A little more than 100 years ago, Naspers Ltd was created by white South Africans to produce a Dutch-language newspaper. Now the continent\u2019s biggest company, Naspers just named its first woman, and first black person, as chief executive officer.<\/p>\n
Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa\u2019s appointment to head the South African unit doesn\u2019t just buck the trend of white, male directors at Naspers. Only one black woman now runs a Top 40-listed company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and only seven men of color do. The new Naspers unit won\u2019t be traded, at least right away, and includes e-commerce, food delivery, newspapers and online media.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhuthi is qualified, and brings in some good experience, plus she brings some gender and racial equality into the mix,\u201d said Ron Klipin, a senior analyst at Cratos Capital. \u201cYou need a person who can also take your South African portfolio forward and grow it, change the landscape even further.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mahanyele-Dabengwa, 48, has connections at the top: She\u2019s been CEO of Shanduka Group (Pty) Ltd, a black-owned investment holding company started by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. She\u2019s also on the board of the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation. In addition, she\u2019s held board positions at companies including mobile operator Vodacom Group Ltd., miner Gold Fields Ltd and airline company Comair Ltd.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is high-level and well connected,\u201d said Paul Theron, founder and CEO of Johannesburg-based money manager Vestact. Her education includes an economics degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey and an MBA from De Montfort University in the UK.<\/p>\n
Naspers is now a $108-billion company that invests mostly in technology around the world. Mahanyele-Dabengwa will need to be able to navigate political pressure as Naspers readies for a listing of its international internet assets in Amsterdam later this year, Theron said. That listing was delayed until September last month after an error sending details to shareholders meant a vote on the deal couldn\u2019t go ahead.<\/p>\n
Challenges ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n Another challenge is the uncertainty around which South African assets will be incorporated under the remaining home-market listing. While Mahanyele-Dabengwa will lead the group\u2019s day-to-day business and be responsible for tech and startup-focused projects Naspers Foundry and Naspers Labs, her role after the Amsterdam listing is less clear.<\/p>\n The company hasn\u2019t said whether she\u2019ll also be involved with the Dutch entity, to be called Prosus NV.<\/p>\n Mahanyele-Dabengwa has most recently been executive chairperson of Sigma Capital, a privately held investment group that focuses on black-empowerment deals, private equity and joint ventures across sectors including finance, real estate, technology and energy. She declined to be interviewed.<\/p>\n \u201cShe is very smart and she will adapt to the environment that she is being put into,\u201d said Owen Nkomo, CEO of Inkunzi Wealth, who has worked with her recently on a number of projects. \u201cShe has worked closely with the current president, so in terms of access maybe to the right networks if that business does require access, I believe she will bring that into the company.\u201d<\/p>\n Naspers\u2019s flagship asset is its $134 billion investment in China\u2019s Tencent Holdings Ltd, whose growth helped transform the South African company into a multi-billion rand behemoth that has the power to influence the JSE\u2019s movement. The Prosus listing is intended in part to reduce the company\u2019s dominance of Johannesburg\u2019s stock exchange.<\/p>\n Naspers perfomance dwarfs JSE All Share<\/strong><\/p>\n Nonetheless, South Africa remains a critical market for Naspers, which was founded in Stellenbosch, near Cape Town, in 1915. \u201cIt is our home country and our primary listing is on the JSE. It\u2019s important to us to have an executive at the highest level dedicated to leading our interests in the country,\u201d Naspers said.<\/p>\n Mahanyele-Dabengwa joins Mpumi Madisa, CEO-designate of Bidvest Group Ltd, as one of the tiny number of women leaders in South Africa\u2019s private sector. It\u2019s not the only country where inequality still thrives in the boardroom: Women led about 18.8% of US companies in 2014, up marginally from 17.6% in 2000, and the companies they ran tended to be newer and smaller, according to a recent analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s terrible because there are a lot of skilled women who can lead listed companies,\u201d Nkomo said. \u201cThe industry needs to change, the sector needs to change, so I applaud the guys that hired Mahanyele-Dabengwa to run Naspers in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
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