Seasoned leaders dominate Africa's renewables sector

From the newsletter

You may wonder what level of experience and education it takes to lead some of Africa's renewable energy companies. Our analysis of funding deals in February reveals that most of the CEOs leading these companies were educated in Africa, mainly in their home countries. Some pursued further studies abroad.

• In South Africa, which secured three funding deals in February, all the CEOs leading those entities were educated in South Africa. This includes the mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, who received his Bachelor of Social Science, Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the University of Cape Town.

• Regarding experience, all the CEOs have considerable cumulative experience, averaging 22 years. However, SunCulture stands out with the youngest CEO and founder, who graduated in 2011.

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• A striking observation is that all the leaders of these companies and organisations are male. This raises critical questions about gender balance and why women are not entrusted with such significant responsibilities. This situation needs further investigation to identify the underlying reasons for this disparity.

• On average, it took the leaders approximately 10.8 years to rise to the CEO level. The CEO of the Namibia Development Bank had the longest journey to the CEO position, taking 33 years. The CEO of SunCulture assumed the role just a year after graduation, founding the company and taking on the leadership position in 2012.

• Assuming an average graduation age of 20 years, this means the average age of these leaders could be around 42. This is considerably older compared to the trend seen in sectors like mobility and tech, where CEOs often assume leadership roles directly after university.

• Two of the leaders studied science (engineering and maths), two in business and finance, two in humanities, one in social sciences, and one in politics. Only one individual pursued a doctoral degree.

Our take

• The diverse educational backgrounds, ranging from STEM to social sciences, highlight the varied approaches of these companies. However, with only two CEOs having a background in science, it appears that the majority of companies prioritise leaders with strong people and management skills over deep technological expertise.

• This, in turn, explains why it takes over 10 years of experience on average for someone to be appointed to the CEO level. With such extensive experience, individuals are likely to have dealt with a wide range of people and developed effective strategies for managing them.

• However, these stringent experience requirements can sometimes exclude skilled and energetic individuals. People management skills can be taught, and it's high time the sector considered younger leaders. This transition may not be easy, given the considerable size of some of these companies.