentors and mentees at the same time.
Santander W50 is an initiative that showcases the role of women in business and highlights the bank's support for women’s leadership. Applications are made through Santander Open Academy, the platform that offers courses and grants to boost people’s job skills and employability.
This is just further evidence of Santander’s dedication to education, employability and entrepreneurship for 30 years. In that time, we’ve deployed over EUR 2.5 billion and helped more than 8.3 million people and businesses through agreements with some 1,000 universities and organizations.
