EMEA Chair Farmida Bi named one of this year's Women to Watch

Farmida Bi, Norton Rose Fulbright’s Europe, Middle East and Asia Chair, is featured in the annual Women to Watch supplement compiled by Cranfield University. The 2019 edition features 50 Black, Asian and other Minority Ethnic (BAME) women, showcasing professionals who come from backgrounds historically underrepresented in the senior leadership pipeline.

The Women to Watch supplement was introduced by Cranfield University’s Gender, Leadership and Inclusion Centre in 2009. This year’s supplement is compiled in collaboration with The Network of Networks BAME – Multicultural Chapter (TNON) and the Black British Business Awards. Cranfield University’s Female FTSE Board Report, reveals that only 11% of women on FTSE 100 boards are from BAME backgrounds.

Also serving as Norton Rose Fulbright’s European Head of Islamic Finance, Farmida acts for arrangers, dealers, issuers and trustees on a wide range of debt instruments, including project bonds, debt programmes, high-yield bonds, private placements and Islamic bond issuances. She has also advised a broad range of participants in the securitisation of a wide variety of assets in numerous jurisdictions and in structured debt restructurings and workouts.

Farmida, who has been named as a leading individual for Islamic finance and for debt capital markets in Legal 500 UK 2019, commented:

“This report demonstrates that there is a lot more that businesses need to do to ensure BAME individuals are supported to achieve their potential. We at Norton Rose Fulbright are implementing policies to make these changes a reality.”

Most recently, Farmida was listed in The Lawyer's Hot 100 for 2019 and was awarded ‘Outstanding Practitioner’ at the European Women in Business Law Awards 2019.