Santam's Louise Pharo named SA's corporate businesswoman of the year

Louise Pharo, Head of Commercial Business at Santam, has won the South African Council for Businesswomen (SACBW) award in the Corporate Category.

Pharo is responsible for six of Santam’s regionally-based Commercial Contact Centres, as well as a training department and a credit control unit. She is also the Programme Manager for one of Santam’s strategic business initiatives and responsible for a staff complement of some 500 people.

Representing the Western Cape, Pharo received the award at a glittering ceremony held at Sun City this week, ahead of all the regional finalists in the corporate category. Other categories in respect of which awards were made include small, medium, micro business, professional, franchise and parastatal.

Edward Gibbens, Executive Head of Broker Distribution at Santam, congratulated Pharo on winning the award and paid tribute to her hard work and dedication, passion for people and positive ‘can-do’ attitude.

“Balancing the demands or work and family is no easy task for any businesswomen, particularly in a male-dominated corporate world. We are extremely proud of Louise’s achievement and know that it will spur her on to even greater things in the future,” he said.

In accepting the award, Pharo described it as a ‘gift of recognition and hope for the future’ and thanked her colleagues and home team for their continuing support.

“This award would not have been possible without the support of those closest to me. It provides me with a platform to share my story and hopefully inspire other women to unleash their full potential too. I am passionate about the short-term insurance industry and extremely grateful to Santam for the many opportunities I have been given,” she said.

The SACBW was founded as the Johannesburg Businesswomen Club and became the National Council for Business Women in 1987. The name was changed in 1997 to South African Council for Businesswomen.