Business inclusion of women in Africa must move beyond entrepreneurship, and also provide guidance and inspiration for all women who aspire to the top of big business.  A career climbing the corporate ladder, starting as a clerk, for example, is a strong path for social mobility. The Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs includes inspirational stories of women from humble beginnings who rose to the top in large organizations. Showcasing these women provides an aspirational career path for all African women across the continent – one that rewards hard work, tenacity, resilience, and leadership skills.

Africa.com’s annual Definitive List of Women CEOs is a unique, data-driven research effort that highlights women who run publicly listed African corporations with a market capitalization above $150 million USD,  division heads of publicly listed African corporations such that the division, were it standalone, would have a market capitalization of $150 million USD or larger, and  the Africa-region head or Africa country head of a global corporation whose market cap is over $50 billion USD or larger.

Africa.com’s team of researchers start with data provided by Bloomberg to identify the companies listed on the 24 African stock exchanges. Those companies are screened for revenue of $100 million or more, or a market cap of $150 million or more. The public websites of those companies are reviewed by Africa.com to identify female C-suite executives. The team of researchers then examine the list of women to determine those who have a title of chief executive officer or managing director or president AND conduct a review to confirm that those executives have bottom line, profit and loss responsibility for the companies.  The result determines the final list of women for the Definitive List of Women CEOs.

No other list of successful African businesswomen is grounded in this type of quantifiable research.  Based on this methodology, we believe that there may be more women who meet these stringent criteria, but whose corporate websites do not identify them.  If you are aware of any women who meet these criteria, please email us at admin@africa.com so that we may update the next edition of the Definitive List.