Fida Kibbi, vice president and head of Marketing, Communications, Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility at Ericsson MEA, underscores the significance of inclusivity and diversity in the workplace. According to Kibbi, fostering a diverse workforce is instrumental in cultivating creativity, a crucial element for enhancing a business’s competitiveness and ensuring future growth. This emphasis on inclusivity aligns with Ericsson’s strategic goals of expanding its business and fulfilling its commitment to deliver the next-generation network.
As a female leader at Ericsson, what personal experiences or challenges have shaped your journey to your current role?
I’ve been in the industry for over 20 years, working in the ICT and tech sectors, and being a woman in this field has been quite a journey. When reflecting on our starting point and our current position, the progress we have made in empowering women in the workplace and providing them with opportunities has been amazing. I personally had that privilege, and I have been fortunate to have mentors who guided me throughout the journey and showed me the various paths open to me.
Ericsson as a workplace is amazing. As an executive and leader, I credit my current position to the people and leaders I’ve encountered – both female and male – who provided opportunities and believed in my abilities to reach where I am today.
Now it’s my turn to give back to the talents. I always keep an eye on and mentor many individuals within and outside Ericsson because I believe every leader, irrespective of gender, should give back to the talents around them.
While we have made considerable progress, especially in the Middle East and Africa, we haven’t yet reached an ideal level. It’s an ongoing journey, but I believe that we are on the right path.
How does Ericsson foster an inclusive environment that supports the advancement and empowerment of women in leadership positions?
We have a diversity and inclusion program with a specific focus on empowering women in the workplace. Our goal is to ensure that 30 percent of all executives at Ericsson are female. However, while we’ve made progress in ensuring female leaders and talents have a presence at the leadership table, a persistent challenge is the lower attraction of females to STEM studies from school to university.
Ericsson offers fair and equal opportunities to everyone, right from recruitment. However, whenever we have female talent who is ready, we support their growth through a dedicated program, preparing them for successful careers.
Our “I Aspire” initiative enables leaders and talents to explore career shifts without leaving their current roles. This allows them to gain firsthand experience in a desired profession on a short-term basis, fostering personal and professional development. We operate with a startup mindset to discover and promote talents, particularly focusing on providing opportunities for women across the organization. We also have a women-in-leadership program that aims to inspire and support women in advancing to the next stage of their careers.
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In your view, what are some of the key advantages that diverse leadership teams, including women in leadership positions, bring to organizations?
I would say inclusion is arguably more important than diversity, though both hold significance. Diversity is valuable because a team’s varied composition – whether in terms of gender, age, character, style, personality, strengths or weaknesses – creates a powerful dynamic whenever you combine all of these in a team.
When individuals share the same background, nationality or gender, their thinking tends to be uniform, hindering creativity within a team. Inclusivity, however, takes precedence. It necessitates addressing unconscious bias, dispelling preconceived notions and fostering acceptance of diverse backgrounds, including females, challenging societal norms.
This is why inclusivity is super important, because if you start with adopting inclusivity within a work environment, then diversity will come along.
Ericsson is a global leader in mobile infrastructure. How does it intend to maintain this position given challenges from other players in a highly competitive market?
Ericsson is a market leader celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2026, having been founded in 1876. A key strength throughout these years has been Ericsson’s visionary approach, leading rather than following in the industry.
Hence, you observe these acquisitions. We extensively focus on global strategic initiatives. Currently, the emphasis is on 5G, not exclusively for consumers. Certainly, it will revolutionize consumer experiences, evident in its transformative impact on the gaming industry. Notably, Saudi Arabia exemplifies the potential for a thriving industry with numerous opportunities.
But we are also talking about 5G for enterprise. There’s a vast opportunity there as well.
However, the challenge with 5G, when compared to 4G, is that you need everybody’s collaboration. You need players who have been far from digitization and connectivity to embrace it, understand it and adopt it, and then to innovate on top of it.
That’s why it’s taking time to leverage the technology fully, but it will happen. That’s for sure.
Ericsson’s emerging enterprise business is growing at 20-30 percent per year, with momentum expected to accelerate and reach 20 percent of total company revenues by 2027. That is a big accomplishment when it happens. How do you intend to keep this momentum and achieve your enterprise ambitions?
There is no specific deadline; the focus should be on perfecting innovation and placing it into the hands of the people. This is our commitment to the world. We pledge to deliver the network of the future, enabling global network platforms where innovation can flourish.
We can already see that enterprises are shifting toward and beginning to adopt the digitization agenda.
Abou Fida Kibbi
Fida Kibbi currently is the vice president and head of Marketing, Communications, Sustainability, and Corporate Responsibility for Ericsson in the Middle East and Africa region, which encompasses 66 countries.
In this role, Kibbi is responsible for overseeing and driving all marketing, communications, and sustainability strategies and plans for Ericsson, a global leader in telecommunications equipment and services.
Kibbi joined Ericsson in 2007 as the head of Internal Communication and subsequently took on the role of head of External Communications for the Middle East region in 2010.
In 2014, Kibbi was promoted to vice president and head of Communications, and a year later, assumed the additional responsibility of leading the Marketing and Communications department.
Kibbi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Lebanese American University.
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