The list includes key women from 34 African countries, working in a variety of fields including diplomacy, change activists, the private sector, business leaders, and those in the entertainment industry.
The profiling has Ben developed by Avance Media, one of the most influential on the continent in terms of corporate advocacy.
Of the 100 women in the country, Ghana has nine, South Africa has 11 and Nigeria has 20.
These include the names of 75 new women who were not on the list published in recent years where some of the top names include Halima Dangote who is in charge of Dangote Group, a company of the richest African, Aliko Dangote.
There is also one Ugandan woman, Stella Nyanzi; Namibia's Deputy Minister of Information and Communication, Emma Theofelus who has resigned at the age of 24.
One of the focus in selection of these women is their abilities and productivity in management, their personal achievements, their efforts in sharing knowledge, among others.
The three Rwandans, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, and Louise Mushikiwabo, all served in the Government of Rwanda in various positions.
Mushikiwabo is currently the Secretary-General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). She previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Rwanda.
She took over the leadership of the OIF in January 2019 after being elected in October 2018 with the support of member states of the African Union.
Her outstanding work has led to the awarding of the Outstanding Humanitarian Award in 2014 by the American University's School of International Studies.
In 2014, Radio France Internationale (RFI) ranked her among the top women in Africa.
In addition to political work, Mushikiwabo is also a writer. In 2006 she published a 384-page book, Rwanda means The Universe, in collaboration with journalist Jack Kramer. It contains testimonies of the history of Rwanda, the preparation for the Genocide against the Tutsi, and its implementation.
Dr. Agnes Binagwaho served as Minister of Health from 2011 to 2015.
She is a pediatrician. She has held various positions in the health sector. From 2002 to 2008, Dr. Binagwaho was the Executive Secretary of Rwanda's National AIDS Control Commission, and from 2008 to May 2011 she was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and later became the Minister of Health.
Other notable Binagwaho jobs include being a professor at Harvard Medical School in the United States, and teaching pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine in Dartmouth, USA, where she was awarded an honorary degree from Dartmouth College in 2010.
She received her PhD in 2014 from the University of Rwanda.
Currently teaching at UGHE, the University offers a Master's Degree in Public Health, located in Rwinkwavu Sector in Kayonza District, where she teaches every weekend and provides her teachings from Kigali on Tuesdays of every week.
Dr. Agnes Kalibata is the President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). She is one of the former ministers of model agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. From 2008 to 2014 when she was Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), poverty was reduced by 50% mainly due to good agricultural policies and uplifing of small farmers.
She holds a PhD in Entomology from the University of Massachusetts.
She has worked for about a decade at the Agricultural Research Institute at the Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute, which works with Makerere University and Massachusetts.
In 2018, she was awarded a Distinguished Degree from the University of Liège in Belgium for her outstanding management practices.
In 2012 she was awarded the Yara Prize which has now become the Africa Food Prize given to a person or institution that is making a difference in the development of African agriculture.
Earlier last year, the American Academy of Sciences (NAS) awarded her a medal for her contribution to community development through modern agriculture on the African continent.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also recently made her special envoy to the 2021 summit to study the journey to food security and agricultural development.
Elina Jonas Ruzindaza
source https://en.igihe.com/news/article/three-rwandan-women-named-among-100-most-influential-in-africa
