Steady rise of Kenyan women in hallowed corporate boardroom

There was a time when women were supposed to raise crops to feed the family, bear children and mind the kitchen.

Modernity may have defied the cliched gender roles over the decades with women  navigating the narrow description of what they can really do, climbing the corporate ladder beyond being copy typists or a secretaries into decision making positions. But one area they remain underrepresented is the boardroom.

This week, Kenyan women achieved another first.

Barclays Bank-Kenya shattered the boardroom glass ceiling by becoming the first public-listed companies in the country to have women making up half of  its board.

It’s a rare feat even by international standards going by surveys which show that most public companies even in developed countries are dominated by men.

It will likely set the pace for the corporate scene in days to come.

RISING ON MERIT

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has developed a code of corporate governance that seeks to ensure that not more than two-thirds of the board members of public-listed companies will be of the same gender.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has on its part kicked off a series of round-table talks with executives of all listed companies to urge them to have more diversity in their boardrooms.

The two-thirds gender rule is anchored in the Constitution for all public bodies. The private sector appears to be embracing the same.

In Kenya, the compliance rate remains low. A survey of 57 of the 61 companies listed on the NSE, conducted last year, exposed the grim reality of Kenyan women’s position in the boardrooms.

The survey by Brain Trust Strategies shows that cumulatively, the companies have 467 directors, but only 54 are women, representing just 12 per cent.

Only four boards are chaired by women and 23 firms have no female director.

Men are also at the helm of most of the firms; only two of the 57 companies have women as chief executive officers or managing directors.

But there are trailblazers in the boardrooms even without the affirmative action.

Boardroom veteran Susan Mudhune rose to chair the board of the Kenya Commercial Bank, the largest bank in the region in terms of assets.

Isabella Ocholla-Wilson is the incumbent chair of Unga Limited board while Caroline Musyoka is a director at BOC Kenya, TransCentury and BAT. The three have multiple membership in other boards.

The appointment of Laila Macharia, Winnie Ouko and Norah Odwesso last week brings to five the number of women (there is an equal number of men) on the Barclays board.

Barclays Bank of Kenya chairman Francis Okomo-Okello told Lifestyle that the three were selected from a pool of 17, who included men.

“It was basically driven by the need for us to address what we saw as gaps in terms of skillsets and diversity on our board,” he said. “We did not appoint them because they are women; these are business leaders in their own right.”

Ms Odwesso argues that the journey has begun to establish female presence in boardrooms.

“In response to demands for better governance from their shareholders, boards are looking for leaders who see and seize opportunities, have astute networking and relationship building capabilities and are concerned about their communities.  These are skills that come naturally to women,” she says.

Ms Odwesso works as the public affairs and communications director at Coca-Cola Central, East and West Africa Limited.

In a past interview with the Business Daily, Ms Odwesso said her worst fear was dying young and not achieving her God-given potential. But those fears might look far-fetched now.

The seasoned communications expert boasts vast experience in helping organisations meet the challenges of an ever-changing business environment, which is increasingly the subject of scrutiny by multiple stakeholders.

DIVERSE SKILLS

The bank sees the mother of three, who is married to an entrepreneur in the construction industry, as an asset in promoting and preserving its brand.

Some of her mentors have been male corporate leaders.

“Throughout my career, I have been privileged to work with some of the finest male leaders spanning local and multinational organisations. These are individuals who appreciate the diverse skills, experience and insights that women bring. They also make a conscious effort to adapt to the demands of other roles women play in society. These men have been some of my greatest supporters and I have learned a great deal from them,” she says.

However, she also appreciates that her experience is not the same for women everywhere. 

“It is true that in some quarters, there are men who believe women are in leadership as a result of affirmative action and not the value they bring. They also lack the sensitivity to roles women play as wives, mothers and community leaders,” she says, adding that such thinking limits the heights to which an organisation can go.

Dr Macharia’s resume is equally impressive as the founder and CEO of Africa Metro (formerly Scion Real), a pan-African investment company focused on urban development.

She is also the vice chairman of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, a lobby and umbrella body of privately owned companies in the country.

The University of Stanford-trained lawyer is expected to add value with her expertise in structuring and advising on corporate finance transactions. Ms Macharia also had a stint at the New York office of Clifford Chance, a leading global law firm, and at Kaplan & Stratton in Nairobi.

She sits on the Centum Investments board as a non-executive director and is a member of Capital Markets Tribunal.

Barclays is also hoping to tap into her experience in public-private partnerships, property and infrastructure development. The bank says it is pursuing more public sector deals.

On her part, Ms Ouko is the co-founder and director at Lattice Consulting Limited, a Kenyan corporate finance, project finance and strategy advisory firm.

With an accounting background and technical skills in project finance, financial analysis and strategy formulation, the bank hopes to harness her experience when it comes to accountability to stakeholders for risk management and the execution of its defined strategy.

Previously, she worked at First Africa Capital (a boutique investment bank) where her assignments included valuation and corporate restructuring. 

She has also worked for three years as an Associate Director at Standard & Poor’s carrying out credit ratings on major insurance companies in America.

She holds an MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management as well as a B Comm. Degree from the University of Nairobi. 

In 2010, Ms Ouko and Ms Macharia were among six Kenyan business executives named as Africa Leadership Initiative fellows.

GLOBAL PROBLEM

The male-domination of boardrooms, though, is not unique to Kenya as companies in the developing and developed world are facing a similar dilemma.

Norway has the highest number of women sitting on the boards at 40.5 per cent, followed by Sweden 27 per cent and United Kingdom at 20.7 per cent.

The boards are equally male-dominated in the United States with just 16.9 per cent slots going to women while Germany has 14.1 per cent.

India, which has just 4.7 per cent women in board, has set an October 1 deadline for companies to have at least one woman director. However, only around 10 per cent of them had complied as of last week.

A recent study of 25 countries in six continents by Deloitte Global Center for Corporate Governance shows that nearly 90 percent of the world’s board seats still belong to men.

“This is clearly leading to too many one-sided discussions,” argues Dan Konigsburg, the centre’s managing director.

Yet, a study by global consultancy firm McKinsey in 2007 found that companies with significant numbers of women in senior management did better on a range of criteria, including leadership, accountability and innovation.

Spending patterns

Mr Karugor Gatamah, the CEO of Africa Corporate Governance Advisory Services Ltd argues that without strong female representation on the boards, companies are missing a lot since women are the ones who mainly influence spending patterns.

“It’s not a question of whether men are willing to share the positions with women. Even during the fight against colonialism the Britons did not willingly cede power. The plane has been running on one engine and it’s time to make it run on both,” he told Lifestyle.

Pro-male-dominated boardrooms cite shortage of suitable female candidates, an argument Mr Okello laughs off.

He says many companies are just unwilling to take them on board.

“There is a mismatch between the supply and demand in the equation. We need to address the demand side,” says Mr Okello.

Ms Andia Chakava, a managing director who sits on three boards, agrees.

“There are enough, qualified women provided that we are not putting people in a box that the board members have to come from a certain side; we also need professional diversity,” she says.

Ms Chakava is part of a diversity dialogue series organsed by the NSE, which seeks to encourage public listed companies to diversify their boards.

The initiative will urge stakeholders of the companies to come up with their own solutions on how they plan to change the faces of their boardrooms.

NSE chairman Bob Karina says the initiative will sensitise the market about the new corporate governance code.

“The forum will put our capital markets in a leadership position in terms of promoting sustainability practices, including the principles of diversity and inclusion,” said Mr Karina.

Initially, the CMA had wanted companies to abide by the guidelines without making it legal, but the regulator’s chairman Kung’u Gatabaki complained of lethargy in appointing women to the boards.

Besides gender, the CMA code urges diversity on age as well as professional backgrounds.

WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE

Most of the boards are mainly packed with lawyers, accountants and engineers, according to research.

The boards are also populated with people who have racked up experience having worked for dozens years. The average age of board chairmen is 65 years.

“We’ve got to be able to break away from even the various age groups; this is a young nation, about 70 per cent youth,” says Ms Chakava.

She explains it has been fun sitting on the boards of Kenya Women Finance Trust, East African Educational Publishers and the Alpha Africa, an assets managing company, where she is the managing director.

“My advice to any female aspiring to be on a board is to try as much to be flawless. From a perception point of view, the stakes are higher for women, so you have to work extra harder,” she says.

“Take time to read all the material, don’t take anything for granted, find other people to learn from and make sure you are not intimidated and unnecessarily quiet; make your presence known.”

Ms Odwesso says serving at board level is an enormous responsibility which requires deep commitment. Second, women must have a plan that clearly articulates the boards on which they wish to serve and the value they will deliver when they get there. 

One’s positive reputation must also precede one before and after joining the board.

THE NUMBERS

How some blue-chip companies fare in the boardrooms

Safaricom Ltd

Five women and six men

Kenya Breweries Ltd

Four women and eight men

Barclays Bank-Kenya Ltd

Five women; five men

Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd

Two women and seven men

Standard Chartered Bank Ltd

Three women and seven men

CMA

Five women and six men

NMG

Four women and 12 men

Equity Bank

Two women and nine men