Speakers at the 2026 EmpowaWomen Summit
EmpowaWomen: A day of hard conversations. A night of hard-won recognition.
Johannesburg, South Africa- EmpowaWomen and EmpowaWorx marked ten years of championing women’s leadership with a day conference followed by a night honouring women of excellence. The 10th Annual EmpowaWomen Leadership Summit was held on Saturday, 29 August 2026, at EmpowaWorx House in Randburg, Johannesburg, running from early morning plenaries through to an afternoon of industry-specific breakaway sessions, before closing that evening with the EmpowaWomen Global Awards.
Held under the theme Leading Fearlessly. Accelerating Growth. Transforming Economies., the summit opened with Dr Dudu Makhari of the Ngangezwe Foundation, setting the tone for a day built around courageous leadership and economic power.
Simphiwe Masiza, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of EmpowaWorx, delivered the official welcome address, reflecting on a decade of building EmpowaWomen from a platform into an economy in its own right.
The Mainstage programme carried the day’s central conversations, with partner addresses from broadcaster Tbo Touch on “The Influence Factor” and Bonnie Maponya, Acting Managing Executive of EmpowaWomen, on “The Future Is Female, but Leadership Must Be Intentional.” Strategic partners Absa, W&RSETA and Joburg Property Company joined panels on financial inclusion, skills development and property as a wealth-building tool for women.
From late morning, delegates split across four concurrent industry tracks: Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Funding; Green Economy, Energy & Sustainability; Communications, Advertising, Marketing & Media; and Leadership, Governance & Boards. Each track was built as a working session rather than a straight lecture, pairing TED-style talks with fireside chats, masterclasses and panel discussions.
Leaders from the Public Investment Corporation, the National Empowerment Fund, HCLTech, Naspers, the JSE, Nedbank IMC, PPS and Women on Boards, among others, addressed funding access for women-led businesses, green finance, brand power and personal resilience in leadership.
The day’s business programme closed with the Women’s Enterprise Investment Compact, a collective commitment from participating chief executives to back women-led enterprises with capital and market access, not just recognition.
The summit also marked the launch of City of Her, a new movement created to connect women to the leadership insight, networks and economic opportunity needed to accelerate growth and transform economies.
EmpowaWomen describes City of Her as the next chapter of its ecosystem: an ongoing community where women can exchange ideas, build strategic relationships, access markets and funding, and convert ambition into measurable impact, well beyond a single day on the calendar.
“Being here has meant a great deal to me, and to a lot of the people I work with, including my own station, Metro FM, which partners with EmpowaWomen,” said Tbo Touch. “This year the conversation evolved. I spoke about the link between pain and success, because so many of the women in that room are already successful, and getting there, on a Saturday morning, meant something had to be sacrificed.”
“So my question to them was: what is the cost of that sacrifice, and how intentional are you about pursuing it? I’m honoured to have shared that stage. There’s still far more to be done, but it starts with changing the narrative, and that is exactly what EmpowaWomen is doing.”
This gallery is not published.“EmpowaWomen sits inside EmpowaWorx’s wider ecosystem, which runs integrated platforms speaking to women, men and unemployed youth. Today, that ecosystem showed up as City of Her, at our tenth annual EmpowaWomen Leadership Summit,” said Bonnie Maponya, Acting Managing Executive of EmpowaWomen.
“We covered five sectors: property, leadership, governance and boards, green economy, communications and media, and entrepreneurship, because we want women to leave transformed, empowered and ready to go and transform economies themselves.”
That evening, the EmpowaWomen Global Awards honoured six leaders recognised for their role in building, transforming and leading industries across South Africa. The Awards reflect a central conviction behind City of Her: women should not merely be acknowledged for participating in economies and institutions; their role in building, transforming and leading them must be visible and celebrated.
The 2026 EmpowaWomen Global Awards winners are:
Dr Kina Amber Nhlengethwa, Acting General Manager: Radio, PCS, Fortune Combo and Channel Africa, Metro FM, won the EmpowaWomen Most Promising Female Leader Award 2026.
Dr Phathiswa Magopeni Tshangana, Executive Director, Press Council of South Africa, won the EmpowaWomen Media Excellence Award 2026.
Amanda Dambuza, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Uyandiswa, won the EmpowaWomen Humanitarian Vanguard Award 2026.
Gugu Mthembu, Chief Marketing Officer, Telkom, won the EmpowaWomen CMO Excellence Award 2026.
Professor Maurice Radebe, Faculty Director in Commerce, Law and Management, won the EmpowaWomen Ally Award 2026.
Khanyi Mlambo, Managing Director, Lighthouse Leadership Advisory, won the EmpowaWomen Sustainability Champion Award 2026.
Together, the summit and the Awards gave media and industry a clear read on where women’s leadership in South Africa is heading. From boardrooms and newsrooms to green energy and enterprise funding, the conversation has moved from representation to ownership, and EmpowaWomen intends City of Her to keep it there long after the applause from EmpowaWorx House has faded.
For a decade-old organisation, it was a fitting way to mark the milestone: less a celebration of what has already been achieved, and more a working commitment to what happens next.
Maponya used the platform to look ahead as well, confirming that EmpowaWomen’s next event, EmpowaHer, aimed at women between the ages of 18 and 35, is set for October 2026.
