South Africa’s most influential women in business and public leadership converged at the Sandton Convention Centre this week for the 22nd Standard Bank Top Women™ Awards, a gathering that has quietly become one of the continent’s strongest indicators of entrepreneurial momentum and economic resilience.
The event hosted by Topco Media and supported by Standard Bank as headline sponsor, drew more than 800 business leaders, honouring over 150 finalists across 14 categories. But beyond the pageantry, the awards offered a telling portrait of how women-led enterprises are shaping South Africa’s next phase of growth, and how those shifts echo across Africa’s broader innovation landscape.
A Ceremony Marking a Turning Point
The evening’s top honour, the Lifetime Achiever Award, went to Dr Leila Fourie, CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Her recognition underscores the critical role that credible, transparent financial markets play in expanding opportunities for women entrepreneurs a theme increasingly echoed by investors seeking growth beyond traditional global centres.
Other major winners spoke to the breadth of innovation emerging from South Africa’s corporate and entrepreneurial sectors.
Akhona Qengqe, General Manager of KFC Africa, took home the Haley Fletcher Top Women Business Leader of the Year 2025, praised for steering inclusive growth across one of the continent’s largest fast-food networks.
Woolworths (Pty) Ltd earned Top Women Business of the Year 2025, recognised for its sustainability practices, ethical sourcing programmes, and gender-equity commitments areas that global investors now track as closely as financial returns.
“When Women Have Capital, Economies Expand”
Speaking at the awards, Simone Cooper, Head of Business and Commercial Banking at Standard Bank Group, said the bank’s mission is not symbolic but strategic.
“These awards are a reminder that when women have access to capital, networks and mentorship, they unlock exponential value for the economy. Standard Bank is committed to building the platforms that help women-led businesses scale,” she said.
Her remarks reflect a broader global trend where women-owned companies in emerging markets often deliver stronger repayment rates, higher reinvestment in community development and more stable long-term growth, key metrics in a world increasingly defined by uncertainty.
Leadership Meets Reality
Hosting the evening was award-winning financial journalist Gugulethu Mfuphi, whose sharp commentary threaded together the economic themes shaping today’s investment climate.
Guests also heard from Hon. Pemmy Castelina Pamela Majodina, Minister of Water and Sanitation, who received a standing ovation after linking South Africa’s G20 Summit success to “the invisible, quiet work of women, often overlooked but impossible to replace.”
She celebrated the room as a victory in itself, while issuing a sober reminder: “Leadership achievements lose meaning when femicide continues to ravage our communities.”
Women Are the Economy’s “Hidden Power Source”
In one of the night’s more striking assertions, Nonkululeko Nyembezi, Chairman of the Standard Bank Group, said investments made by South African women consistently outperform expectations, calling them “the best financial return this country has ever seen.”
Ralf Fletcher, CEO of Topco Media, described the awards as a correction to a historic blind spot:
“The economy of South Africa depends on women-led businesses — they operate as its hidden power source. The Standard Bank Top Women Awards transform the ‘unsung’ into proven achievement. Real change begins from this point.”
The 2025 Winners Driving Impact Across Key Sectors
Top Women-Owned Business SMME 2025 — Humankind Group
Top Women in ICT and E-commerce — Adbot
Construction, Infrastructure, Resources & Mining — Sauce Professional Development and Project
Highly commended: Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd
Health & Pharmaceutical — Lyra Southern Africa
Public Service — Petroleum Agency SA Highly commended: Teddy Bear Foundation
Corporate Citizenship and Community Impact — Estée Lauder Companies
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion — Mondi South Africa
Highly commended: Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa
Transport, Logistics & Mobility — DKN Transport cc
Skills and Youth Development — JumpStart Foundation Trust
Highly commended: Merchants SA (Pty) Ltd
Leader in Professional and Support Services — Dr Denisha Jairam-Owthar, Council for Medical Schemes
Leader in STEM — Megan Schalkwyk, Mungeni-Tukela Water
Leader in Public Sector — Dr Thandeka Ellenson, Moses Kotane Research Institute
Top Women Young Achiever — Dr Phindile Nkosi, University of Johannesburg
Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 — Nisha Kostas, Niche Integrated Solutions
EmpowHER Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 — Nokwanda Dlamini, Ozel Group (KwaZulu-Natal)
The winners illustrate a decisive trend that African women are no longer participating in the economy, they are designing it. Their businesses span critical growth areas including renewable energy, logistics, digital commerce, pharmaceuticals and sustainable retail, sectors where African solutions are increasingly attracting global attention.
Across emerging markets, investors are turning their attention to Africa’s entrepreneurs not out of charity, but because data increasingly shows that African innovation is driving some of the world’s most agile responses to climate risk, digital disruption and shifting consumer behaviour.
The Top Women Awards signal that South Africa is not merely part of this shift; it is helping lead it. And the entrepreneurs honoured this week are proof that the continent’s most valuable assets are not commodities, they are its changemakers.
