To The Women Who’s Shoulders We Stand On

It should no longer be a thing to be debated that women should be educated. But sadly, in some countries in Africa and parts of the world, it is still believed that women belong to the kitchen.

We seek to celebrate women who have proven otherwise, thereby giving us role models to look up to.

We will begin this series with Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, a Nigerian woman who has risen against all odds to be extremely successful. Here are some of her achievements.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation. The first woman and first African to hold the position.

She is an economist and international development expert with over 40 years of experience. She was Chair of the Board of Gavi, Vaccine Alliance, African Risk Capacity and Co-Chair of The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. Previously, she served as Senior Advisor at Lazard Ltd. and sat on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc.

She served as Nigeria’s first female and longest-serving Finance Minister (7 years) and was also the first female Foreign Minister. She spent a 25-year career at the World Bank rising to the No.2 position of Managing Director, Operations.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala is also the recipient of numerous honours and has authored several books. She holds a Bachelor’s in Economics from Harvard University and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Hers is a story of dogged resilience and a testament to the fact that women are great assets to their countries when educated. We hope to see more of these women in our generation and future generations to come.