The FWA Leading Women Summit encompassed the theme 'The Ceiling Crashers 2.0: Power with Purpose'. The event partnered with Mastercard, who joined forces with FWA after a successful collaboration at the Forbes Woman Africa Regional Forum 2019 — a summit initiative that was held in Kigali, Rwanda in August 2019.

The FWA summit was hosted by the KwaZulu-Natal government for the second time at Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC Complex in Durban on Friday, 6 March. Building on the success of 2019, this year's event attracted an audience of over 1 000 delegates, who were met by a pan-African cast of speakers from:
  • Nigeria
  • Sierra Leone
  • Rwanda
  • Botswana, and
  • South Africa.
Zamani Holdings and Avon Justine, as first-time sponsors, saw Charmaine Mabuza — co-founder and group CEO of Zamani Holdings — as well as Mafahle Mareletse — group vice president TMEA and general manager of Avon — joining the panel discussion on 'The Role of Male Feminists In Gender Strategies in Corporate Africa'.

The annual summit is an editorialised event, which aims to give its attendees the chance to physically engage with the hard-hitting stories and inspiring people that feature in Forbes Africa.

The 2020 edition welcomed more than 40 leading women for its programme, which included:
  • Dr Naledi Pandor, South African minister of international relations 
  • Bonang Matheba, South African television personality, philanthropist and businesswoman 
  • DJ Zinhle, a South African musician, and
  • Dr Judy Dlamini, co-founder and executive chairperson of Mbekani Group.
"We are so thrilled that the dedicated efforts of so many individuals resulted in such an unbelievably successful women empowerment summit," says Renuka Methil, managing editor of FWA.

"This year's event garnered massive media attention, which shone a spotlight on the barriers being broken by women in leadership roles. We will be building on this worthwhile platform for the 2021 summit, which is expected to be bigger than ever," concludes Methil.

The summit has indicated that there are various opportunities for involvement in the 2021 FWA Leading Women Summit, including event sponsorship, exhibiting at the on-site marketplace and the sponsoring of a mentee.

Contact details
For more information, visit www.Leadingwomensummit.co.za. You can also follow the FWA Leading Women Summit on Facebook or on Twitter.