Five Years of Perspectives: Leadership, Connection and Opportunity

30 Sep 2026

Perspectives: Women in Leadership was established with the purpose to bring women together to share their experiences, build meaningful professional relationships and create a space to learn from one another.

Last month, more than 120 women gathered in Johannesburg to mark the fifth anniversary of the event, with delegates travelling from across South Africa and further afield, including Jersey, Dubai, Cape Town and Durban. It was an opportunity not only to reflect on how this community has grown, but to continue the conversations about leadership, career development and connection that have shaped the series over the past five years.

Hosted by Dr Rufaro Nyakatawa, Director – Africa at Jersey Finance, the event brought together Amy Bryant, Deputy CEO, Jersey Finance; Kerry Petulla, Executive Director of Enforcement and Intelligence, Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC); Xoli Madlala, Founder of Redefining Menopause Africa; and Anthea Gardner, Founder and Managing Director of Cartesian Capital.

Their professional journeys span financial services, regulation, entrepreneurship and advocacy. While each perspective was distinct, common themes emerged around how leadership develops, the importance of relationships and the responsibility that comes with influence.

Three perspectives that stayed with us

1 – Leadership is about more than individual progression 
Reaching a position of influence also creates opportunities to support others, whether through advocacy, sponsorship, mentorship or simply making space for another voice to be heard.

2 – There is no single path to leadership 
The speakers’ different experiences demonstrated that careers are rarely linear. Recognising transferable skills, remaining open to change and being prepared to take an opportunity before feeling completely ready can all play a part.

3 – Relationships matter 
Across very different career journeys, relationships were a consistent thread. Mentors, sponsors, colleagues and professional networks can challenge our thinking, build confidence and sometimes create opportunities we may not have considered for ourselves.

Using influence to create opportunities

Opening the event, Rufaro reflected on the growth of our Perspectives events over the past five years, from around 50 attendees at the inaugural event to more than 120 women this year.

Our 2026 event also marked a new chapter, with senior leaders encouraged to bring mentees to the event. For Rufaro, it was an opportunity to bring together what she described as the “leadership of today” and the “leadership of tomorrow”, allowing experience and perspectives to be shared across different stages of women’s careers.

At the heart of her reflections was the view that leadership extends beyond reaching a senior position. It is also about how that influence is used.

Leadership is not simply about occupying the most senior seat in the room. It is about what we do with our influence once we are in that seat.
Dr Rufaro NyakatawaDirector - Africa,  Jersey Finance

Leadership, Rufaro reflected, is never the final destination. It continues to evolve through experience, learning and the relationships we built along the way. Her challenge to those in the room was therefore not only to consider their own progression, but how they could use their experience and influence to make space for others.

That idea provided a natural thread through many of the experiences shared during the afternoon.

Amy recalled being offered a promotion while on maternity leave, a moment that demonstrated the impact of having someone advocate for you when you are not in the room to advocate for yourself.

That experience has shaped a question Amy continues to bring to her own leadership: whose name am I putting forward when they are not in the room?

Her experience highlighted the role sponsorship can play alongside mentorship. Careers can be shaped by conversations we never hear – when somebody recognises our contribution, recommends us for an opportunity or sees potential we may not yet recognise in ourselves.

Kerry similarly reflected on the people who had encouraged and challenged her throughout her career and the importance, as her own responsibilities have grown, of becoming that champion for somebody else.

Recognising opportunity in an evolving career

The afternoon also challenged the idea that there is a prescribed route to leadership.

Amy began her career studying natural sciences before moving into professional services and subsequently joining Jersey Finance on what was originally intended to be a three-month secondment. Fourteen years later, she is the organisation’s Deputy CEO.

One lesson from that journey has been the importance of recognising transferable experience. Rather than asking whether she has done that exact role or task before, Amy considers what previous experiences demonstrate about her ability to learn, exercise judgement, influence and build relationships.

Kerry’s career has similarly been shaped by opportunities that were not necessarily part of a predetermined plan. Beginning as a police constable in Jersey, she progressed into financial crime investigation before moving to the JFSC and ultimately into senior leadership.
Her experience has taught her that there is rarely a perfect time to pursue an opportunity.

Rather than waiting to feel entirely ready, her encouragement was to put yourself forward – confidence can develop through taking action rather than always needing to come first.

Anthea’s route into investment management offered another perspective. After studying psychology, her career took her to London, through the wine industry, further studies in finance and investment banking before she established Cartesian Capital.

Looking back, she identified bravery as a recurring attribute of those decisions, particularly at points where the next step was not obvious.

Their experiences were very different, but each demonstrated the value of remaining open to where skills, relationships and opportunities might lead.

Leadership does not require certainty

Progression brings its own challenges, including the expectation that reaching a senior position means having all the answers.

Amy reflected that this was an assumption she held earlier in her career. Experience has since shown her that leadership does not mean having all the answers. Instead, it requires judgement: knowing when to draw on the expertise of others, being clear about the decisions you make and remaining open to changing course when needed.

It has also meant finding a leadership style that is genuinely her own. Having previously tried to emulate the style of a leader she admired, Amy came to recognise that effective leadership does not need to look the same for everyone. Developing as a leader can involve stretching yourself without trying to become somebody else.

For Kerry, authenticity sits alongside humility and vulnerability. Her career in policing, enforcement and regulation has involved making difficult decisions with significant consequences. She described leadership not as a reward or marker of status, but as a responsibility, including the responsibility to approach difficult decisions fairly and thoughtfully.

Her experience has also reinforced that mistakes are part of leadership. Some of her most important lessons, she reflected, have come from occasions when things did not go to plan.
That willingness to acknowledge uncertainty and continue learning is particularly important in a financial services environment that continues to evolve. For Kerry, leaders need to respond to change while maintaining the trust, integrity and confidence on which the industry depends.

Creating safe spaces in the workplace 

Xoli brought a different perspective to the conversation through her personal experience of premature menopause and the impact it had on her working life.

She spoke openly about experiencing symptoms in her thirties without initially understanding their cause and the effect this had on her confidence and experience at work.

Her own experience eventually led her to establish Redefining Menopause Africa and advocate for greater awareness and understanding of menopause in the workplace.

Her contribution encouraged the audience to consider how experiences that have traditionally been regarded as personal can affect someone’s professional life and the role leaders and colleagues can play in creating a more understanding environment.

For Xoli, empathy is central to that. She also emphasised the importance of involving different generations in these conversations. Greater understanding should not begin only when somebody is personally affected; colleagues and leaders can also benefit from understanding experiences different from their own.

It was a valuable reminder that leadership is shaped not only by the decisions we make, but by how well we understand and respond to the people around us.

Making leadership visible for the next generation

For Anthea, leadership also carries a responsibility towards those who follow.

Her experience of establishing and growing Cartesian Capital provided an honest perspective on entrepreneurship, including the persistence required when building a business takes longer than anticipated.

Looking back, she described her own journey as one of bravery: being prepared to take opportunities, make difficult choices and keep moving forward even when the next step was not entirely clear.

That sense of courage also shaped how she spoke about leadership more broadly.

 

For Anthea, leadership is not only about being brave, but about being an example to others and taking the people around you forward with you. She also reflected on the importance of representation.

“You cannot be it if you cannot see it.” – Anthea Gardner.

For Anthea, being visible as a woman succeeding in her industry can help younger women see possibilities for themselves. It is a responsibility she considers in relation to her own nieces and the generation coming behind her.

That perspective felt particularly relevant in the fifth year of Perspectives. This year, bringing mentors and mentees into the community more deliberately created another opportunity for knowledge, experience and relationships to move between generations.

Continuing the conversation beyond Perspectives

The fifth anniversary offered an opportunity to reflect on how leadership continues to evolve,  both for those already in senior roles and for those taking the next steps in their careers.

The experiences shared throughout the afternoon showed that leadership can take many forms. It can mean having the confidence to pursue an unexpected opportunity, being comfortable not having all the answers, creating greater understanding in the workplace or using your position to advocate for someone else.

Perhaps most importantly, the conversations reinforced that leadership is something we continue to learn through experience and through one another.

As Perspectives enters its next chapter, we want to continue creating space for those conversations by bringing different experiences and generations together, strengthening professional relationships and ensuring that the insights shared in the room continue well beyond the event itself.

Stay connected and sign up to our Africa newsletter to receive the latest insights, events and updates from Jersey across the region.

Topics
AfricaWomen in Finance

Related Insights