Press - The Definitive List

Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs Expands by 50%

March 9, 2022

Africa.com announced the second annual Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs on March 8, 2022, in line with International Women’s Day. The list is a unique, data-driven research effort that highlights the women who lead big business in Africa. The data for the effort is provided by Bloomberg. In short, the list represents the women who run big business in Africa. All of the women run businesses with revenue of $100 million or more. No other list of successful African businesswomen is grounded in quantifiable research. Africa.com Chair Teresa Clarke said, “The 2022 list features 74 women. This represents a meaningful expansion over the 50 women who made the 2021 list. This is largely explained by our intentional change in our methodology. In the first year, we used market capitalization of listed companies as the only financial metric by which to qualify companies for consideration. In 2022, we changed the

2022 Definitive List of Women CEOs in Africa

March 7, 2022

Group One: CEOs Of the 1364 companies listed on the 24 African stock exchanges, we screened for those companies with revenue of $100 million or more, or a market cap of $150 million or more, which yielded a list of 581 companies. The public websites of these 581 companies were reviewed to identify female C-suite executives. Our team of researchers then examined the list of these women to determine those who have a title of chief executive officer or managing director or president AND have bottom line profit and loss responsibility. This resulted in the final list of 35 women CEOs. 1. Natascha Viljoen, CEO, Anglo American Platinum, South Africa 2. Nompumelelo Thembekile (Mpumi) Madisa, CEO (Executive Director), Bidvest Group, South Africa 3. Bertina Engelbrecht, CEO, Clicks Group, South Africa 4. Lynette Francis Saltzman, MD, Dis-Chem Pharmacies, South Africa 5. Lizé Lambrechts, CEO, Santam, South Africa 6. Rosemary Oduor, MD &

What Women CEOs in Africa Need to Know about Artificial Intelligence

February 22, 2022

To mark International Women’s Day, March 8, Africa.com is hosting an unprecedented virtual event, What Women CEOs in Africa Need to Know about Artificial Intelligence, in collaboration with Harvard Business School Professor Karim Lakhani and Harvard Business School Professor Tsedal Neeley. The event will convene the 60+ women identified for the Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs – those women who run listed corporations in Africa with over $100 million in revenue or $150 million in market capitalization, based on data provided by Bloomberg. Confirmed speakers, who will speak about their company’s use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) in Africa, include the following business leaders from the Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs: Lillian Barnard, Managing Director, Microsoft, South Africa; Brenda Mbathi, President, GE East Africa; Aida Diarra, Head of Sub-Saharan Africa, VISA; Amelia Beattie, Chief Executive, Liberty Two Degrees; Helene Echevin, CEO, CIEL Healthcare. The event is a one-stop, strategic

Top 50 Women in Corporate Africa Revealed after Data-Driven Research

October 19, 2021

In a major virtual summit with over 1,000 high-level attendees, Africa.com revealed the names of the 50 most senior women in Corporate Africa. The Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs is distinguished in that it is data-driven. The researchers started by working with data provided by Bloomberg and evaluating the over 1,400 companies listed on the 24 African stock exchanges. The list yielded many more women from South Africa than any other African country, followed by Nigeria and Kenya. The finance sector had more women CEOs than any other sector, followed closely by technology. Africa.com Managing Director Laura Joseph said, “FIve companies had more than one woman on the list: Bidvest, Microsoft, Old Mutual, Sonatel, and Sanlam.” The methodology includes three sections: 1) CEOs of African exchange-listed companies with a market cap over $150 million USD; 2) division heads of African exchange-listed companies, where the division itself would be valued at

All-Star Lineup Confirmed To Explore What It Takes For Women To Make It To The Top Of Corporate Africa

October 6, 2021

On October 13, 2021, a seismic event will take place in Africa: we will begin the journey of supporting every African woman to take on a new dream – climbing the corporate ladder to the number one spot. Why is it that most discussions of African women in business are focused on small and medium-sized businesses? We want to see African women dream big – why not earn the top spot in a large, complex organization? In addition to revealing the names of the 50 women on the Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs, we will feature two big discussions: Beating the Odds, will feature Harvard Business School’s Tony Mayo’s research on black women graduates of Harvard Business School who made it to the top spot. He will share what a study of these successful women tells us. Then, a panel of Women CEOs from the Africa.com Definitive List of

How Were The Women Chosen?

October 3, 2021

The Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs is the product of a data-driven research project that began by identifying all publicly listed companies on all of the twenty-one stock exchanges in Africa – a list of over 1,400 companies. The data for the analysis was provided by Bloomberg. From there, the researchers screened the companies in order to focus on the largest, those with a market capitalization of $150 million USD or larger, resulting in a list of 355 corporations. Once the researchers had identified these 355 companies, the largest in Africa, they then searched the public information available on the management teams of these companies. In order to qualify for the List, women had to have a CEO or managing director title at the head of one of these companies. The titles were then vetted further by examining where the women fit within the company’s overall organizational structure to

Women Leading Corporate Africa

September 30, 2021

Africa.com undertook a rigorous research project to identify not just high-profile personalities, but the women who actually run the largest, most complex businesses on the African continent. The result is called The Definitive List of Women CEOs, and we are proud to reveal the list on October 13 at the SUMMIT: Women Leading Corporate Africa. On October 13, 2021, Harvard Business School Professor Tony Mayo will present his research findings on what it takes for African-American women to reach the top spot in American corporations. A panel of women CEOs from the Africa.com list will react to that research, noting similarities and differences for corporate women in Africa. The names of those who made the list will be revealed that day, as well. The Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs is the product of a data-driven research project that began by identifying all publicly listed companies on all of the twenty-one