Uganda’s Winnie Byanyima who is the UNAIDS Executive Director has made it to the cover of the Forbes Africa Magazine March issue that features Africa’s 50 most powerful women.
The cover of the magazine features Byanyima, South African media personality Bonang Matheba, South African businesswoman Irene Charnley and Cameroonian techpreneur Rebecca Enoncho.
Forbes Africa is labeling those listed as “Africa’s most influential and impactful ceiling crashers, movers and shakers”.
The list will be published in the March issue of the magazine, outlining those who have been leading ideas and industries while purposefully contributing to nation-building and positively impacting the lives around them.
Byanyima, 63, is a professional aeronautical engineer, and diplomat who has served in numerous international organizations. She has previously led Oxfam and also worked at the African Union and UNDP.
Bonang, 32, is a South African television presenter, radio personality, businesswoman, producer, model and philanthropist. In 2011, she became the first South African celebrity to launch an online reality show called B*Dazzled.
Charnley, 59, first made her mark on the African business community as a negotiator for South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers where she spent 13 years coordinating various divisions of union operations. She the became an executive director for the MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecommunications company.
She is currently the CEO of Smile Telecoms Holdings Ltd, a Mauritius-based Pan-African telecommunications group.
Rebecca Enonchong, 53, is the founder and CEO of AppsTech, Maryland-based Maryland-based global provider of enterprise application solutions. AppsTech is an Oracle Platinum Partner and has customers in over 40 countries.
She is best known for her work promoting technology in Africa. Forbes listed her as one of the 10 Female Tech Founders To Watch In Africa during 2014.
On Friday, FORBES WOMAN AFRICA will hold an Awards gala dinner, during the Women Summit at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC Complex in Durban, South Africa.
According to the Forbes Africa website, the event is an opportunity to recognise the trailblazers and role models who have created a new narrative within their industries.
The event hosted annually in honour of International Women’s Day, is expected to draw an audience of around 1,000 leading women
“By challenging authority and ‘old school’ traditions, they are enabling future generations to live in a better and more equal world”.
Beatrice Cornacchia, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Mastercard Middle East and Africa, said: “African women are a vital source of innovation, prosperity, and economic growth. Yet inequality and exclusion still hold women back in many aspects of their everyday lives – from growing their businesses to having the financial tools to participate in the formal economy; from joining the C-Suite to following their passions”.
“We are proud to partner with FORBES WOMAN AFRICA as we believe that it is only by bringing diverse perspectives to the table that we can unlock Africa’s possibilities to women,” she said.
