A truly inspiring woman

FAKUDE: HER MEMOIR IS IDEAL FOR THOSE LOOKING FOR A ROLE MODEL

Boardroom Dancing is an inspirational journey through the corporate world.

Nolitha Victoria Fakude is among a growing list of women around the world who are determined to change the corporate playing field for marginalised groups.

Appointed at the beginning of September as the group director and chairperson of Anglo American’s management board, she will also be releasing her memoir Boardroom Dancing, in which she tells the story of her corporate life.

From her childhood as a shopkeeper’s daughter in the Eastern Cape, to her very senior positions at some major blue-chip companies, including Woolworths, Nedbank and Sasol – Fakude’s is a tale of drive and motivation, and beacon of hope for women fighting for their place in a predominantly male-driven workplace.

Speaking to her publishers, Pan Macmillan, ahead of her October book launch, Fakude says that after being on this earth for more than five decades she had earned the right to tell the story of corporate South Africa’s transformation from her perspective.

“My story is a tale of many shared experiences that so many of us who grew up in South Africa pre-1994 with affirmative action and post-1994 with employment equity know so well. As much as the characters I describe along my journey may be completely different to yours, so, too, might they be familiar, or even shockingly close,” she says.

Well-known corporate activist and inspirational business woman, Fakude, has spent her almost three-decade-long career advocating the development of women and marginalised communities in the workplace and society.

A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, she has been best known for driving transformation and never been one to shy away from pushing the development rights of women in the workplace.

“As I moved between the different boardrooms that I was involved with at the time, the political context was always there,” she says.

It should therefore come as no surprise that her memoir demonstrates that, in her case, the “personal is political”, both at home as well as professionally.

Hailed by Doctor Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (secretary-general of the United Nations and executive director of UN Women), as “a masterclass in how success might be achieved”, Fakude says she hopes her memoir will invoke much more open and deeper discussion about what our shared future should look like.

“If I am able in some small way to play a part in encouraging and guiding that discussion, my gap year will have been fruitful indeed,” she says.

In addition to being a very personal journey for Fakuda, Boardroom Dancing is also a lesson for South Africans committed to the transformation of boardrooms and the economy as well as an inspirational book for women looking for role models in their own journeys through the corporate world.