Top 10 Most Influential Women In Africa (2022)

In this article, we compiled a list of the top 10 most influential women in Africa. These women are tough and diverse. They’re energizing the global climate movement, advocating for social protections, tackling the various societal issues, and eradicating structural inequalities.

Women leaders are improving lives and inspiring a better future for everybody across Africa. These most influential and powerful women, who came from different countries, were recognized for writing history in their fields of work and bringing about change via their efforts and achievements. They’re defying long-held patriarchal beliefs and raiding what was formerly considered masculine strongholds.

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Top 10 Most Influential Women In Africa

The table below contains the names, ages, nationalities, and net worth of the top 10 most influential women in Africa.

1. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Okonjo-Iweala is the most influential woman in Africa.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is an economist and international development expert with more than 30 years of experience working in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

2. Samia Suluhu Hassan

The second woman on the list of the top 10 most influential women in Africa is Samia Suluhu Hassan. Following the death of President John Magufuli in March 2021, Samia Suluhu Hassan became Tanzania’s sixth president and first female leader. She advanced to the position of vice-president, to which she was elected for the first time in 2015.

She became only the fifth female African leader to address the United Nations General Assembly in September. And also she made those comments in order to criticize Covid’s vaccine inequity.

Suluhu has set herself apart from her predecessor by enacting harsher Covid regulations, such as enforced quarantines for visitors from countries with new variations.

3. Angelique Kidjo

With a net worth of $5 million, she is third on the list of the top 10 most influential women in Africa. Angelique Kidjo is a Beninese American singer-songwriter and activist.

In July 1960, Angelique Kidjo was born in Cotonou, Benin. Time magazine dubbed her “Africa’s premier diva,” and she’s become noted for her inventive music videos.

Kidjo has also been dubbed “the undisputed queen of Africa music” by The Daily Telegraph and one of The Guardian’s Top 100 Most Inspiring Women in the World. Her first album, Pretty, was out in 1981, and her 16th, Omawumi’s Play na Play, came out in 2016. Kidjo has received numerous prizes, including the Grammy Award in 2016 for Best Contemporary World Music Album.

4. Chimamanda Ngozi Adechi

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is literarily one of the most successful writers in Africa and has made a name for herself with her critically acclaimed novels Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun, which were published in 2003 and 2006.

Purple Hibiscus was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the world. Meanwhile, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, and John Boyega starred in the 2013 film adaptation of Half of a Yellow Sun.

But it was her 2014 essay, We Should All Be Feminists, that solidified her reputation as a leading thinker and change agent.

5. Mo Abudu

Another important person on the list of the top 10 most influential women in Africa is Mo Abudu. She is currently one of Africa’s most prominent television producers. Mo Abudu is the owner and founder of Ebony Life Television, a Pan-African television channel specializing in entertainment and fashion.

EbonylifeTV has forged big partnerships with Sony Pictures Television, AMC Networks, and Netflix throughout the years. This is the first time an African media organization has struck a multi-title film and TV contract with Netflix.

She has been dubbed “African Oprah Winfrey.” Mo Abudu is a talk show host, television producer, media personality, human resources management expert, and entrepreneur. She’s made a fortune in the sector, and she’s still going strong now.

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6. Graça Machel

The sixth woman on the list of the top 10 most influential women in Africa. She is one of Africa’s most prominent and momentous women. Her first job was as Mozambique’s minister of education, which she served from 1975 to 1989.

Since then, she has been a force for change, serving as president of the Graça Machel Trust and a member of The Elders, a group of world leaders dedicated to promoting peace, justice, and human rights.

The Graça Machel Trust promotes women’s empowerment and leadership, as well as child rights and healthy eating habits. Machel, often known as Mama Graça, believes that influence is far more essential than power.

7. Aya Chebbi

Aya Chebbi is a Tunisian diplomat as well as a feminist and Pan-African activist. In November 2018, she was named the African Union’s first Youth Envoy.

Moussa Faki, the chairperson of the African Union Commission, appointed him as the youngest senior official in the African Union’s history and the youngest diplomat in the chairperson’s cabinet in November 2018.

She backs the Chairperson’s thematic emphasis on working with and for young people, as well as his advocacy for Silencing the Guns by 2020.

8. Kemi Olunloyo

With a reported net worth of $5 million, Kemi Olunloyo is a journalist, blogger, and activist who specializes in investigative reporting. She is well-known for her contentious social media posts.

She was born on August 6, 1964, in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Kemi Olunloyo is the daughter of Governor Victor Omololu Olunloyo and Funlayo Olunloyo of Oyo State. Kemi lived in Nigeria for 14 years before relocating to the United States, where she spent the next 20 years. She lived in Canada for five years until being returned to Nigeria in 2012.

9. Winnie Byanyima

She is another notable figure on the list of the top 10 most influential women in Africa. Winifred Byanyima is a Ugandan aeronautical engineer, politician, and diplomat who was born on January 13, 1959.

Since November 2019, she has served as the executive director of UNAIDS. She was nominated for that position by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in August 2019 after a thorough selection process that included a search committee made up of members of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board. She is also an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations in her new role.

10. Rebecca Enochong

And the last woman on the list of the top 10 most influential women in Africa is Rebecca Enochong. She is the founder and CEO of AppsTech, a Cameroonian-born technology entrepreneur. She is most renowned for her work in Africa promoting technology.

Enonchong and her family relocated to the United States when she was a teenager. She began selling newspaper subscriptions door-to-door at the age of 15 while studying. At the age of 17, she became a manager at the same company.

Enonchong earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and a Master of Science degree in Economics from the Catholic University of America.

Summary

Here is a quick rundown of the top 10 most influential women in Africa

1. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

2. Samia Suluhu Hassan

3. Angelique Kidjo

4. Chimamanda Ngozi Adechi

5. Mo Abudu

6. Graça Machel

7. Aya Chebbi

8. Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo

9. Winnie Byanyima

10. Rebecca Enochong