Progress in closing the gender gap in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa has almost halted, leaving millions of women at a disadvantage to men. But female role models across the continent are refusing to admit defeat, dedicating themselves to accelerating progress towards gender equality.

To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March and honour its theme of “Accelerate Action”, KFC Africa has collected the stories of dozens of women who are taking bold steps to advance equality on the continent by educating, empowering and supporting women to achieve more, together, faster.

KFC Africa’s list contains the names of 54 women – one for each year the company has been in Africa – and follows its successful International Women’s Day campaign in 2024 which introduced an inaugural list of 53 “female firsts”. Each of those women had overcome educational, social and financial obstacles to achieve something no woman in their country had done before.

The 2025 list, drawn from each of the 23 Sub-Saharan Africa countries where KFC has restaurants, also has its share of female firsts – people such as Dior Fall Sow, Senegal’s first female prosecutor; Nelly Mutti, the Zambian parliament’s first female speaker; and Adelaide Retselisitsoe Matlanyane, the first woman to lead Lesotho’s central bank.

The list is dominated, however, by younger women who are breaking the mould – particularly in the technology sector – and showing they can do anything they set their mind to, regardless of age or gender.

They include the likes of Christine Ogo, a Cote d’Ivoire physicist who has encouraged thousands of schoolgirls to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics; Rachel Sibande, who set up Malawi’s first technology incubator for emerging entrepreneurs and has gone on to teach coding to 92,000 women and children; and Regina Honu, whose Tech Needs Girls movement in Ghana has trained more than 20,000 women and girls to code.

Gender gap

“It’s a powerful list that gives us hope after  the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report in 2024 showed that progress seems to have ground to a halt,” says Akhona Qengqe, General Manager of KFC Africa.

The report showed that 68.4% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s gender gap had been closed, only marginally higher than 68.2% in 2023. South Africa, while being Africa’s highest scorer and ranking 18^th out of 146 nations, went backwards, from 78.7% in 2023 to 78.5% a year later.

“The report says that at the current rate of progress, it will be 2158 until the world reaches full gender parity,” says Qengqe. “That’s why we need to accelerate action, particularly in Africa, and why the efforts of the women on the KFC list are worthy of recognition and support.”

In her seven years at KFC – she was as director of Africa franchise development, director of transformation and diversity and chief people officer before taking over as general manager in April 2023 – Qengqe has prioritised female empowerment.

Her initiatives include spearheading KFC Add Hope, a women-led programme that serves free meals to tens of thousands of children at more than 3,000 feeding centres across South Africa.

In 2021, she launched the Women on the Move leadership development programme, which prepares 22 women at KFC for future leadership positions every year, cultivating a pipeline of talent. Within two years, the number of female leaders in the business grew by 14%.

Transforming franchising

Last November she turned her attention to the wider quick service restaurant sector, launching Women in Franchising Africa (Wifa), the first network for current and aspiring female franchisees and franchisors across the continent.

“To say I am passionate about the inclusion of women in growing our economies is an understatement. It is in fact one of my life’s purposes,” she says. “My partners in Wifa intend to transform the participation of women in the franchising sector across African economies.

“We want to educate women on how to run successful franchise businesses, provide networking opportunities for like-minded women, transform the sector by making funding accessible to women, and create mentorship opportunities for all the women in the network.”

KFC Africa Chief People Officer Nolo Thobejane says “Accelerate Action” is a call to look at what has a positive impact on women’s advancement and replicate it.

“This is a journey we need to embark on together as we learn from each other. I cannot stress enough the importance of forming alliances and partnerships to amplify impact. By working together, organisations and individuals can share resources, knowledge, and support to create a more inclusive and equitable environment for women.”

“At KFC, we have implemented some programmes which have yielded great results – such as the Women on the Move Leadership programme to ensure the pipeline of leaders, developing them with quality education and training through initiatives like our Streetwise Academy and then providing career support into positions of leadership.”

“Other successful initiatives organisations can implement include designing and building infrastructure that meets the needs of women and girls, involving them in sustainable agriculture, and elevating their participation and achievement in sport, as we do with KFC Mini Cricket.”

“There’s a lot we can do as individuals, too – we can call out stereotypes, challenge discrimination, question bias and celebrate women’s success. Everyone everywhere can Accelerate Action.”

Qengqe says the new list of 54 names brings to 107 the number of inspirational African women KFC has honoured and recognised in the past two years. “We know this is the tip of a wonderful iceberg, and we welcome nominations of other women who are Accelerating Action in Africa.”