Three African women were featured in the 2021 edition of Forbes 100 Most powerful Women in the world. They are the Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; The President of Tanzania, Ms. Samia Suluhu Hassan and a Nigerian Media Mogul, Ms. Mo Abudu.
Top on the list was the Ex-Wife of Jeff Bezo, Ms. Mackenzie Scott while Vice President Kamala Harris of the United States was ranked second.
These women were honoured for overcoming the gender barrier to occupy positions previously dominated by the male gender.
Okonjo-Iweala, who became the first women to be on the helms of affairs of the WTO in March 2021, was ranked 91 in the list of 100 most powerful women while President Hassan and Abudu were ranked 94 and 98 respectively on the list.
In addition, Okonjo-Iweala and Hassan made the list under Politics and Policy category while Abudu earned her place in the Media and Entertainment category.
An economist and international development professional, Okonjo-Iweala has more than 30 years of experience working in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America.
She has said she believed in the power of trade to lift developing countries out of poverty help them achieve sustainable development.
Earlier in her career, Okonjo-Iweala had two terms as Nigeria’s Finance Minister, from 2003-2006 and 2011-2015; she also briefly acted as Foreign Minister in 2006. She was also Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance that has immunised 760 million children globally.
Hassan became Tanzania’s sixth president and first-ever female leader in March 2021, following the death of President John Magufuli. She rose to the position of vice-president, a role to which she was first elected in 2015.
In September, she became just the fifth-ever female African leader to address the U.N. General Assembly where she criticised COVID-19 vaccine inequality.
She has also differentiated her leadership from her predecessor by implementing stricter COVID-19 protocols, including mandatory quarantines for travellers coming from countries with new variants.
Forbes said that Abudu is one of the most powerful women in global media. She started her Ebonylife TV, a network that now airs in more than 49 countries across Africa, as well as in the UK and the Caribbean in 2006.
“Over the years, EbonylifeTV has struck major partnership deals with Sony Pictures Television, AMC Networks and Netflix.
“The deal with Netflix marked the first time an African media company signed a multi-title film and TV agreement with the streaming giant.”
Abudu was born in London but sent by her parents to live with her grandmother in Nigeria when she was seven. She returned to Britain four years later.
Forbes stated that in 2021, the state of female power around the world looked a bit different than it did just one or two years ago. “Women have gained ground in the c-suite—among the women on Forbes’ 18th annual list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women are 40 CEOs, the most since 2015, who oversee a record $3.3 trillion in revenue. But what they gained in the boardroom, they lost elsewhere. For instance, there are two fewer female heads of states than a year ago.”
Suluhu Hassan became Tanzania’s sixth president and first-ever female leader in March 2021.
Dike Onwuamaeze
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