Reaching a gender balance in senior management within 12 months

“We wanted to support more women to step up as leaders.”

This company had several successful women leaders when we started working with them, who were consistently driving innovation and impact. It was recognised at the most senior levels, that if the company could achieve even greater representation of women throughout all management, there would be significant benefits to the business such as talent retention and attraction, creativity, shareholder return and financial performance. Not only that, with clients demanding greater equality within their own teams, there was an expectation that their agencies would do the same.

“We said let’s bring the coaches here, to Africa, and we can put as many women through the programme as possible.”

As a business operating within the developing world, there is less legacy to navigate: less historical gender inequality, and systems that were built for what was needed at the time, rather than because ‘that’s how things have always been’.

It meant that the Shine For Women programme was fully embedded within this company’s culture, at speed. And the results speak for themselves.

“I’m ready to be ambitious and proactively own my career path!”

Within 12 months of the programme:

• Women at the most senior leadership levels increased from 35 to 39%
• Overall, the number of women increased from 43% to 46%

And, importantly, women senior managers grew from 35 to 50%, meaning that the near-future pipeline for top leadership is already gender-balanced.