Lorraine Deane | Chief Sales Officer | Cyberlogic | mail me |
Increasing female CEO representation is critical for business performance, innovation and economic growth. The company also highlights the need to strengthen leadership pipelines and reduce bias within organisations.
Research from McKinsey & Company consistently shows that companies with more women in leadership outperform their peers. Gender-diverse executive teams are also more likely to deliver above-average profitability. Diversity at the top is no longer a social argument. It has become a commercial one. Companies that fail to reflect this reality are leaving performance on the table.
The leadership gap remains a business challenge
While South Africa performs relatively well compared to many global peers in female board representation, the country continues to lag at the CEO level.
According to the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa, only between 7% and 10% of CEOs are women. By comparison, women hold between 20% and 25% of board chair positions. Deane says this gap demonstrates the need for deliberate and sustained intervention.
We work closely with business leaders every day. Consequently, we see firsthand how strong, values-driven leadership shapes resilient organisations. Supporting the CEO of the Year category allowed us to support women who lead with purpose, mentor others and create growth opportunities for people around them.
Despite a strong pipeline of qualified women at educational and early-career levels, representation declines sharply at the executive level.
Women remain heavily concentrated in support and specialist functions such as HR and finance. However, organisations more commonly select CEOs from operational or revenue-generating roles. While board diversity continues improving, executive diversity progresses far more slowly. Furthermore, intersectional inequality continues to influence leadership representation in South Africa. These realities reinforce the importance of developing female CEOs through intentional organisational strategies.
For example, we employ more than 200 people. Women make up 26% of the workforce, and 20% of those women occupy senior leadership positions.
Building stronger leadership pipelines
One of our key objectives is ensuring women receive opportunities to grow into leadership roles. We also need women to recognise that they can aim for CEO-level positions. However, improving the appointment of female CEOs requires more than one initiative.
Organisations must fix leadership pipelines, selection processes and organisational incentives. The data shows that most companies do not face a talent shortage. Instead, they face progression and bias problems.
Structured CEO succession pipelines represent a critical starting point. Boards should own these formal programmes and use them to identify and develop future female CEO candidates between two and five years in advance. Developing female CEOs requires long-term planning and deliberate succession management.
Deliberately placing women into profit-and-loss roles can also accelerate leadership development significantly. These positions remain one of the primary pathways to CEO roles. Companies can achieve this through rotational assignments in revenue-generating divisions, stretch roles with commercial accountability and greater exposure to investors, boards and strategic decision-making. Too many women remain concentrated in support functions, while businesses continue selecting CEOs from operational or revenue-generating roles.
Why female leadership matters for business growth
Women also influence a substantial proportion of consumer spending decisions. Consequently, female leadership offers businesses a strategic advantage when understanding markets. This is especially important in sectors such as retail, banking, healthcare and property.
Leadership that reflects the customer base is better positioned to anticipate customer needs, design relevant products and build long-term loyalty. Ultimately, the conversation extends beyond simply developing women. Instead, organisations must redesign the systems responsible for selecting CEOs.
Businesses that commit to developing female CEOs will likely strengthen innovation, resilience and long-term commercial performance.
