Three Kenyan women are holding pride of place among 50 African women corporate leaders who run the largest and most complex businesses in Africa.

Recognised in this ranking are East African Breweries managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Jane Karuku, Rebecca Miano (Kenya Electricity Generating Company) and Nasim of Diamond Trust Bank Group.

They made it to the Africa.com “Definitive List of Women CEOs”, following a data-driven research on high profile corporate women leaders.

Africa.com picked them after rigorous evaluation from a pool of 526 women who run 355 companies as either CEO or division heads of publicly listed African corporations, Africa-region heads or Africa country heads of global corporations to come up with the list of the 50 outstanding women leaders.

This included reviewing the more than 1,400 publicly listed companies on all of the 21 stock exchanges in Africa. 

In order to qualify for the list, women had to have a CEO or managing director title at the head of one of these companies. The titles were then vetted further by examining where the women fit within the company’s overall organisational structure to ensure that the women truly hold authority that is consistent with their titles.  

For these female corporate leaders, this is no mean feat. According to a global study dubbed Mckinsey’s Women in the Workplace, women make up 48 percent of entry-level employees, but only 38 percent of managers, 34 percent of senior managers or directors, 29 percent of VPs, 23 percent of SVPs and just 22 percent of C-suite executives.

Studies show that when you ask a child to draw a picture of a doctor, scientist or corporate CEO more often than not, they draw men.

But this picture is gradually changing in Kenya where women are rising to lead some of the biggest firms in diverse sectors.

Ms Karuku heads East Africa’s leading branded alcohol beverage business, Ms Miano is the chief of the largest power production firm in East Africa while Ms Devji heads a commercial banking conglomerate, with headquarters in Nairobi and banking arms in Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

“The women in the Definitive list today indeed show that Africa has made great progress in gender inclusion in the corporate space,” Ms Karuku said in a press statement after the unveiling of these achievers during the Definitive List Summit on October 13.

 “I hope that we get to inspire young women all over the continent to arise, step forward and go for their dreams, whatever they may be.”

She said her firm had put in place necessary policies and programmes to ensure women constitute 50 per cent of the workforce.

Jane Karuku, East African Breweries CEO

Ms Karuku is amongst the most senior women leaders in East Africa, steering East and Central Africa’s largest alcohol beverage business to greater heights. With over 20 years of expert experience in the consumer good industry, she has been instrumental in driving innovations in the business.

She said her journey and success started back in her 20s,”when my boss believed in me and put me in charge of a big team of men in the factory.” 

“I have also greatly benefitted from working with an organisation that is deliberate about attracting, retaining and developing the most diverse talent as we believe that every unique individual brings a unique talent that we can leverage on as a business.” 

She formerly held senior positions with Farmers Choice; Managing Director, Cardbury, responsible for 14 countries in the East and Central African region, among other top corporate roles.

Rebecca Miano,  Managing Director and CEO of KenGen

Ms Miano has had a 30-year all-round career in the energy sector and is a recognised continental business leader holding the reins at KenGen, a global renewable energy market leader.

In 2010, she won the Company Secretary of the Year award in the Champions of Governance Awards series.

The same year, she was awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior of Kenya (OGW) and, in 2019, the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS) in recognition of her outstanding service to the nation.

In November 2019, she was appointed to the Board of Global Compact Network, Kenya and was named among the Top 100 Women CEOs in Africa by Reset Global People.

Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) CEO Nasim Devji

Ms Nasim Devji joined the DTB Group in 1996 following which she was appointed Group Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Trust Banks in East Africa in 2001.

She is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, an Associate of the Institute of Taxation (United Kingdom) and a Fellow of the Kenya Institute of Bankers. She is also a member of the Institute of Directors (Kenya).

Ms Devji is a director of DTB Tanzania, DTB Uganda, DTB Burundi, Jubilee Insurance Burundi, Diamond Trust Insurance Agency Limited and the Nairobi Securities Exchange Limited. She has also previously served as a member of the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation.