Woman Business Manager of the Year - Congratulations to Marianne Pesch

Dexia BIL presents 4th “Woman Business Manager of the Year Award” Dexia BIL has awarded the 2009 “Woman Business Manager of the Year” award to Mrs Marianne Pesch (An Hueff). Through this initiative, Dexia once again contributes to efforts to promote the role of women in the Luxembourg economy. Mr Christian Scharff, who sits on the Dexia BIL Management Board, presented a cheque for 10,000 euros to the winner in the presence of Mrs Françoise Hetto-Gaasch, the Minister for Equal Opportunities, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Tourism. The two other finalists, Carine Smets (Little Smets) and Arlette Schneiders (Arlette Schneiders Architects), were congratulated on the quality and originality of their project.
Luc Henzig (PwC), Christiane Schmit (Dexia BIL), Marianne Pesch (Lauréate), Françoise Hetto -Gaasch (Ministre de l'Égalité des chances), Carine Smets (Finaliste), Arlette Schneiders (Finaliste), Christian Scharff (Dexia BIL)
The Prize-winner		The finalists
Marianne Pesch (An Hueff) : Since 1977 she has been running a farm with her husband. In En 2005 Mr and Mrs Pesch decided, with their eldest son, to build a new piggery. The Pesch family had a great deal of difficulty in obtaining permission to build and before permission was obtained the husband died suddenly. Despite fearing not being able to succeed without the help of her husband, Mrs Pesch decided nonetheless to complete the project with her eldest son. On 31 May 2009 Marianne Pesch successfully organised an open day on the site of the new facility.		Carine Smets (Little Smets) : Mother to six children, she opened her first children’s clothes shop at Bereldange in 1986. With 13 sites across Luxembourg, the group currently employs over 120 people. Over the years the Smets company has attracted a multitude of major international brands to Luxembourg and Carine Smets’ challenge was to offer them under one roof. Le Kirchberg seemed to be the ideal place to house these great names of the luxury goods industry and the ELLIPSE boutique opened for business on 12 December 2008. Arlette Schneiders (Arlette Schneiders Architectes) : The first female architect in Luxembourg to manage a firm without a male associate, the first projects she completed were in the residential field. She then went on to tackle administrative buildings as her architecture firm gained in importance. In 2008, it changed status to become a limited company and, at the same time, she forged a partnership with one of her junior colleagues.