Professor Stella Nkomo, Deputy Dean for Research and Postgraduate Studies in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, has been recognised as a Continental Lifetime Achiever in CEO Global's Africa's Most Influential Women in Business and Government Awards on Tuesday, 22 November 2016. The awards form part of an annual programme that celebrates the achievements of women across the African continent.

CEO Global is a business and professional services company that has focused on identifying Africa’s leading talent and sharing their success stories during the last 16 years. Annelize Wepener, Chief Executive of CEO Global, explains that the recognition programme dispels the notion that Africa has a paucity of innovative and progressive leadership talent. 'There are tremendously inspirational stories at the core of each winner’s professional and personal life story,' she says.

Earlier in the year, Prof Nkomo was one of two country winners from South Africa to receive the 2016 CEO Lifetime Country Achievement Award in recognition of her leadership excellence in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The award is conferred on a woman who has made an impact through business or a profession over the course of her career and who has turned her success and prowess into society's success.

She was recognised for her extraordinary leadership contributions to higher education in the country, particularly her special talent for developing young academics and training postgraduate students. Her reach was extended beyond South Africa's borders to the rest of the continent through her presidency of the Africa Academy of Management.

According to CEO Global, just under 5 000 nominations across the various sectors were received from across the continent during the course of 2015 for the 2016 awards, making the awards very competitive. Nominees undergo a rigorous multi-tiered judging process, overseen by a judging panel comprising leading figures from the business and public sector that have excelled in their own right and understand the demands made upon contemporary leaders.

Wepener adds: 'I am really very privileged to interact with these individuals. They deserve the admiration and respect they are afforded, particularly Lifetime Achievers who have often been absolute pioneers in their field.'