Some of the top female business talent in the country and companies that have excelled in their gender empowerment programmes, stepped up to receive awards this week at South Africa’s premier gender empowerment event – Topco’s 8th Annual Top Women Award.

The prestigious gala ceremony took place at the Gallagher Convention Centre on Thursday, 22 September 2011.

The prestigious Top Women Awards event attracted a virtual who’s who of the South African business world. Guests included popular radio and television celebrities, top South African businessmen and women, and government officials amongst others.

An esteemed judging panel including top South African businesswomen Edna Sathekga, Transformation Specialist at the South African Breweries, Dr Ruth Rabinowitz, Director at MamaEarth and Sonto Mujakachi, Internal Communications Manager at Eskom, assessed entrants across a number of categories that were formulated to reflect the growing influence of women in all sectors of business and government.

Karla Fletcher, Associate Publisher for Topco Media, says that South African companies are recognising that strong women are fundamental to the sustainable growth of the country and as a result have shown strong support for the Awards. The categories at this year’s event were sponsored by some of the country’s most respected companies including South Africa’s national oil company, PetroSA, Standard Bank, Pfizer, Edcon and the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA).

IBM South Africa, Neo Technologies (Pty) Ltd, Rectron, Softline VIP and I-Net Bridge (Pty) Ltd were the five finalists in the ICT (Information Communication and Telecoms) Category. Joyce Opperman from Neo Technologies (Pty) Ltd was awarded the Winner for the ICT sector 2011.

“What a humbling but rewarding experience. I feel so honoured to be the winner of this award two years in a row. I dedicate this award to all businesswomen in South Africa “Joyce said.