Financial services sector must be deliberate in promoting women to leadership positions

BY NOMATHIBANA MATSHOBA CFA and Managing Director at Terebinth

There are few females in senior leadership roles whom young and upcoming women can look up to in the financial services sector, says Nomathibana Matshoba, CFA and Managing Director at Terebinth. “This could be the reason why many young women in the sector sometimes doubt themselves and question their capabilities. They constantly ask themselves whether they’ve been recruited to meet company affirmative quotas of employing more females, or if they are there because of their abilities. The only way we can fix this is if we encourage and ensure that females fill leadership and management positions now, so that the next generation can be motivated to realise that it is possible for females to advance their careers in the financial services sector.”

According to Nomathibana, the financial services sector, like most sectors in the country, is dominated by males, which makes it difficult for females to advance. She believes that the sector has to be deliberate in ensuring that females are promoted into leadership positions.

Nomathibana has always been surrounded by inspirational women. Growing up, one of her role models was her father’s sister, who worked at Old Mutual. “We all wanted to be independent like her. She was successful in her career, and her relationship with her husband was equally thriving. She inspired us, her nieces, to want to do something more with our lives.”

Moreover, both Nomathibana’s mother and aunt had a passion for education. Whereas Nomathibana’s mother held an undergraduate degree in Education and another in Child

Psychology, Nomathibana’s maternal aunt earned a BSc in Mathematics and Physiology, and they opted for careers in teaching. “Both women took a very detailed route to arrive at teaching because they wanted to be perfect at it.”

She believes that in South Africa, recruitment agencies and corporate leaders are presently pushing to employ more women. However, retention still remains a challenging factor. “I think that is where most corporates are falling short. People from different gender and cultural backgrounds are coming into companies and they have different ways of thinking and of looking at the world. If you want to retain people, you have to have a culture that embraces diversity of thought.”

Put your head down and focus on harnessing your skills while you are young

Studies show that the performance of corporate companies generally improves when their leadership is more diverse, with research illustrating that women bring different approaches and perspectives to businesses. “Companies probably realise that by not being diverse, in terms of accessing the relevant talent pool, they are depriving themselves of skills from nearly half of the population,” Nomathibana says. However, she believes that gender diversity is more about cognitive diversity. “It’s about actively including people who think differently and have differing viewpoints and skill sets,” she explains.

For young women whowant to make a career in financial services, she has this advice: “Put your head down and focus on harnessing your skills while you are young, even if this means being in a role that pays you relatively less when compared to your peers. Money will come. And when you are good at your job, you arrive at a point where you can negotiate with confidence, because you know you can deliver just like anyone else in the industry.”