… Voting commences to decide winners
The African Leadership Magazine has recently announced four female CEOs of leading brands across the continent as nominees for the African Female Business Leader of the Year Award. The African Female Business Leader of the Year category recognizes exceptional leadership and managerial skill in a female business leader. It also promotes female business leaders who have shown resilience and courage in building and leading a worthy brand in male-dominated industries.
The nominees include Funke Opeke, Founder, Main One Cable Company, Nigeria; Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa, CEO, Naspers South Africa; Baronice Hans, Managing Director, Bank Windhoek, Namibia; and Kacou Diagou, Managing Director, NSIA Group.
The eventual winner will largely be decided through a voting process that will end on Monday, August 10th, 2020. To participate in the process of choosing a winner, Click to vote on the African Leadership Magazine website.
Funke Opeke has led the expansion of the MainOne’s network capabilities and footprint across Nigeria and West Africa over the past decade, investing over $400m in infrastructure in West Africa to bridge the digital divide, enable the digital economy, and provide broadband infrastructure services, including West Africa’s first privately owned, open access 7,000-kilometre undersea high capacity cable submarine, a $240 million project that was completed in record time in 2010; and West Africa’s largest Tier III Data Center, MDX-i’s Lekki Data Center, a $40 million investment with a capacity for 600 racks.
Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa was appointed CEO of Naspers South Africa in 2019 to lead the company’s day-to-day business in South Africa and also run two local entities, Naspers Foundry, a $98m investment fund that finances technology start-ups, which recently announced a US$ 5.6 million investment in agritech business- Aerobotics, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic; and Naspers Labs, a skills development programme targeting unemployed youth.
Baronice Hans as Managing Director of Bank Windhoek, Namibia has led the bank to become the leading financial institution in the country, with a strong financial performance over the last one year in spite of the economic downturns, as well as pioneered innovative initiatives such the bank’s Green Bond offering to reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions, and Woman in Business products.
And Kacou Diagou leads NSIA Group, one of the leaders in the bancassurance sector in West and Central Africa, made up of 3 Banks, three banking subsidiaries, 20 Insurance Companies, and more with over 2,800 employees.
The voting is the second stage in a 3-step points-based selection process that includes: a call for nomination; a call for voting for shortlisted nominees; and the editorial board’s final review of the nominations and voting submissions – using supporting evidence and voting considerations in their final decisions to decide the African Business Leadership Awards 2020 winners. Voting shall be responsible for sixty-five percentage points and supporting evidence responsible for 35% in the final selection process for the 2020 winners.
About the African Business Leadership Awards
The African Business Leadership Awards is a prestigious recognition event to reward exceptional corporate practices and outstanding achievers in Africa’s business landscape and its private sector. The awards is in keeping with the African Leadership Magazine’s tradition of presenting the sides of the continent’s businesses and leaders, which hardly finds placement on global media platforms – celebrating exemplary business leadership on the continent.
The 2020 edition especially recognizes business leaders, visionaries and innovators that continue to shape African economies; and drive today’s leading businesses that are making outstanding contributions to Africa’s economic development and post-COVID response and recovery, using business as a force for good, through their CSR and community development activities. All winners of the 2020 awards shall be presented with an award trophy and formally decorated with the instruments of the honour at the 5th US – Africa Investment Forum & Policy Dialogue 2020 (virtual), scheduled to hold (Via Zoom) from September 29th – 30th, 2020.
