Dawn Rowlands named Business Woman of the Year 2012

Dawn Rowlands

The other finalists for the awards - which have been honoring South Africa's outstanding businesswomen since 1980 - were Mapule Mphaki, marketing director at Aveng Manufacturing; Roberta Naidoo, Group MD at ABN Group and Jacqueline Brown, port manager, Port of East London and Transnet National Ports Authority. Runner up in the Entrepreneurial Category were Johanna Mukoki, MD and joint founder of Travel with Flair; Pria Hassan, CEO of Women of Africa Investments and Margaret Hirsch, chief operating officer at Hirsch's Homestores.

Previous winners of the Businesswomen of the Year awards have included well known personalities such as Maria Ramos, Pam Golding, Jane Raphaely, Marina Maponya, Gloria Serobe and Dawn Mokhobo.