Diversity

Well-constructed boards welcome a diversity of perspectives. Diverse boards encourage richer debate, leading to sounder decision-making processes that strengthen company performance. Here we examine the level of representation of HDSA, women, and foreign directors on South African boards.

Ethnic diversity

• 217 (36%) of the 601 executive and non-executive directors across the JSE top 50 are from a historically disadvantaged background.
• 14.3% of companies reported having no HDSA Directors on their Board, this is double the percentage (7%) recorded a decadeago.
• 100% of directors disclosed their ethnic backgrounds.

Top boards by HDSA representation, by sector

	Company	% of HDSA Directors
Bidvest	Industrial	80%
Exxaro Resources	Industrial	77%
Kumba Iron Ore	Industrial	75%
Clicks	Consumer	67%
Nedbank	Financial Services	67%
Harmony Gold Mining Company	Industrial	67%

Women in the boardroom

• 211 (35%) of the 605 executive and non-executive directors across the JSE top 50 companies are women.
• Women represent 39% of all NEDs, a steady but unspectacular increase from 27% in 2012 and 18% in 2008.
• Only 18% of executive directors in our survey are women.
• The EMEA average for all women on boards is 36%; the most comparable countries to that average are Belgium (37%) and Ireland (37%). France records the largest proportion of women on EMEA boards, at 46%.
• All 49 boards have female representation.
• Women NEDs are 58.2 years old on average; the wider EMEA group averages 60.9 years.
• Of the 22.1% of all newly appointed women NEDs, 10.5% have no prior board experience.
• Women have a lower average tenure (4.2 years) compared to men, who average 6.9 years. Similarly, a lower average tenure in their board roles (3.5 years versus five years).
• 44% (22) of boards have at least one female member, either as chair, CEO, CFO, or executive director. Four women were appointed this year.

The Broader View: Summary of Gender Metrics for Non-Executive Directors

Female representation on boards by sector

Consumer

	% female
Ninety One	50%
Clicks	44%
Investec	43%
Pepkor	42%
Shoprite	42%

Healthcare

	% female
Aspen Pharmacare	30%

Industrial

	% female
Bidvest	70%
Kumba Iron Ore	58%
Impala Platinum	54%
Anglo American Platinum	50%
Exxaro Resources	47%

TMT&S

	% female
Vodacom	42%
MTN	36%
Naspers	31%
Prosus	31%
Multichoice	30%

• Of the 489 NEDs on the JSE top 50, 190 are women (39%) and amongst these, 3.3% are chairs, 2.3% are CEOs, 3.8% are CFOs, 3.8% are executive directors, 4.3% are independent NEDs and 82% are NEDs.
• 12.7% of non-executive women are audit committee chairs, 10.1% are remuneration committee chairs, and 5.3% are nomination committee chairs.

Tenure in role

	Female	Male
CEO	3.6	9.5
CFO	2.5	6.3
Chair	6.9	9.1
Executive Director	4.4	6.8
Non-Executive Director	4.0	6.6
Senior/Lead Independent Director & Vice Chair	6.3	7.1
Grand Total	4.2	7.2

HDSA directors

• Of all board members surveyed (executive and non-executive), 36% are HDSA, a slight increase from 32% 10 years ago.
• Seven companies reported having no HDSA board directors, a two-fold increase from four.

Financial services experience, particularly acquired in the banking and investment sectors, remains the most common industry background (36%) of HDSA directors.

	All directors	HDSA directors
Financial Services	32.9%	35%
Industrial	28.9%	24.9%
Technology, Media and Services	11.4%	13.4%
Consumer	10.6%	4.1%
Business Professional Services	7.8%	9.7%
Education and Social Impact	4.8%	9.7%
Private Equity	1.2%	0%
Healthcare	0.5%	0%
Others	2%	2.8%

• A background as a CEO is the most common (19.8%) functional experience among HDSA directors, followed by executive director roles (12.4%) and CFO roles (6.9%).
• HDSA NEDs are on average slightly younger at 58.4 years than the sample’s average of 60.9. 5.4% of these are sitting on a board for the first-time, compared with 8.6% of all new NEDs.
• HDSA directors record very slightly lower board tenure of 5.7 years than the 5.9 average for all NEDs.
• Of the three newly appointed chairs at companies surveyed, two are from a HDSA background.
• Proportions of CEO and CFO appointments among HDSA candidates were at 20.4% and 25.6%, respectively.

Intersectionality (ethnic and gender diversity)

• There is a difference of 10 percentage points in the number of HDSA women (55%, or 119) and men (45%, or 98) sitting on JSE top 50 boards. HDSA women are, on average, younger and have a shorter board tenure than their HDSA male counterparts.
• HSDSA women directors are on average younger than their male counterparts (55.4 years vs 59.9); have shorter tenures (4.9 years vs seven years); and on average have more board obligations outside their current role (71.4% of female HDSA directors vs 62.6%).
• The proportion of new (new to the boards they serve) and first-time directors is higher among female directors, at 21% vs 20.2% and 5% vs 3.4%, respectively.

Gender and Ethnicity in the Boardroom

	Total JSE HDSA (217)	Female JSE HDSA	Male JSE HDSA	All board members
Average age (years)	58.4	55.4	59.9	59.6
Average tenure on board (years)	5.7	4.9	7	6
Average % of external commitments exceeding 1 listed board	73.9%	71.4%	62.6%	66.3%
% of new directors (of total)	23.4%	21%	20.2%	21.3%
% of newly appointed first-time directors (of total)	5.4%	5%	3.4%	7 %

Foreign directors

We define foreign directors as having a nationality that differs from that of the company.

• Foreign directors account for 36.3% (218) of all board members, similar to 36% in 2012.
• 31% of foreign directors are chairs and 32% are CEOs.

Boardroom Diversity – top 5 companies in the JSE top 50