Colleen Larsen, CE of Business Engage, has a career spanning 28 years within the financial services market. She is best known, however, for her work in gender mainstreaming, having won recognition as one of the leading voices for the sustainable advancement of women in the corporate and entrepreneurial space in South Africa today.
She founded Business Engage (previously Women in Finance) in 2005, an exciting and inventive organisation at the forefront of strategic thinking on gender mainstreaming in the private sector.
Colleen is President of the 30% Club Southern and East Africa and drives the vision of 30% Club Southern and East Africa. The 30% Club is a global organisation of chairpersons and other senior business leaders publicly committed to achieving a more representation of women on boards, because it makes business sense.
As a gender mainstreaming expert, Colleen has represented Business Unity South Africa at Nedlac in negotiating the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill,and was a representative on the steering committee for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) programme on gender.
Colleen is
- a finalist in SA’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government Awards 2016
- a Fellow of the Institute of Directors.
- winner of the Director's Award in the Woman of Stature Awards 2018,
- a Top 10 Finalist in the Conscious Companies Awards 2019 and
- a Top 3 Finalist in the Conscious Companies Awards 2020.
- a member of the International Women’s Forum of South Africa.
She was the founding Chair of the South African Women Entrepreneurs Network, a DTI initiative. Since 2008, through Colleen, Business Engage are the representatives of the Cherie Blair Foundation, a global on-line women entrepreneur mentorship programme. A founding member of Graca Michel’s New Faces – New Voices. Colleen is the author of two books;
- Gender Matters;
- The Board MasterClass Series – Guidelines for Mastering Effective Corporate Decision-Making, Compliance and Strategy at Board level
- See www.colleen-larsen.com