No 1.
Jane Raphaely
Chairperson of Associated Media Publishing
“Faced with bully boys, I either smile and wave or transform myself into a Titan with nerves of steel and answer back so sharply that they wince.”
Having lived through a war in England and grown up in a rough neighbourhood, with a demon aunt and a difficult father, Jane Raphaely learnt how to ‘smile and wave’.
She moved to South Africa in the sixties and was invited to join Naspers as founding editor of Fair Lady in 1965. Jane set up Jane Raphaely and Associates in 1983, with her husband, Michael Raphaely, and business partner, Volker Kühnel, to launch Cosmopolitan magazine in 1984.
Her skill has been to identify gaps in the market and take them, and Jane has often been considered a daunting opponent.