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Naspers Appoints A Black Woman CEO. Meet Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa

Naspers Appoints A Black Woman CEO. Meet Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa

Naspers
Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa, Naspers’ CEO of South African business. Photo: SADC News

Naspers, Africa’s biggest company, named its first Black person and first woman to head its South African unit, bucking a trend where the century-old multimedia company picked a long streak of white male CEOs.

Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, 48, was appointed as the CEO for Naspers’ South African unit on July 3. She will be in charge of spearheading Naspers’ drive to make successful tech investments in Africa.

“Phuthi is qualified, and brings in some good experience, plus she brings some gender and racial equality into the mix,” said Ron Klipin, a senior analyst at Cratos Capital, in a Bloomberg interview.

Naspers is Africa’s biggest pay-TV retailer with about 8 million DSTV subscribers, and owns a third of one of China’s largest internet companies, Tencent. Its $32 million investment in 2011 ballooned in value to more than $100 billion.

The company also has investments in Russia, Brazil and Turkey, and is committed to investing up to $1 billion in India this year. It has however struggled to make the right tech investments in Africa.

Mahanyele-Dabengwa will have at her disposal a $314 million fund announced in October to invest in selected African tech startups. She will also oversee Naspers Labs, a social-impact and skills-acquisition initiative for South Africa’s unemployed youth.

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She has been CEO of Shanduka Group (Pty) Ltd., a Black-owned investment holding company started by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Her appointment was received on Twitter with skepticism with some saying she was being used as “a front” amidst job cuts at the Naspers South African unit. Others questioned her close relations with President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Naspers plans to list its international assets on the Amsterdam-based European stock exchange Euronext in September under a new company name, Prosus. It will likely be the largest listed consumer internet group in Europe by asset value, according to Naspers.