Women Leading Corporate Africa Summit

Featuring the 2021 Definitive List of Women CEOs

Why don’t we spend more time and energy recognizing women leading corporate Africa, and encouraging African girls to pursue a career climbing the corporate ladder? Well, that’s what we have spent 2021 doing at Africa.com – researching the women who run Corporate Africa – the largest, most complex businesses on the continent. On Wednesday, October 13, we revealed the Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs – a group of 50 women unlike any other – they all run publicly listed companies with a market capitalization of $150 million USD and larger. They are amazing – and that’s no exaggeration. Harvard Business School Professor Tony Mayo presented his groundbreaking research on what it takes for black women to reach the top of the corporate ladder. A panel of African women CEOs from our list responded to his research and talked about what it takes to reach the top specifically in Africa. Our thought leader partner in this work, Standard Bank, co-created a panel looking at the surprising role that global stock exchanges are beginning to play as advocates for more women in big business. We heard from the heads of the major stock exchanges in Africa on how they are taking up this role with regard to women.

Beating the Odds Tony May
Tony Mayo – Harvard slides
McKinsey Research Slides
Mayowa Kuyoro – McKinsey slides
Speaker Profiles & Panel Descriptions