Women in Business - Nigeria

At the beginning of 2021, there were 161 companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGSE). Of that number, only fifteen had women as managing directors or CEOs. The remaining 90.7% were led by men.

Similarly, we were only able to identify 15 NGSE companies with over 40% female board members. Forty-three companies (26.7%) had no women on the board at all. Of the 1,344 executives we identified, only 18% were women.

As a point of comparison, according to EQUILAR, across the Russell 3000 companies in the US, 22.5% of board members in 2020 were female and 7.1% of boards had no women at all. The NGSE has sought to raise the flag on this issue in recent years.

However, to really move the dial succession planning adopted by companies and encouraged by their investors will have to change.