Credits for Siba Mtongana, Nomcebo Zikode, Aisha Pandor and Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng images: Art Direction: Lucy Nkosi | Photography: Katlego Mokubyane; Assistant: Sbusiso Sigidi | Styling: Deneal Van Wyk; Outfits supplied by Fashimo Styles Studio, Ukara, Suited For Her and Preview Accessories | Hair & Makeup:Vanessa Unamaca, MakoleMade | Location: NewKatz.Studio, Johannesburg
THE WOMAN WHO DIGS HER HEELS IN, knows who she is and where she's going, having already lived through more than three decades battling the odds and earning her stripes, is not to be messed with. She is an embodiment of how resilience can meet repertoire, creativity can marry innovation and money can match might. Given her trials and trajectories, she is not in it to wing it, but to win it.
Thought leader Avivah Wittenberg-Cox says that a woman's career can be highlighted in phases. In her 2020 Forbes opinion piece titled 4 Phases Of Women's Careers – Coping With The Crisis And The 30s,Wittenberg-Cox writes that this is “a decade of learning, exploring, growth, independence, and no dependents”.
“I THINK THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE WHO HIT THEIR BIGGEST TARGETS, ACCOMPLISH THEIR BIGGEST GOALS [DURING THIS TIME].”
—Nomzamo Mbatha
When a woman is in her 20s, it's all about ambition. In her 30s, she tends to experience what Wittenberg-Cox calls a culture shock, “where potential and parenting crash into today's corporate cultures and systems”. The 40s are then dedicated to (re)acceleration centered around refocusing career priorities on the foundations built. And then finally, a woman's 50s focuses on self-actualization.
This is “when empty nesters discover (often to their surprise) their peak career decades”, Wittenberg-Cox explains.
FORBES AFRICA has previously listed visionaries under 30 and pioneering women over 50. But in between those age groups, as we found, is an ocean of talent populated by women who have already tasted success and are forging ahead and also those who are discovering their true potential to become high-achievers in the third and fourth decades of their lives.
How have they managed to break the glass ceiling for remarkable change in sectors across Africa and beyond? They are also leaders who have had to use their time to evolve, spearhead and pivot the way they think about business, branding and their own personal lives, in search of the elusive 'work-life balance'.
“I'm so fantastically happy that FORBES AFRICA is [featuring] the missing middle,” South African actor, television personality, businesswoman, accountant and human rights activist, Nomzamo Mbatha says. “I think there are so many people who hit their biggest targets, accomplish their biggest goals [during this time]… I'm glad that we're in it because I get to see women who are in their 30s and 40s and they are just owning their power. And I'm inspired by that; just seeing a woman who stands in her power.”
It is not an uncommon fact that women are generally under-represented, or invisible, in the upper echelons of power on the continent.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Executive Directors Practices and Remuneration Trends Report 2023 shows that women only make up 15.6% of executive directors among Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Top 200 companies. This includes Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs).
As a JSE-listed company, Bidvest, for the first time, has a female CEO, Mpumi Madisa.
“I guess when you're the first, what you do is you give other people a semblance that they can also be there,” Madisa tells FORBES AFRICA. “Because generally, we don't see people who look like us at the C-suite and CEO level. You don't see enough women, you don't see enough people of color, and you don't see enough young women. So, I suppose being the first kind of says, 'yes, we can, it is possible'. I think it puts a significant amount
