The Definitive List of Women CEOs for 2023

20 Apr 2023

Africa.com revealed its third annual Definitive List of Women CEOs, sponsored by Standard Bank Group, during a virtual event on 19 April 2023.

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According to the press statement, no other list of African business women running big businesses is grounded in this type of quantifiable research. The list is unique in that it is based on data-driven research, with data provided by Bloomberg.

“This year’s list of 93 women represents 17 countries who have qualified based on either large scale revenue or large scale market capitalisation. The list includes 40 women from South Africa, 12 from Nigeria, and 6 from Egypt, Ghana and Kenya respectively,” said Teresa Clarke, chair of Africa.com.

Africa.com analysed 2,020 companies listed on the 24 African stock exchanges. Of the 2,020 companies, Africa.com screened for those companies with revenue of $100m or more, or a market cap of $150m or more, which yielded a list of 787 companies.

Group methodology

The public websites of all 787 companies were examined to identify female C-suite executives. The team then researched each woman to determine those who have a title of chief executive officer or managing director or president AND conducted a review to confirm that these executives have bottom line, profit and loss responsibility for the companies. This resulted in 40 women CEOs on group 1.

The methodology for group 2 is identical to the methodology for Group 1, except that the entities evaluated were the divisions of the 787 companies, such that the divisions themselves have standalone revenue of $100m or more. The women running these divisions must have a title that clearly demonstrates that they are the chief executive with profit and loss responsibility for the division. This analysis yielded 28 women division heads.

Group 3 started with an analysis of global corporations with revenue over $10bn who have operations in one or more countries on the African continent. The regional heads of these companies were analysed to identify women executives for an Africa region or an African country, with profit and loss responsibility for the country or region. This analysis yielded 25 women. Women in this group are ranked by prioritising those who run the Africa region ahead of those who run a single African country.

The three groups make up the final Definitive List of 93 women.

The 40 women from Group I are: