Mary Vilakazi has made history by becoming the first woman CEO of FirstRand, SA’s financial services heavyweight.
The appointment of the former MMI Holdings deputy CEO, who joined FirstRand in 2018 as its COO, is a historic and progressive move that should be celebrated by all South Africans who value diversity and inclusion in corporate leadership.
Vilakazi’s rise to the top of FirstRand is a triumph for black women in corporate SA, who have long faced barriers and discrimination in a male and white-dominated sector. “You feel you have to disprove stereotypes and prejudices all the time. It may feel that there is unfairness in the system,” she said in 2016 in response to a question posed by CFO magazine on what it was like to work in a white-dominated environment.
Aside from being morally repugnant, these barriers hold back shareholder returns and stand in the way of innovation. A 2016 study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington-based nonprofit organisation, found a positive correlation between having more women in corporate leadership positions and increased profitability. The study, which surveyed nearly 22,000 publicly traded companies in 91 countries, found that a 30% female representation can lead to a 15% increase in profitability for a typical firm. The possible reasons for this correlation include increased skill diversity, less gender discrimination, and better talent recruitment and retention.
Given the obvious logic in putting more women in the C-suite, why did it take 185 years for FirstRand to appoint a woman as CEO? Admittedly, SA companies have made some progress on this front, perhaps in acknowledgement that gender diversity fits perfectly in their raison d’être: to make money for shareholders.
But SA’s corporate sector is still a man’s world. Women are scarce in the top jobs, especially in the largest firms. A new report by Just Share, an activist shareholder grouping, showed the women CEOs and board chairs among the JSE’s top 40 companies can be counted on one hand.
And only a quarter, or just 53, of the 208 new executive appointments between 2020 and 2022 were women, according to a PwC study. Bidvest is the only company in the top 40 with gender parity or better at both the board and executive levels, the Just Share research showed.
Vilakazi, who was born in the poverty-stricken and overcrowded Alexandra township, has defied these odds. She rose through the harsh and unforgiving ranks of corporate SA from being named the youngest partner at PwC in the mid-2000s to being promoted to deputy CEO of Momentum Metropolitan in 2017, where her main goal was to merge the group’s two mainstay retail businesses to increase their value.
She has been acknowledged for her role overseeing FirstRand’s insurance, wealth, and investment management sectors, which are the cornerstone of the company’s hunt for new revenue streams to become an integrated financial services company.
Vilakazi’s appointment is not only good for FirstRand, but for SA as a whole. It inspires young aspiring accountants, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds like hers, to pursue their dreams and ambitions.
Still, Vilakazi’s success should not be seen as an exception, but as the norm that should be replicated across corporate SA. Black women have shown that they have what it takes to lead and succeed in any field. Vilakazi is one of them. She deserves our congratulations and admiration.
• Motsoeneng is Business Day deputy editor
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