At Hyundai South Africa, one such boss – or “the big boss” as he is called by the growing number of female managers on his staff – is Gideon Jansen van Rensburg, Operations Director for KwaZulu-Natal.

He said appointing women in top management positions is just good business, as all the stats show that the more representative a business, the better its bottom line.

He is very proud of three recent appointments at Hyundai South Africa, all three being top persons in their posts.

The most ebullient of the three, Cindy Potso, is the first black female manager for Hyundai in KwaZulu-Natal and is now also the first black female dealer principal, working at Hyundai Pietermaritzburg.

“Being the first black female manager was just the start. I am going to train a lot more females to be strong managers,” she told Dealerfloor.

Danielle Jordaan, a chartered accountant who described herself as “definitely not a grey CA”, told Dealerfloor she has the novel title of Form – for Finance and Operations Risk Manager.

Thembeka Ngubane, Senior RFM at Hyundai Automotive South Africa, relishes working in a company that offers new challenges and opportunities to grow, adding Hyundai SA provides all that in spades.

Like Potso and Jordaan, Ngubane is actively involved in the strategic decision-making process within the group and responsible for growth.

Jansen van Rensburg readily admits that Huyndai’s head office in Korea was slow to appoint women into top positions, but said this is rapidly changing with input from Hyundai dealers around the world.

“As our colleague, Dana White, Chief Communications Officer of Hyundai Motors North America noted last year, 85% of car buying decisions are now made or influenced by women. From a business point of view and for the car trade in particular, women hold the key to our future growth,” he said.