Enjoying international acclaim for her untainted business ethics, astute business skills and for driving transformation, Bigen CEO, Dr Snowy Khoza has been ranked as South Africa’s Top Gender Empowered Individual at the recent Standard Bank Top Women Awards held virtually on 2 October.

The Standard Bank Top Women Awards recognise the finest female business leaders South Africa has to offer and in recognition of Dr Khoza’s exceptional contributions to business innovation and best practice, she received a “Highly Commended” acknowledgement in the category Businesswoman of the Year. Her ranking as South Africa’s Top Gender Empowered Individual in this category was also based on the significant impact she – and the Bigen Group – continues to make towards driving gender empowerment in South Africa.

“I am deeply honoured to have been recognised by the annual Standard Bank awards in this way,” says Dr Khoza, “and it is my fervent desire that this accolade, and the Top Women awards in general, will serve to increase awareness of the fact that South African women have not yet attained complete equality in the workplace, neither in our society. Despite how far South Africa has come in embracing equality across the board, the current COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact have highlighted that gender-based violence and female disempowerment have not yet been rooted out in our country. To passionate champions of the downtrodden – especially women and children – it is clear that the struggle must continue and, in fact, intensify.”

Under the long-time guidance of Dr Snowy Khoza, the Bigen Group has firmly established itself as a proactive leader in gender transformation helping its women employees realise their potential through intensive leadership and other development programmes.

Externally, Bigen’s transformation policies are also highly effective in empowering women of disadvantaged communities in the African countries where the Group undertakes infrastructure development projects. Its formal policies on maximising socio-economic development on all infrastructure development projects are driven by a strong humanitarian spirit embodied in the Group’s purpose of ‘doing good while doing business.’

An enthusiastic, visionary and inspiring trailblazer, Dr Khoza was also the recipient of several other accolades over the past few years – a listing in the Business Leadership category of Avance Media’s 100 Most Influential African Women this year; a Lifetime Achievement Award – SA Professional Services Awards, sponsored by Sanlam Life Insurance Limited in 2018; a Top Women Leaders in Africa Award by Women4Africa in 2016 and several others.