When we started the research and published our first report using the 2017 annual statistics there were 365 companies on the JSE main and AltX boards. There are now 263, excluding 11 companies who are currently suspended.

Commentators offer various reasons and opinions for this trend.

• Unlocking shareholder value and return.
• Onerous regulatory and funding conditions, making raising capital through initial public offerings less attractive.
• The macro-economic environment not being particularly conducive to raising capital in South Africa.
• Listing requirements seen as quite burdensome from cost, to time, to compliance departments, particularly for the smaller companies.
• An economy that has ground to a halt, with South Africans having less money and fewer public companies to invest in.

Obviously, with the number of JSE listed companies shrinking, this restricts the number of opportunities for women to achieve their goals of becoming a board member, or does it? Globally Advisory boards are becoming a valuable solution to companies. Would that be the same in South Africa?

Advisory boards are non-binding yet governance-driven systems that organisations use to seek strategic counsel and critical thinking from trusted advisors. In recent years, we’ve seen a significant surge in their adoption across various sectors. This surge is driven by the need for collaborative decision-making and a response to increasing compliance and stakeholder expectations.

An Advisory Board is defined as;

• A structured, collaborative method for organisation to engage internal and / or external advisors.
• A problem-solving model within a governance system.

The average size of business with an advisory board globally is $20m. There are approximately 2.6 million Advisory Professionals which has doubled over a four year period 2019 to 2023 with a sector growth of close to 20%. Half of these advisory boards are projects based.

As part of our ongoing board research dialogue we invite you to engage with Enrico Baldassarri, Director at AVG Accelerated Value and an Advisory-Board Certified Chair on the Future of Advisory Boards.