Successful Premiere of Women4Packaging at FACHPACK
9/25/2024 Women in the packaging industry Article

Successful Premiere of Women4Packaging at FACHPACK

The new Women4Packaging event offered participants a unique opportunity to network and talk about current topics in the packaging industry. Keynote speaker Vera Strauch, founder of the Female Leadership Academy, motivated around 150 women to inspire and empower each other.

Female audience at FACHPACK 2024. Around 150 women attended the premiere of the Women4Packaging networking event, which was launched by FACHPACK, on the first day of the trade fair.
“The future is female. But it will take some time for this to reach the executive floors,” said Heike Slotta, Executive Director of FACHPACK, who, alongside FACHPACK-Manager Phuong Anh Do, welcomed around 150 participants to the new Women4Packaging event in the Brussels hall. Anh Do also explained that the packaging industry has long had many qualified women who do not need to be actively encouraged. However, there was a lack of networking and constructive exchange. The Women4Packaging event was also intended to be the start of a new women's network that will operate in the packaging industry beyond FACHPACK 2024.
Vera Strauch talking to a female audience at FACHPACK 2024. Keynote speaker Vera Strauch, founder of the Female Leadership Academy, motivated the participants to join forces with other women and build networks.
The word networking was a recurring element throughout the event. Success, so the tenor, comes from strong connections. And women in the packaging industry still had to work harder for these than their male colleagues. “Network is work” - this was also the motto of the panel discussion with Ellen Reichmann (Group Leader Application Engineering and Product Protection at Syntegon), Katja Kilian (BU Flexibles Business Development Director at Coveris), Ina Bechter (Pacoon) and Mareike Peters, founder of nmk (Naturkosmetik München). Sonja Bähr, Director Business Development, Berndt+Partner Creality GmbH, moderated the panel.

Authentic Encounters

The youngest member of the panel, Ina Bechter, reported that after studying education, she studied packaging technology, gained valuable experience as a working student at the Pacoon design agency and will now be starting at BMW next week. “Networking is easier when you come together on a professional level,” she said, adding that “authentic encounters” are ultimately more valuable for women than social media. Katja Kilian also agreed with this. She said that she found contacts in the packaging industry through her golf club. And Mareike Peters reported how she founded her own company out of necessity – she was looking for skin-friendly cosmetics – and received support from an online community for the first products she manufactured herself.

Women at a podium discussion at FACHPACK. Sonja Bähr spoke to Mareike Peters (from left), Katja Kilian, Ellen Reichmann and Ina Bechter about their paths into the packaging industry.

Confidently Breaking Conventions

All the participants agreed that direct contact was the only way to have an in-depth exchange, and that this could not be replaced by social networks. Sonja Bähr appealed to the women to be more self-confident. “Today, we all walk about the trade fair in sneakers, in the past, we used to wear high heels here. Break the conventions,” she called out to the women.

Vera Strauch, founder of the Female Leadership Academy, also called in her keynote speech for women not to pay attention to appearance and gender roles. “Stop making derogatory comments about women,” said the consultant and author, who ran a construction company at the age of 29. She received a round of intermediate applause for this at FACHPACK. Vera Strauch has been supporting women in management positions and on their way there since 2018.

On the subject of networking, she cited studies according to which women feel uncomfortable in traditional networks because they are geared towards self-promotion and competition. However, women are the more intensive network nurturers. This is a good thing, as the exchange and motivation from others is important in order to gain a larger network and therefore more influence, according to Strauch. Women should support each other “unconditionally” instead of seeing each other as competitors. After the keynote speech, the participants had the opportunity to get together in smaller groups and discuss issues over finger food and cool drinks. Many praised the informal atmosphere of the women's event and joined the new network via LinkedIn.

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