Ma’am Nana Magomola on finding her voice, planting trees, and building a life guided by purpose, faith and service.
Some legacies announce themselves loudly. Others are built quietly over decades, through institutions strengthened, opportunities created, and people, particularly, women encouraged and lives changed.
Ma’am Nana Magomola’s legacy belongs to the latter tradition.
It can be found not only in the boards on which she has served or the organisations she has helped to lead, but in the women who learnt to speak with confidence because she believed they could, in the leaders who remained on difficult programmes because she would not allow them to give up, and in the institutions that continue to serve long after her formal role has ended.
Her peers have called her a “tree planter”, someone who plants seeds of empowerment even when she may never personally taste the fruit or sit beneath the shade of the trees she has planted.
It is a description that captures the essence of her life.
A girl who imagined more
Ma’am Nana was born and raised in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, in a family of six children, three girls and three boys.
Although the family lived modestly and her childhood unfolded under apartheid, her home gave her something the outside world could not easily take away: a belief in equality, possibility and the dignity of hard work.
She describes her mother as a feminist, although the family may not have used that language at the time. There were no duties reserved only for boys or for girls. Everyone participated, everyone contributed and every child was encouraged to speak up.
Her mother was a woman of intelligence, confidence and deep wisdom. Teachers, nurses, doctors and other professionals would seek out her company and advice, despite her not having enjoyed the formal educational opportunities available to many of them.
Only later did Ma’am Nana fully understand why.
People were drawn to her mother because she possessed the kind of wisdom that could not be measured by qualifications alone.
From her, Ma’am Nana learnt to aim high.
As a young girl, she imagined herself going to work elegantly dressed and carrying a briefcase, an uncommon image for a Black girl growing up in apartheid South Africa. She knew, long before she understood how it would happen, that she wanted to become a lawyer and make a meaningful contribution to her country.
She always wanted to lead. In games, she wanted to be at the front. In school plays, she wanted the principal role. In the classroom, she wanted to be first.
Yet she also understood that ambition alone would not be enough.
“I always knew that I had to work hard,” she reflects.
The road that began in nursing
Her parents could not afford to send her directly to university, and so her professional journey began in nursing. She qualified as both a general nurse and a midwife.
Nursing was not the destination she had imagined for herself, but it gave her an important foundation in care, discipline, responsibility and service. Even during her training, she sensed that her path would eventually extend beyond bedside nursing.
After marrying, she left South Africa in 1976 with her husband and their two young children. Her husband had received a Fulbright-Hays scholarship to study in the United States, and the family began a new chapter far from home.
They initially lived in a small Midwestern town in America, where African and Black families were rare. The experience required them to adapt to a different society while also helping those around them understand who they were as Africans.
Their later move to New York City would prove transformative.
“New York is where I found my voice,” Ma’am Nana says.
She studied at City College of New York, surrounded by accomplished women and Black people who were professors, professionals and leaders. Her husband’s colleagues included women succeeding in banking and other professional environments. For the first time, the possibilities she had imagined as a young girl were visible all around her.
Her husband, whom she describes as her best friend and greatest supporter, continually encouraged her to contribute to conversations, even when she found herself in rooms filled with highly qualified and experienced professionals.
He often saw possibilities in her before she saw them herself.
Although she remains naturally shy, those years taught her that shyness did not require silence.
“When the time is right, I make sure that my voice is heard.”
Returning home with a voice
When the family returned to untransformed South Africa in the early 1980s, Ma’am Nana entered the pharmaceutical industry as a medical sales consultant.
Her nursing background helped to open the door, but her qualifications, professionalism and determination enabled her to distinguish herself. She was one of very few Black professionals, and even fewer women, working in that environment at the time.
She later returned to her early dream of studying law, enrolling for an LLB degree at the University of the Witwatersrand and graduating in 1991.
During her studies, life delivered an unexpected gift: her youngest daughter.
The baby arrived during the winter break, allowing her mother to return to her studies without losing an academic year. As a toddler, the little girl would sometimes accompany her to lectures, putting down her pen when the lecturer paused and taking “notes” whenever the students began writing.
Years later, that daughter would become a successful Intellectual Property Attorney, continuing in her own way along the legal road her mother had once imagined.
Although Ma’am Nana completed her articles, she soon recognised that legal practice itself was not where she belonged. Rather than remain in a profession that did not feel true to her, she returned to the corporate world.
This was a decision grounded not in failure, but in self-awareness.
She supplemented her legal qualifications with executive development diplomas from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).
Her subsequent career took her into executive leadership and onto the boards of major South African and international institutions. She became one of the few Black women serving on corporate boards during the early years of South Africa’s transition, with appointments including Reebok South Africa, Transnet and the Industrial Development Corporation.
She would later serve on and chair numerous boards across the public, private and non-profit sectors.
Yet for Ma’am Nana, leadership has never simply been about occupying a seat.
It is about understanding why one has been entrusted with it.
“Whenever I was given an opportunity to work or to lead, I grabbed it with both hands,” she explains. “I always understood that it could have been somebody else.”
Leaving people better than she found them
One principle has remained consistent throughout Ma’am Nana’s leadership journey: wherever she worked, she wanted to leave people better than she found them.
In one of her senior executive roles, she noticed that men were advancing in their careers and moving up the ladder, while many capable women remained overlooked. Within her own sphere of influence, she decided to intervene.
She enrolled women from her team in professional presentation and public-speaking training, helping them develop the confidence to contribute meaningfully in meetings. She encouraged them to present themselves with the professionalism their ability deserved.
It was not enough for her to recognise their intelligence. She wanted the wider organisation to recognise it too.
Her work later expanded into a leadership programme. As Senior Manager at ESKOM responsible for human capital development, she was responsible for establishing two flagship projects:
ESKOM CEO’s Women Executive Leadership Development Programme
This was a gender mainstreaming project designed to increase the technical skills of Black women in the organisation. It was executed in partnership with the University of Warwick. The programme’s minimum entry requirement was a B.Sc. degree, and work experience was not mandatory. These candidates graduated with a University of Warwick M.Sc. in Engineering Business Management.
Launched in 1999, each of the three cohorts had 30 women. Of the 90 graduates, more than 50% were appointed to permanent positions at ESKOM, while others were taken on by other engineering companies. Two of the graduates are now power station managers, while one is the CEO of ESKOM Uganda. The University of Warwick M.Sc. in Engineering Business Management was expanded to include managers in general, with some going further to earn PhDs and build distinguished careers of their own.
For Ma’am Nana, this remains among her proudest contributions.
Her philosophy is simple: when an opportunity has been granted, it must be honoured. A place accepted and then abandoned is irresponsible; it could have gone to another deserving woman.
This is why, when one programme participant wanted to withdraw, Ma’am Nana made it clear that giving up was not an option. Later in life, this same woman rose to become a respected leader and a lead independent director of a major South African bank.
What may have felt like a single conversation at the time changed the course of her life.
That is the quiet architecture of legacy.
Planting the seeds of IWFSA
Ma’am Nana’s commitment to advancing women found powerful expression in the International Women’s Forum.
She was among the women who co-founded the International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA) alongside Mrs Zanele Mbeki and other distinguished women leaders.
From the beginning, she believed that creating a network for already accomplished women was not enough. South Africa also needed to deliberately prepare younger women for senior leadership.
The global International Women’s Forum (IWF) leadership programme offered exceptional opportunities, but places were limited and the cost made it impossible to reach women at the scale South Africa required.
Ma’am Nana, borrowing from her ESKOM experience, established the Strategic Leadership Development Programme. Once again, in partnership with Warwick University, a programme was designed to reach more emerging women leaders. More than 100 women graduated from the programme, and several of them later became members of IWFSA.
The tree planter was at work again.
Her contribution to IWF extended well beyond South Africa. She served on the organisation’s international leadership structures and on the IWF Global Board, bringing a distinctly African voice to global conversations and governance processes.
After serving for more than ten years on the IWF Global Board, she was later elected to serve on the IWF Global Nominating Committee, where she continues to contribute to identifying and shaping the future leadership of the organisation.
In 2012, her contribution was recognised internationally when she received the prestigious IWF Women Who Make a Difference Award.
The honour recognised the depth of her leadership, her commitment to institution-building, and her enduring work to create opportunities for women across generations.
Entering international spaces as one of very few African women was not always easy. She understood that her responsibility was not simply to be present, but to speak with clarity, contribute meaningfully and ensure that Africa’s perspective was neither overlooked nor diminished.
Her approach combined firmness with connection.
“I think I am able to connect with people at both a spiritual and intellectual level,” she says. “It is the brain, but also the heart.”
Her international service helped strengthen respect for IWF South Africa within the global organisation. Today, the South African Forum is recognised not only for the calibre of its members, but also for the seriousness of its contribution to leadership development and the advancement of women.
For Ma’am Nana, seeing successive generations of IWFSA leaders take the work further is a source of enormous joy.
She is comfortable knowing that others have picked up the seeds and run “faster and higher.”
The work that lifts the spirit
Although Ma’am Nana has served extensively in corporate life, she states that some of her greatest fulfilment has come from her work in the non-profit sector.
As a case in point, she was personally appointed by President Nelson Mandela as a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF) and served its mission for more than two decades, later becoming the third Chairperson of the Fund, succeeding President Mandela.
One of the most significant chapters of this service was the establishment of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital.
The vision arose after President Mandela visited a six-year-old burn patient, who happened to be the son of the NMCF CEO. It was during this period that President Mandela discovered that critically ill children were being treated in intensive care facilities alongside adults because no dedicated paediatric intensive care facilities for children were available in South Africa.
He did not merely ask the trustees to raise funds for a children’s hospital.
“He instructed us,” Ma’am Nana remembers.
President Mandela appointed Nana as Deputy Chairperson to partner with his wife, Mrs Graça Machel, the Chairperson, in leading the hospital fundraising team.
The fundraising journey was long and demanding, but the hospital was eventually built as the first state-of-the-art children’s hospital on the continent and one of only four children’s hospitals. Completed in less than two years, on time and within budget, it opened its doors in 2016. At this hospital, no child is turned away because of a lack of funds.
President Mandela had not wanted another institution named after him. On this occasion, however, those responsible for the project chose not to follow his preference.
The hospital would carry his name because the vision had been born from his concern for the dignity and wellbeing of children.
For Ma’am Nana, the rewards of such work cannot be measured financially.
Philanthropy, she believes, does not necessarily place money in one’s hands. It uplifts the spirit. The impact made in communities is priceless.
Love in the quieter spaces
Behind Ma’am Nana’s public life is a marriage that has endured across decades, continents, careers and changing seasons.
She speaks of her husband with tenderness: her best friend, greatest supporter and the person who has continually encouraged her to believe in herself.
His care is expressed not only through grand decisions, but through simple, consistent gestures, making her tea, affirming her abilities and finding ways to make important moments special.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, when he could not go out to buy flowers for their anniversary, he went into the garden and gathered flowers for her himself.
It is a small story, but one that reveals the love beneath the achievements.
Today, Ma’am Nana is grateful that she can continue to work, travel and contribute while also making more time for family and the things that bring her happiness. This includes her five grandchildren, who treat her as though she were a queen. She has imbued in them the spirit of generosity, supplemented by the quest for education and knowledge, generosity of spirit and kindness.
Ma’am Nana officially retired from executive life in 2002. Yet the most consequential work of her life did not end there.
Retirement, in her story, was not an ending. It was permission to enter a different chapter of purpose.
The wisdom of knowing yourself
When asked what she would say to a young woman entering a space in which she feels underestimated because of her race, gender or background, Ma’am Nana begins with self-acceptance.
“Everything comes from knowing yourself.”
The world, she cautions, can be difficult. People may discourage when they should encourage. A woman must therefore accept who she is, establish boundaries and resist the pressure to please everyone.
She must remember that patience is often more important than perfection.
She must not compare her timeline with someone else’s progress or allow herself to be seduced by the carefully curated highlights of other people’s lives.
Failure, too, should not be mistaken for worthlessness.
Sometimes failure is the redirection that places a person on the path she was always meant to follow.
Most importantly, a woman must protect her wellbeing.
“Your body is your home,” Ma’am Nana says. “You cannot pour from an empty cup.”
Rest is not weakness. It is how one returns with the strength to give again.
God in the driving seat
At the centre of Ma’am Nana’s life is faith.
She does not regard her achievements as hers alone, nor does she take the opportunities she has received for granted. She believes that everything comes from her Maker and that even her personal wishes should remain aligned with what God knows to be best.
Her guiding principle is that God should remain in the driving seat of everything one does, not called upon only in moments of crisis, but present from the beginning of every journey.
This faith has given her gratitude without complacency, confidence without arrogance, and the courage to continue serving.
Ma’am Nana’s legacy is therefore not a monument to one woman’s success.
It is a living forest.
It grows in the women she taught to speak, the leaders she refused to let give up, the institutions she helped establish, the children who receive specialised care, and the generations of women who now enter rooms that were once closed to people who looked like them.
She may describe herself as shy, but hers has never been a silent life.
It has been a life of voice, faith, conviction and deeply intentional action.
A life spent planting trees beneath whose shade many others will sit.
That is the quiet architecture of legacy.
