Acknowledgements

I would like to express great and deep appreciation to the people who aided me in the completion of this project and making it a reality. Special thanks to all the individuals who helped me in my research and fact finding process. I am grateful to one (name) whose immense contribution in giving me suggestions as well as providing the actual research material was very instrumental in the completion of the project. Your encouragement and support helped me in a big way and was vital for the writing of this report.

Furthermore, I would also like to recognize and appreciate the important role played by the staff of (name), that gave us the permission to use and borrow materials and equipment in order to complete this project. Special thanks also to the staff here for allowing us to use the venue to hold this meeting.

I would like to thank my fellow team players who invested their full support and efforts in the achievement of the team’s goals. I also have to appreciate the supervisors, professors and experts who helped me come up with this report. Your input and information is highly appreciated as without you, coming up with this report would not have been possible.

Last but not least, I would like to give a special vote of thanks to all those who made time out of their busy schedules to attend this conference. I am sure most of you had other important things to attend to: but you all made time and attended and that is something I cannot take lightly. I do not know how I can thank you enough, but for whatever it is worth, thank you. I am deeply humbled by your show of support and solidarity.

Table of contents

Abstract

Introduction

A board of directors can be defined as a body of appointed or elected individuals who are jointly tasked with the responsibility of overseeing a company’s or organizations’ (whether a non-profit corporation or a government agency) activities. They act as representatives who act on the interests of the shareholders to strive and establish corporation management related policies and also in the making of major decisions that revolve around the company issues. The board’s undertaking of activities is determined by duties, powers and responsibilities that are delegated to it or conferred by an authority that is foreign from it. Such matters are mostly laid down in the organization’s bylaws or constitution. As such, the documents give clarity on issues such as the number of board members, how they are to be chosen and the frequency with which they will be required to meet.

Some of the inside directors who are most likely to be in the board of directors are the Chief Executive Officer who also act in the capacity of the chairman of the board, other executives such as the executive vice president and the chief financial officer, large shareholders who may or may not be employees of the corporation and also representatives of other stakeholders who may include major lenders, trade unions or community members of the area where the corporation is located. There may also be the presence of outside directors such as CEOs of other corporations who serve to bring experience, expertise and a third party perspective of the market whether domestic or global. They are also act as an oversight party and as watch dogs as they will most likely not put up with insider dealings between the inside directors as the outside directors usually do not benefit from the organization or company. They also serve the purpose of arbitrators during conflict resolutions or whenever there is a clash of interests or ideas amongst the inside directors.

According the UK corporate governance code of 2012, there should be a procedure that is rigorous, transparent and formal when it comes to the appointment of directors to the company’s board. For an individual to be elected to the board of directors, he or she should have significant experience in the industry having served as a director in the same or another industry that is similar. Other desired qualifications that are desired according to the National Association of Corporate Directors are problem solving skills, strategic thinking capabilities leadership skills and also a deeper understanding of all the new management designs and techniques as vital skills for board directors. Diversity is also another enabling factor in the success of these boards. Diversity is regarded by some companies as the differentiation in education levels, areas of specialization as well as work experience. Others seek cultural diversity which can be in the form of gender, race, sexual orientation and age.

According to the UK corporate governance code 2010, every company is supposed to be headed by an effective board that has collective responsibility when it comes to the company’s success. A balanced board consists of a group of members who have trust and understand one another with the right balance of executive and also non-executive directors with a proper mixture of abilities, relevant knowledge as well as experience. Limited companies are required by law to have at least one director with public listed companies being required to have a minimum of two directors. This mix and balance provides a fair ground when it comes to decision making, challenging of earlier made decisions and an audience for deliberations and contributions concerning the various issues the company is supposed to be handling.

Despite the number of women in top management positions increasing in the recent years, the number of women sitting in the boards of directors in many corporations is still very scarce and thinly spread out. There are clearly evident gender variations when it comes to the top management teams and in regard to various report findings and empirical studies, there are indications that women are far much underrepresented in these boards.

In the year 2004, a study by Aline Wong that was built around Gender Equality at Board Decision Level in Mauritius showed that about twenty three percent of women in the country were represented on Mauritian Public Boards (with an exclusion of the state owned corporations and companies). Women representation in the private sector stood at about nineteen percent. So far that was the highest representation of women in public boards in the entire continent with only South Africa closely rivaling the country with a 17 percent women representation in the boards. In Zimbabwe women representation in the boards was about 40 out of the 406 directors of company boards were women. This was representative of about 10% only of the board representation.