NGOZI OKONJO- IWEALA AGE:61
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Adviser, super-bank, AIIB. Chair, Global Alliance of Vaccines and Immunization & Senior Adviser to Lazard Ltd.
No list of powerful black women can be compiled today without NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA featuring at the very top. Currently her most prominent position is that of chairperson of the 28- Member Board of the Global Alliance of Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), an international public-private partnership dedicated to saving the lives of children and protecting people’s health by improving access to vaccines and immunization drugs in developing countries. Considering the annual high-toll in infant mortality, GAVI’s importance to Sub-Sahara Africa, including Nigeria, cannot be over-stated. It’s interventions have result in the reduction of the price of such drugs from hundreds of dollars to $5, in some cases. It is a win-win situation – for the pharmaceutical companies, which gain greater production volumes and for GAVI, which ensures the widest possible availability of vaccines to the poorest communities. As Finance Minister to Ex-President Obasanjo, she spearheaded a massive reduction in Nigeria’s foreign debt. As Finance Minister, in Ex-President Jonathan’s cabinet, she was also Coordinating Minister for the economy. Her advice in financial matters and investment is widely sought after. In addition to the chair of GAVI, she is Senior Adviser to global investment company – LAZARD LTD. An Adviser to AIIB, the Chinese super-bank for infrastructural development, this Doctor of Economics from America’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“Tech is Hell”) left the World Bank as a Managing Director, but lost the contest for the top position to current President KIMI, who enjoyed America Support.
OPRAY WINFREY AGE:62
American TV Entrepreneurs
An indication of Opray Winfrey’s enduring influence in the United States is that her name is now being advanced as a possible presidential candidate by the liberal American establishment. The idea appears far- fetched. If Barrack Obama was the first African-American president, could Oprah Winfrey be the first women President – an ambition that eluded Hillary Clinton – and an African-American, to crown it all “Oprah herself strongly denies any presidential ambition. But when her speech to the Actors’ Golden Globe Awards Ceremony went viral – she had expressed her belief in the ultimate triumph of gender equality – her many admirers began extolling her sterling qualities. Yes, she has even demonstrated her managerial / entrepreneurial abilities by turning her TV Network, OWN – she owns half the shares – to profit. As for campaign financing –no problem. Her net worth is estimated at over $2.8 billion, just a few hundred millions less than Donald Trump’s. And if asked, her many fans- black and white – would inundate a campaign war-chest with literarily hundreds of millions of dollars in small donations.
True, Oprah Winfrey’s hold on the American populace, as a Power Women, remains as potent as ever. It used to be that her endorsement of a product, on her now-rested TV talk-show, resulted in an immediate spike in prices and volume of production. Can this power catapult her into public office? Only time can tell.
ISABEL DOS SANTOS AGE:43
Angolan Businesswoman
A year can be a long time in international politics. Who could have imagined, a year ago, that Isabel Dos Santos could be fired from her job as boss of Angola’s petro-giant SONANGOL and accused publicly of financial mismanagement. As President, her father Eduardo Dos Santos had directed Angolan affairs for 38years, during which time daughter Isabel amassed a stupendous fortune. She herself had seized power at Sonangol in a dramatic show of force in 2016, vowing to turn its fortunes around. Angola, like Nigeria, depends on oil for more than 70% of its earnings. The downturn in oil prices in 2015 plunged Angola’s economy into dire straits. The poor have suffered tremendously. New president Lourenco, a former Defence Minister, in his bid to manage the economy better, was determined to assert his authority. What better way to do it than to sack Isabel – a truly African solution. But some critics say why not just ask her to resign! It is doubtful, though, that Isabel, with a fortune worth of $3.3 billion dollars can easily be shoved aside. Her father remains head of the ruling party. Active in the telecom sector, Isabel controls UNITEL, Angola’s leading mobile operator, as well as satellite TV network ZAP. Notably, she holds 25% of the capital of Portuguese media giant NOS and has invested heavily in the banking sector. It would be fascinating to watch how Angola’s power equation plays out in the coming years. Observers, however, hope that for the sake of the Angolan people, who suffered through decades of civil war- the two power blocks, Isabel and Papa Eduardo on the one side, and new president Lourenco, on the other- would find a MODUS VIVENDI.
FOLORUNSHO ALAKIJA AGE:64
Oil Enterpreneur
At over $2.5billion, hers is, arguably, the third largest female fortune in the black world. Former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, granted Alakija an oil-block (she was a friend of Maryam his wife). Ex-president Obasanjo seized the oil block, but the Supreme Court restored it to Mrs Alakija. Since it was a grant and not the accumulation of years of labour, Alakija could have immediately sold the block outright-as some Nigerians have done, and resolved to live forever on the income from the sale.
Imagine for the moment that she deposited $2.5billion in a Nigerian bank. By the very dynamics of banking operations, that amount could have been the source of thousand of loans (and employment for thousands of Nigerians) in fact more than the book value of the original deposit. However, the manager of the bank, where the original deposit was made, would have spent each morning saying Hail Mary’s in fear that Mrs Alakija could arrive at any time and demand all her $2.5billon dollars. Even the central bank would have been hard-pressed rescuing the bank from collapse. The foregoing is to illustrate the potential impact of $2.5billon. In reality – apart from a massive splash of spending in London on her son’s wedding – Mrs Alakija is reported to be the retiring type, diligently managing the various businesses from her vast fortune
ARUNMA OTTEH AGE:57
Vice President And Treasurer Of The World Bank
The World Bank turns out to be the place where Nigerian female talent go to sharpen their investment and financial skills. It gave us Okonjo-Iweala, who rose to be managing Director just short of president. There have been two vice-presidents. “We are fortunate to recruit an individual of Arunma’s obvious caliber” said World Bank President Kim on Arunma’s appointment as vice-president and treasurer. After a stint as Group Vice-President of the African Development Bank (AFDB), Arunma became President of the Nigerian’s Security and Exchange Commission. Despite a rocky tenure, Arunma succeeded in transforming the Nigerian Stock Exchange into a modern, stable and relevant institution.
Her extensive brief at the World Bank is to manage and lead a diverse team responsible for more than $150billion in assets and maintain the World Bank’s reputation as a prudent, innovative lender; investor and risk manager.
Evidently, if the World Bank is to become a faster, pro-active and relevant lender to emergent economics, Arunma Otteh should be a pivotal member of its management team. Her exemplifies the growing world recognition of the expertise of Nigeria’s huge reservoir of resource managers.
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE AGE:40
Acclaimed Novelist
No other female African writer rivals her impact on the world stage. Chimamanda burst into the literary scene seven years ago, with her first two acclaimed novels:- “Half a Yellow Sun”, named after the flag of the short-lived Biafran nation, and “Purple Hibiscus”. Since then, she has extended her influence exponentially. It is not just that her novels have been translated into 30 languages.
Consider that, recently, every 16 year-old Swedish boy or girl has been given a copy of her latest essay, entitled “we should be all be feminists”; by a Swedish women lobby dedicated to gender equality and feminism”.
Chimamanda’s debut as a feminist comes as a bit of a surprise. Women in her native Eastern Nigeria cannot complain of gender inequality- they are the majority in most institutions of learning and command the same salaries in public service employment as their men folk.
But Chimamanda insists on feminism. Say’s she: “We should not pretend that it was not women, who have for centuries been excluded”.
The Nigeria novelist says the major influences in her life have been Chinua Achebe and the Nigeria-Biafra conflict. A literary critic once opined that if Chinua Achebe’s “Things fall apart” is now a classic on the clash of indigenous culture and incipient colonial civilization, Chimamanda’s “Half a yellow Sun” may, in time, be viewed as a reference point on the unresolved issues that tear a nation apart.
In 2001, her collection of short stories was chosen by London’s “Financial Times” as one of the best books of the year.
Her growing list of awards include the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, the Orange Prize, the US National Book Critics Circle Award, and the 2018 PEN Pinter Prize.
LOUISE MUSHIKIWABO AGE:55
Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Since 2009 And Government Spokesperson
Undoubtedly, Louise Mushikiwabo is a woman of great influence in East and Central African. She is chief foreign policy implementer of Rwanda’s President Kagame’s statecraft. Under her watch, Rwanda now provides peacekeepers, with a growing reputation for discipline and good behaviour, for UN’s peacekeeping efforts in Africa. But a progressive foreign policy will never be an easy task in a continent rife with conflict and instability.
Louise’s facial features are firm, radiating a certain calmness. Yet there is a suggestion of worry. She had been away for twenty years in the United States, from where she was summoned by President Kagame to come and help move the country to the next stage of what had already become a remarkable story of nation-building. After the trauma of a horrendous genocide, which claimed the lives of an estimated eight hundred thousand Tutsis, Kagame had succeeded in forging a stable, domestic situation. The next task was to transform Rwanda’s external relations. His point person was Louise Mushikawabo. A solution had to be found for the turbulence in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, where an active Hutu rebel group operated, and where with the Congo and Uganda, Rwanda was engaged in a triangular battle for spheres of influence. For the foreseeable future, foreign policy, entwined with economic considerations will be a crucial part of Kagame’s strategy. Louise is likely to remain at the centre of it all.
