The list recognises individuals who have made remarkable contributions to shaping the future and pioneering innovative solutions within their respective fields.

The announcement comes as Transnational Corporation Plc (Transcorp Group) released its Q1 2024 results, which showed impressive growth on all indices.

Profit before tax (PBT) grew year-on-year (YoY) by 1,475 percent to N45.7 billion in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1’24) from N2.9 billion in the corresponding period of 2023.

The company also reported a 173 percent YoY growth in revenue to N88.6 billion in Q1’24 from N32.4 billion in Q1’ 23.

The impressive results year after year are testament to Omogiafo’s visionary leadership. Transcorp Group has experienced significant growth and expansion under her leadership having taken up leadership during a difficult time, as the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Omogiafo, has led the Group and its subsidiaries, including Transcorp Power, and Transcorp Hotels Plc, back to the path of exponential growth and profitability.

Transcorp Group’s shares ended 2023 as one of the best-performing stocks of the year. The growth has continued in 2024.

Omogiafo’s commitment to innovation, sustainability, and social responsibility has made a positive impact on the lives of millions of people across Africa, in line with Transcorp Group’s purpose of improving lives and transforming Africa.

The MIPAD recognition is, therefore, timely as Omogiafo’s Transcorp releases another impressive result, reinforcing the company’s position as a leading conglomerate in the country, and highlighting her transformational leadership.

The MIPAD recognition is a global initiative that identifies and celebrates outstanding individuals of African descent who are making a positive impact in their communities and the world at large.

Dr. Owen Omogiafo’s inclusion in this prestigious list is a well-deserved honour, acknowledging her tireless efforts to drive economic growth, social progress, and environmental sustainability in Africa.

The Transcorp President has been recognised by many local and international bodies for her contributions to Nigeria and Africa’s socio-economic growth, including a national award, OON, bestowed on her by the Federal Government of Nigeria last year.

To mark the evolution of Africa.com’s Definitive List of Women CEOs, sponsored by Standard Bank Group, now in its third year, Africa.com analyzed 2,020 listed companies on Africa’s 24 stock exchanges to compare the performance of companies where women hold the top position as CEO.

Women led companies remain a rarity across Africa in spite of a growing body of evidence that more diverse management produces better results. 

“Despite difficult market conditions in most sectors and most geographies across the continent, in 2022, female run companies in Africa outperformed most benchmarks,” said Teresa Clarke, Chair of Africa.com, the company that conducted the analysis.

Transcorp of Nigeria, a diversified conglomerate with investments in the power, hospitality and energy sectors run by President and CEO Ms. Owen Omogiafo, ranked as one of the top performers on the Africa.com list gaining 8.27% in share price in 2022.

She joined us on the 19th to talk about how Transnational Corp. was able to outperform its competitors in this environment.

Another top performer was Bidvest Group of South Africa, a diversified industrial services company which has been run by chief executive Ms. Mpumi Madisa since 2020, saw its share price increase by 5.82% in 2022.

To put the figures into perspective, the share prices of the collective group of 93 women led companies analyzed by Africa.com outperformed the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (FTSE/JSE All Share) by 506 basis points, the Nairobi Securities Exchange Index (NSEASI) by 2,712 basis points, the London Stock Exchange (FTSE All Share Index) by 1,202 basis points, and the S&P 500 by 1,714 basis points.

Vera Songwe, Senior Fellow – Global Economy and Development, Africa Growth Initiative joined the virtual event on April 19th for the unveiling of the Definitive List of Women CEOs to share her perspective on why women outperform in the investment arena.

The trend of large, listed, women-led companies in Africa outperforming their male-run counterparts is consistent with trends seen in other parts of the world. Why do women-led firms often outperform? Patricia Lizarraga of Hypatia Capital wrote, “

According to McKinsey, women face well-documented additional barriers in today’s workplace. The few who rise to the highest executive ranks, by definition, must possess additional leadership and performance characteristics versus the average executive, predominantly male, who did not face the same barriers.”

Hypatia Capital of New York designed the Hypatia Women CEO Index, measures the performance of publicly traded securities on U.S. exchanges that have female Chief Executive Officers.

Over the same period, 6678 January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022, that index outperformed its benchmark by 479 basis points. Patricia Lizarraga, CEO of the Hypatia Womens CEO Index Fund in the US talked more about the “Female Factor,” her term for how women impact investment performance.

One of the caveats to the Africa.com analysis is that the various exchanges on which the companies are listed report share prices in their local currencies.

Thus, in order to achieve the results indicated, an investor would have to purchase shares in the currencies of each regional exchange.

Teresa Clarke, Chair of Africa.com, said, “This work represents one of the first analyses of the performance of publicly listed companies in Africa conducted through a gender lens. We look forward to advancing this work in the years to come.”