{"id":1988,"date":"2017-07-20T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/?p=1988"},"modified":"2017-07-20T10:17:09","modified_gmt":"2017-07-20T09:17:09","slug":"women-business-leaders-making-progress-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/2017\/07\/20\/women-business-leaders-making-progress-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Women business leaders making progress in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m a humanist. I love people. I celebrate any type of progress that contributes to an improvement in people\u2019s lives. To the extent that through their work they contribute to such an improvement, I celebrate the progress of women business leaders — such as those portrayed in a recent article at The Africa Report<\/strong><\/a> (\u201cStar dealmakers. 50 women shaking up business<\/a>\u201d).\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the featured women is Ibukun Awosika<\/strong><\/a>. She\u2018s the Chair of First Bank Nigeria — the first woman to achieve such a position in this institution<\/strong>. Also, she\u2019s CEO and founder of the Chair Centre<\/strong> — a market leader in the office furniture and the banking security systems industries in Nigeria<\/strong>. And I\u2019m proud to say that she\u2019s is a graduate from IESE\u2019s Global EMBA program<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Awosika<\/strong> is a great example of the values that the term Africapitalism<\/strong> entails (see Africapitalism: Capitalism with African values<\/em><\/a>). Succeeding in Africa takes a high level of entrepreneurship,<\/strong> and a particular focus on social contributions along with a shared purpose<\/strong>. Awosika<\/strong> has embodied these values: she co-founded Women in Business, Management, and Public Service (WIMBIZ)<\/a><\/strong>, a Nigerian based non-profit organization with the objective of elevating the status and influence of women. You may be interested in her inspirational book Business His Way<\/em> where she encourages entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

Where do these 50 women work? The table below shows their distribution by country where they work, and the graph that follows shows the distribution by economic sector:<\/p>\n

\"Women<\/a>
Women distributed by countries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Women<\/a>
Women distributed by sectors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Little by little, women are making inroads, and play influential roles in large companies. 15% of senior management positions in African companies are held by women. Although there\u2019s still a long way to go, this figure has gone up from 5% in 2010<\/strong>. Both men and women have important, complementary contributions to make to the business world, don\u2019t we? This was Ibukun Awosika\u2019s point in the Africa CEO Forum 2017<\/strong><\/a>. You may listen to her in this very brief (35\u2019\u2019) clip<\/strong>:\u00a0