Barloworld, a leading industrial processing, distribution and services business, marked a significant milestone on its remarkable gender-equality journey, when it took home the ESG Bond Deal of the Year Award for its gender-linked bond – a first on the African continent, at the 2023 Bonds, Loans and ESG Capital Markets Africa Awards.
These prestigious awards recognise the most innovative and groundbreaking deals from Africa.
Barloworld has a long history of addressing inequality in the workplace and within the context of this prodigious legacy of pioneering diversity and inclusion across its operations, Africa’s first gender-linked bond (GLB) became a tangible reality.
Barloworld is a proud and long-standing champion of transformation, both within its ranks and beyond, and with a legacy spanning an impressive 120-plus years, the vision of its current leadership is ensuring that the dream of women in management across the business, becomes a reality.
Currently, 55% of Barloworld’s board members are women, including the chairperson of the board, as well as the CEOs of two of the business units, who are African women.
More than two-thirds (67%) of the executive committee are African – 44% of whom are women – and the company is led by women executives in myriad areas across the business.
WHY ISSUE A GENDER-LINKED BOND?
Improving the current gender mix and employee representation are key human capital priorities for Barloworld.
Its rationale for issuing a gender-linked bond was based on an assessment of notable trends in its operating environment and business context, interviewing key external and internal stakeholders and evaluating the resources it relies on in the form of the six capitals and any other factors material to the short-, medium- and long-term enterprise value. Diversity, equal opportunity and procurement practices were identified as being important to stakeholders and having a high impact on business.
Barloworld is committed not only to playing an important role in the furtherance of gender diversity and equality in South Africa, but ultimately across all its operating geographies.
Accurate disclosure from companies is vital to better understanding the status quo in terms of gender equality, which is currently very limited in South Africa.
The company further recognises the role of sustainable finance in supporting this ambition and believes the issuance of a sustainability-linked bond with gender-specific key performance indicators and targets is a significant milestone.
The R1.143 billion bond, which has been oversubscribed, is testament to how social challenges can be successfully addressed through innovative financial solutions.
According to Nopasika Lila, Barloworld finance director and CEO of Barloworld Corporate Office, ‘the gender-linked bond not only recognises the need for greater gender transformation in South Africa, but it also aims to address some of the legacy issues in terms of gender imbalances in our economy.
Nopasika Lila
South Africa needs gender diversity in all spheres, especially if we want to grow the economy of our country.
The GLB also acknowledges the local investor demand for more socially aligned platforms.
This first-of-its-kind innovation aligns perfectly with Barloworld’s transformation commitments through the participation of more women in the economy and, subsequently in leadership.
Barloworld’s gender diversity targets are included as part of its non-financial sustainability-focused objectives (to achieve a 50% female gender representation by 2026).
These targets help ensure that the company continues its progress towards creating a diverse and inclusive work environment. Its fierce commitment to gender diversity in the workplace (and broader society) is based on the belief of its leaders that it is good for business and part of improving its gender mix, ensuring responsible rewards and benefits through the inclusion of women in its social investments that are intended to help the business achieve sustainability.
Lila further explains that: “The bold and progressive innovative ideas of Barloworld are getting recognition, which proves we are doing something right as a business. The Gender-Linked Bonds is funding that has a specific focus on gender, addressing the social aspect of ESG. We went to the listed bond market with the idea that investors can purchase a bond that holds us accountable in terms of performance from a gender perspective. The key performance indicators (KPIs) are that we need to transform our number of women employed at senior levels and we need to procure from women-led businesses.”
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