By Bahle Gama
Africa.com in conjunction with the Standard Bank Group will be revealing a list of 93 outstanding women CEOs in Africa on Wednesday, April 18 via a 60-minute virtual event.
According to a statement, the Africa.com Definitive List was compiled through a deep research effort, starting with data provided by Bloomberg on all of the listed companies in Africa. From there, the research team culled the data to meet the required size and further determined which of those companies had women at the lead.
The list also includes women who lead divisions of listed companies, such that the division would qualify for the list was it a standalone entity, and the women who lead the Africa region globally listed companies, such that the region would qualify for the list was it a standalone entity.
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“On Wednesday, April 19th, we will reveal the 93-star performers on this year’s Definitive List of Women CEOs. We will also present the performance analyses to see how women CEOs in Africa performed, compared to their male counterparts,” reads the statement.
The statement further refers to a Harvard Business Review report on the startling lack of diversity among CEOs of big businesses.
“To be the CEO of a large, listed company in Africa is an extreme rarity for women, which is why recognising them is so important. Research by Harvard Business School faculty recognises one important factor that all of the women who reach the CEO spot have in common: resilience,” it reads.
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During the virtual event, four main speakers will briefly talk on different topics, and these are the President and Group CEO of Transcorp Plc Owen Omogiafo, who will talk about how Transncorp was able to outperform its competitors.
Vera Songwe, Senior Fellow – Global Economy and Development, Africa Growth Initiative, will share her perspective on why women outperform in the investment arena.
Patricia Lizarraga, CEO of the Hypatia Women’s CEO Index Fund in the US will talk about the “Female Factor,” how women impact investment performance, and Lindeka Dzedze, Chairperson of the AWIF Executive Committee and Head of Strategic Partnerships within Global Markets at the Standard Bank Group, will share her experience in running the African Women’s Investment Fund, a fund of funds that invests in investment funds managed by women.