Business Engage Association NPC 2022 Annual Report

STATUS OF GENDER ON JSE-LISTED BOARDS – FIVE YEAR REVIEW

A study of the opportunities for gender balancing the boards of companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

The report was conducted by Business Engage Association NPC and the 30% Club Southern Africa, and sponsored by Nedbank, Kearney, DBSA, and the Institute of Directors South Africa.

After five years of research into the Integrated Annual Reports of companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Business Engage is of the opinion that the JSE listing requirement, to have a gender policy at board level and to advise stakeholders accordingly, has had a positive and sustainable effect on the appointment of women to the boards and committees of JSE-listed companies.

Business Engage further acknowledges the impact that the various iterations of the King Codes have had in creating a conducive environment for this advancement.

In line with our report on the Status of Gender on JSE-Listed boards, in 2023 we will be expanding this to non-listed boards and will be having C-Suite engagements on how we as a collective may implement focussed initiatives to move the percentage of women in senior positions and on boards. Our first engagement will be hosted at Alexander Forbes on 14 March 2023, 08h30 for 09h00-11h30. We will have round table discussions and each table will be hosted by a C-Suite representative of large and listed businesses. Please book diaries of those C-Suite individuals that would make these discussions meaningful and impactful. The format and a full brief will follow.

THERE ARE A FEW NEGATIVES

01. Lack of female CEO’s.

02. The number of all male boards.

03. Lack of communication with stakeholders.

That said the movement over the past five years has been generally positive.

STATUS OF GENDER REPORT - 5 YEAR REVIEW

Report Launch Event - DBSA

BRIEFLY THE 2021 STATUS IS

41 companies did not specifically report on gender at board level in 2021. This is 17% down on the previous year.

There were 35 opportunities for women on boards.

27 companies had set targets. 56 had met their targets.

Parity has been achieved in 27 companies, which has plateaued out.

No women on boards reduced to 17 from 32 the previous year.

The Non-executive Directors male / female ratio has improved to two thirds / one third.

Of the companies surveyed, 18% have female chairs and 24% have female Lead Independent Directors.

Interestingly, the average age of the female NED’s is 53 whilst male aged averaged 60.

On the global front in February 2022 the FTSE Women Leaders Review in the UK noted some of the effects of Covid. Homeworkers worked consistently more hours than non-homeworkers, further research also showed 28% of women in the UK reported an increase in domestic caring responsibilities due to the pandemic (vs. 16% men).

Those working from home with increased caring responsibilities were less likely to do so under conditions conducive to high productivity. Furthermore, the pressures have resulted in women leaving the workforce, which if left unchecked, could reverse progress made in recent years.

Despite these challenges, data collected as part of the FTSE Women Leaders Review show the proportion of women in senior Leadership roles continues to rise across the FTSE 350, even in hard-hit sectors. There has been a 3.4% increase in women in Leadership in the Travel & Leisure industry, and similarly a 1.7% increase in Retail sector. Furthermore, progress on boards has seen even greater increases,

THE ACCENTURE 10TH GENDER MAINSTREAMING AWARDS

Business Engage developed the Gender Mainstreaming Awards to encourage private sector to buy-in to achieving more meaningful representation of women in the mainstream of business.

This is the 2nd year that the awards have been expanded into Africa, including individuals and companies in East and West Africa.

2022 marked the 10th year of the Gender Mainstreaming Awards. Accenture is currently the naming right sponsor. The Gender Mainstreaming Awards 2022 were also sponsored by Johannesburg Stock Exchange (silver sponsor), Assupol, Imperial, Rand Merchant Bank, Tiger Brands, and East Africa Breweries Ltd and were presented in association with the 30% Club Southern and East Africa, the Human Rights Commission, the Institute of Directors, SA Venture Capital Association and Sunday Times.

Individual semi-final events were held on 29 July

The Venue : Gauteng

RCL Foods : KZN

RMB Portside : Western Cape

The top scoring individuals from the Provincial events went through to the regional finals.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING AWARDS

2022

Three regional events were hosted on 6 October 2022 as part of the overall Gender Mainstreaming Award ceremony.

East Africa –

Hosted by East Africa Breweries Ltd, 2021 Gender Mainstreaming Champion East Africa. The event at Carnivore Gardens was attended by 300 people.

The 2022 Gender Mainstreaming Champion East Africa is NMB Bank Plc, Tanzania.

Photo Gallery HERE

West Africa –

Supported by Old Mutual Life Assurance (Ghana) Ltd and Cummins Africa Middle East, the event was held at Holiday Inn Accra and was attended by 80 people.

The 2022 Gender Mainstreaming Champion West Africa is Old Mutual Life Assurance (Ghana) Ltd.

Photo Gallery HERE

Southern Africa -

The event was hosted at Gallagher Convention Centre for 500 people.

The 2022 Gender Mainstreaming Champion Southern Africa is AECI Ltd.

This event was also streamed on YouTube HERE

The 2022 Gender Mainstreaming Champion Africa is BAT East and Southern Africa.

Regional Event - West Africa

DIGITAL SUMMARY 875 000 Est. Reach 854 000 Est. Non-Social Reach 6 830 Event Live Stream Tune-Ins $99 240 Est. Average Return Value

EVENT SUMMARY 500 Attendees Southern Africa 300 Attendees Nairobi 100 Attendees Accra

More detailed report of the event on https://issuu.com/gendermainstreaming/docs/gma_2022_digital_report_final

THE REAL STORIES BEHIND GENDER MAINSTREAMING

Dr Kofi Annan (former UN Secretary-General) once said, “There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women,” and he was right.

Read Full Article Here:

https://www.bbrief.co.za/2023/01/18/the-real-storiesbehind-gender-mainstreaming/

CELEBRATING WOMEN

The results of the 2022 GMA were once again captured in the Celebrating Women publication distributed at the Gender Mainstreaming Awards and to subscribers of the Sunday Times.

The issue also included conversations with women committed to having the hard conversations, breaking the age-old barriers to entry, and inspiring and helping other women rise through the ranks.

Read Here:

https://businessmediamags.co.za/busin ess/celebrating-women/

Business Engage once again partnered with Financial Mail Women for their March publication. This included the summary of the March Corporate Gender Intelligence event sponsored by RMB. See: https://businessmediamags.co.za/busin ess/financial-mail-women/

BOARD MASTERCLASS SERIES

This year saw the completion of Cohorts 5 to 7 with Cohort 10 starting in October. To date 86 women have completed the series with another 40 currently going through.

Collaboration with two organisations has keen key to the continued success of the series. Cohort 7 was undertaken with the Women’s Property Network. Business Engage sponsored 20 young leaders in Cohort 10 as a collaboration with the International Women’s Forum of South Africa. Cohort 11 starts in March 2023.

We are always grateful for the time that our presenters give to the series. Many have been with us from the start. Others have joined us on the way.

Congratulations to Nonhlanhla Mayisela from Cohort 1, who in November 2022, was appointed as Non-executive Director of JSE-Listed Liberty 2 Degrees.

During 2022 Colleen authored the book The Board Masterclass Series – A journey to holistically mastering corporate decision making, compliance and strategy at board level.

This 246 page collaboration took twenty-five of the topics covered in the series and wove them together into a reference book that is a must read for aspiring board members. Each chapter is written by a different presenter based on their The book seeks to act as a guide as to what board members should be aware of. Just like the Board MasterClass Series itself it is intended to open pathways rather than being a destination. The knowledge and wisdom of the presenters is to be

To order a copy of the book, email colleen@businessengage.co.za

In June 2022 UN Women entered into a contract to “Amplify” the Women Empowerment Principles. This involved a number of aspects;

Increase the number of WEPs members

Develop a Badging System

Administer the WEPs CoP meetings

Organise a C.E.O.’s dinner based on Principle 5

Grow the WEPs Awards and WEPs Youth Challenge

Increase social media awareness of WEPs

During the year a number of blue-chip companies signed up for the WEP’s. As at the end of the year South Africa has 117 signatories. South Africa is currently sitting in the 13th position globally with a number of signatories in process. These will almost certainly allow South Africa to overtake the UK and France in Q1 2023. A concept document for the Badging System was submitted and will be rolled out in 2023.

WHAT ARE THE UN WOMEN 7 EMPOWERMENT PRINCIPLES

Business Engage has formed two new teams on MS Teams. CoP Committee and CoP Members. All documentation is stored on the files of these teams. Attendance at the CoP monthly meetings is starting to rise again. i.e. in August there were 24 attendees with 4 apologies. There is also better attendance from blue-chip companies.

Business Engage compiles the agenda and the minutes for both the CoP Committee meetings and the CoP members meetings. Business Engage has tidied up and updated the WEPs database.

Members Meeting Dates; The WEPs CoP members met on the following dates in 2022; 15 February, 15 March, 19 April, 17 May, 21 June, 19 July, 16 August, 20 September, 25 October 22 November. Members Cummins, Aspen and Nedbank presented on various WEPs topics, as did Advocate Gumede. In addition, the CoP committee met every month one week prior to the members meeting. The CoP Terms of Reference has been sent to all members for review and will discussed at

CEO’S EVENT - TWO EVENTS TOOK PLACE IN THIS REGARD.

Principle 5 Workshop

This took place on 18th October 2022 at the PwC building Waterfall Midrand. 30 WEPs representatives attended the event. The majority of the attendees were from blue-chip companies. This event was designed as a precursor to the CEO Dinner.

CEO’s Dinner

This was held at Absa Equinox in Sandton. 50 Blue chip company CEOs (or their high-level representatives) were invited to attend. A few invited guests, who were not signatories yet, were invited with the aim of introducing them to WEPs and securing their involvement. The keynote speaker was Allon Raiz from Raizcorp (a WEPs signatory).

Aleta

Miller, UN Women Representative South Africa Multi-Country Office also spoke at the event.

CEO’s Dinner - ABSA Equinox

CEO’S EVENT

AWARDS

awards are the first regional awards initiative that recognizes companies who are taking action for gender equality in the region aligned to the WEPs, with the ultimate objective to make good practices visible and encourage more businesses to take action by joining the WEPs.

As this was the first year of the Awards in South Africa, the WEP Awards formed part of the Gender Mainstreaming Awards held on 6 October at Gallagher Estate Midrand. This was a black-tie event for 500 attendees. (Note: After the Covid 19 lockdown the physical award ceremonies applied a slightly more cautious approach. It is envisaged that in 2023 these Awards will once again attract an audience of 850).

It is envisaged that we will host a standalone WEPs Awards event in 2023.

THERE WERE FOUR JUDGES FOR THE WEPS AWARDS

AMELIA BEATTIE

CEO of Johannesburg Stock Exchange Listed Liberty2Degrees. (Amelia has recently joined as a WEPs Member).

NTOMBI LANGA-ROYDS

Non-executive director various companies.

MILLARD ARNOLD

Chairperson Advisory Board of Rhodes University Business School.

LERATO SEMENYA

Non-executive director, Kuehne + Nagel Inzuzo Trust. THE FINALISTS WERE:

INCLUSIVE WORKPLACE

Alexander Forbes

RMB Webber Wentzel

LEANIN IN

Lean In helps women achieve their ambitions and helps companies build inclusive workplaces where women of all identities are supported and empowered.

LeanIn gives women the support and skills to navigate bias and lean into their strengths, and provides companies the tools to ensure women have equal opportunities to advance and feel valued in their workplace.

The LeanIn diversity, equity, and inclusion programmess equip every employee with the knowledge and tools they need to create a more inclusive workplace culture.

In 2023 we trained up a number of facilitators in corporates who are now ready to implement the programmes within their companies.

Aspen (Winner)

WEPS Awards - Gallagher

Young Entrepreneur Awards

The YEA’s are aimed at young women entrepreneur start-ups aged 20 to 34 years old located in South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Eswatini.

The YEA’s are based on the recent Finfind report as noted below on the effects of Covid on SMME’s and the best innovation to accelerate businesses post-Covid-19.

Apart from the cash prizes, Business Engage provided complimentary access to the Board Masterclass Series offered by Business Engage to the top 7 entrepreneurs.

PwC Innovation Centre

BUSINESS ENGAGE DINNER

Business Engage hosted a dinner on 19 November 2022. This was an opportunity to meet and spend time with other Business Engage members.

LEADERSWALK

8 February 2022

Joy-Marie Lawrence

Leadership Lessons from the Boardroom

https://youtu.be/lBfSNp44BoU

5 April 2022

Saffron Baggallay

Corporate culture through female eyes https://youtu.be/AuDdICTOdXk

26 May 2022 Michael Lee

Everything is Innovation (for leaders)

5 July 2022

Paula Newby

Walking the Walk with DE&I – how DE&I drives social and financial value https://youtu.be/PIjqJAUWQ2g

8 September 2022

Malcolm Larsen

How to Read Legislation

7

October 2022 Physical LeadersWalk at Deloitte

Facilitator : Jo-Ann Pohl, Senior Advisor : Kearney

Guest speaker : Mariam Cassim, CEO : Richester Foods

Other hosts : Chengetai Mujakachi (Zimbabwe); DrAugusta Dorning; Patricia Luhanga (Zambia)

BOARDWALK

17 February 2022

Balesh Sharma

Your Personal Brand is all that matter

https://youtu.be/0MrgLa2tGAs

21 April 2022

Pepe Marais

Purpose of purpose

https://youtu.be/KheZKysWhWU

23 June 2022

21 July 2022

20 October 2022

Florence Musengi

Reframing thoughts when feeling overwhelmed

Roselyn Karamba

Climbing the right ladders

https://youtu.be/YlX6TQwXZMM https://youtu.be/l6GnborfT-o

Fikile de Bick

Board Member : AECI

https://youtu.be/upvtWMo54p8

16 November 2022

Karena Crerar

2022 Edelman Trust Barometer

https://youtu.be/UiazMhW_1OA

January 17 Jan - WEP CoP Meeting

15 Jan - Steercom

February 8 Feb - BoardWalk

21 Feb - WEP CoP Meeting

24 Feb - LeadersWalk

March 8 Mar - Gender Intelligence event ; 30% Club Members Dinner

22 Mar - Steercom

24 Mar - Connected Workplace

April 5 Apr - BoardWalk

18 Apr - WEP CoP Meeting

21 Apr - LeadersWalk

May 10 May - BoardWalk

24 May - Steercom

26 May - LeadersWalk

June 7 Jun - BoardWalk

15 Jun - Connected Workplace

20 Jun - WEP CoP Meeting

23 Jun - LeadersWalk

July 26 Jul - Steercom

28 Jul - Provincial Semi-Finals GMA Individual categories

BOARDWALK

August

11 Aug - Voices of Change (TBA)

22 Aug - WEP CoP Meeting

September 6 Sept - BoardWalk

13 Sept - Steercom 29 Sept - LeadersWalk

October 5 Oct - 11th Gender Mainstreaming Awards 15 Oct - WEP CoP Meeting

November 8 Nov - LeadersWalk

15 Nov - Steercom 21 Nov - WEP CoP Meeting 24 Nov - Status of Gender on JSE-Listed boards 25 Nov - BE dinner