The UK’s development finance institution, the CDC Group, has announced a total of £1.6 million for The Boardroom Africa (TBR Africa) to boost its goal of doubling female representation in boardrooms across the African continent by 2028.
The support was communication in a joint statement released by the CDC Group and The Boardroom Africa on Wednesday, 23 January 2019 in Accra, Ghana.
According to the statement, “Only 14 per cent of board members in Africa are women despite recent research highlighting how women positively impact business outcomes”.
It said: “A recent Credit Suisse report found that companies where women make up, at least, 15 per cent of senior managers, have more than 50 per cent higher profitability than those with under 10 per cent female representation”, adding that: “McKinsey also reported that margins were higher for those companies where, at least, a quarter of their board members are women.”
TBR Africa was founded in 2016 and has since been “improving women’s representation in African boardrooms through its unique pool of peer-endorsed female leaders from over 45 countries across the region”, the statement said.
The company, the statement noted, “connects these female leaders with CEOs and board directors in search of diverse talent, and its work is enabled by partnerships with development finance institutions, private equity, venture capital funds among other institutions and corporations. Funding from CDC will enable TBR Africa to expand its membership and client base across key growth markets on the continent and support the development of its accredited board training and mentorship programs tailored to women in the African business community”.
It added: “Earlier this year, CDC launched its new Gender Strategy, which is designed to improve women’s economic empowerment throughout its investment cycle. One of the key priorities of CDC’s strategy is supporting women’s leadership. CDC has committed to support the involvement of women in senior management among its portfolio companies, encourage board and investment committee diversity, and promote the visibility and voice of female business leaders in Africa and South Asia.”
TBR Africa has successfully supported several board and investment committee placements for CDC investments including a major multinational bank, the Africa Food Security Fund and MedAccess.
“TheBoardroom Africa’s pipeline of talent is driving a fundamental shift in the gender balance among leadership teams in businesses across Africa and beyond. We are proud to partner with CDC Group, one of the leading investors in Africa, as we work to expand our network and help more companies recognise that gender diversity has real social and economic benefit to both business and society”, said the Founder and Executive Director of TheBoardroom Africa, Marcia Ashong.
The Director of Value Creation Strategies at the CDC Group Jen Braswell stated: “As CDC encourages the world’s investors to focus on Africa, we need excellent men and women to serve on the boards of local and international firms across the continent. Our partnership with TBR Africa has already begun helping us reach our commitment to promoting gender equality in corporate leadership. The funding we’re announcing today will help TBR Africa continue to provide us with outstanding candidates for our portfolio that we would not have otherwise found. We are very pleased with the placements that TBR Africa has helped us make so far – and we’re looking forward to more.”
The funding for TBR Africa comes from a DFID-funded technical assistance programme, which is designed to support high quality projects that compliment CDC’s investment portfolio and have a significant impact.
Source: Ghana/ClassFM
