Irene Charnley

Irene Charnley (born 6 May 1960) is a former trade unionist and businesswoman from South Africa.

Irene Charnley
Born	(1960-05-06) 6 May 1960 (age 65) South Africa
Nationality	South Africa
Occupation	Businesswoman
Known for	Being a trade unionist who became a successful African businesswoman

Career

Charnley first made her mark on the African business community as a negotiator for South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers where she spent 13 years coordinating various divisions of union operations.^[1][2] She went on to become an executive director for the MTN Group, which is Africa's largest telecommunications company.^{[according to whom?]} Under her leadership several African and Middle Eastern countries (including Nigeria and Iran) were connected into the MTN network.^[1] Charnley was the behind the founding of the National Empowerment Consortium made up of 50% black business owners and 50% black African laborers.^[2] They eventually owned 35% of Johnnic Holdings (now called Johnnic Communications).^[2]

Charnley left MTN under controversial conditions but she was worth US$150 million when she left.^[1] In August 2000 she was awarded the title of Businesswoman of the Year for her outstanding contribution to taking Johnnic from an industrial conglomerate to a modern telecommunications media group.^[2] During her time at Johnnic (from 1996 to the late-2000s) 32,000 disadvantaged South Africans bought shares in the company.^[2] Financial returns over a three-year time span has made these 32,000 African residents 400% wealthier than they were before buying the shares.^[3] A more recent award made Charnley one of the top 50 businesswomen outside of the United States.^[2]

Charnley is currently the CEO of Smile Telecoms Holdings Ltd, a Mauritius-based Pan-African telecommunications group with operations in Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa.^[1]

Forbes listed her among "Africa's 50 Most Powerful Women" in 2020.^[4]