Women in Africa are regarded as the weaker sex who suffer the most in society.
However, day in and out, many African women are leading and dominating the spaces they find themselves but only a few are the real bosses of male-dominated industries.
Here are five African female bosses whose work will inspire you to do more
Zimbabwe’s Divine Ndhlukula is the CEO of Security company, SECURICO.
In a male-dominated industry, she has employed more than 3,500 workers under her security company.
SECURICO was founded in 1998 by Divine Ndhlukula after working 16 long years as a Marketing Executive for Intermarket Life Assurance.
SECURICO is now one of Zimbabwe’s and South Africa biggest security companies. Over the years, the company has been internationally recognised.
Divine Ndhlukula is also the CEO of Zvikomborero Farms. The highly successful woman has an MBA from Midlands State University and an Honorary MBA from Zimbabwe’s Women’s University in Africa.
Priscillah Mabelane is the CEO of British Petroleum, South Africa (BP South Africa).
She was appointed CEO British Petroleum, South Africa (BP South Africa) in 2017. Priscillah Mabelane one of the most powerful women in South Africa and one of the most talked about women in Africa.
Before joining BP South Africa, Priscillah Mabelane was the first black to be given a job at the Pietermaritzburg office of Ernst & Young. She remains the first woman in the South African oil industry to head a multinational company.
Priscillah continues to inspire many Africans to focus on their goals and invest or work in the oil industry.
The 67-year-old was born into a wealthy, polygamous Nigerian family. After being a secretary at the International Merchant Bank of Nigeria, she subsequently quit her job in the early 80s and proceeded to study fashion design in England.
When she returned to Nigeria, she started Supreme Stitches, a Nigerian fashion label which had customers including the wife of former Nigerian president Ibrahim Babangida.
Today, Alakija, with a net worth of $1.6 billion is the vice chair of Famfa Oil, a Nigerian oil exploration company with a stake in the Agbami oil field, a prolific offshore asset.
After being rejected as a flight attendant by South African Airlines, Sibongile Sambo turned the disappointment into working hours and set up her own Aviation company.
Today, SRS Aviation is one of South Africa’s most trusted and most reliable services in the Aviation industry in southern Africa.
Sibongile Sambo set up the company with the aim of providing clients professional and personalised flight options to destinations around the world.
In 2013, she was named one of the most powerful women in Africa and has won several awards.
Njeri Rionge is the owner of many chains of leading businesses not only in her home country, Kenya, but in East Africa at large.
Njeri Rionge is best known as leading the IT industry in East Africa after establishing Wananchi Online which is now East Africa’s leading Internet Company.
Aside from her leading company, she has also ventured into other industries setting up top companies such as Business Lounge, which is one of Kenya’s biggest startup incubators and Ignite Lifestyle, a healthcare consultancy.
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Credit: Face2faceafrica