Influential African leaders

AMERICAN news magazine TIME released its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world this week, with several African gamechangers making the prestigious list.

These are the Africans, either born on, or with roots to the continent, that made the cut for

100 Most Influential People on the list this year.

1. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Nigeria)

The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WHO) was named alongside world leaders like US President Joe Biden, and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Earlier this year Okonjo-Iweala made history by becoming the first woman and first African selected to head the WTO.

2. Angelique Kidjo (Benin)

Four-time Grammy Award winner Kidjo is one of the greatest artists in international music today, a creative force with thirteen albums to her name. TIME has called her “Africa’s premier diva”.

3. Felwine Sarr ( Senegal)

According to TIME, Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy have made a critical contribution to restitution. Their much discussed “Sarr-Savoy Report,” commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron and published in 2018 stands as a testament to the fight against colonial legacies of violence, the magazine said.

4. Phyllis Omido (Kenya)

The only East African on the list, Omido who is considered the “Erin Brockovich” of the region won a court ruling in 2020 that awarded $12m (about R176m) to a community poisoned by lead pollution from a nearby factory in the middle of Owino Uhuru, a slum near Mombasa.

5. Daniel Kaluuya (Uganda-Britain)

Kaluuya won his first Academy Award this year for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Judas and the Black Messiah, according to Forbes magazine.

6. Omar Sy (France-West Africa)

The French actor, whose parents are immigrants from Senegal and Mauritania, stars in the Netflix series Lupin, in which he plays a master of disguise. His fellow actor Bradley Actor says Omar has the ingredients and skill to be able to do anything –produce, direct, and much more – and to do it with an open and generous heart, TIME reported.

7. Elon Musk (SA/Canada)

Tesla chief executive Musk is the founder, CEO and chief engineer at SpaceX and an early stage investor. SpaceX and its civilian crew made history with their successful launch recently, which will see the Inspiration4, an ongoing human spaceflight mission, spend three days orbiting Earth, according to Fox Business.

8. John Nkengasong (Cameroon)

Nkengasong is the director of the

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. He has previously worked at the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He played a pivotal role during the Covid-19 pandemic and Africa’s response. Nkengasong was appointed the WHO special envoy for Africa.

9. Sara Menker (Ethiopia)

Apart from being the boss of Gro Intelligence, a company which has developed the world’s most extensive agriculture data platform, Menker is a trustee of the Mandela Institute for Development Studies and was elected one of the World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders. | African News Agency (ANA)