Founding member of the Kenya Women Finance Trust Dr Jennifer Riria and award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o have been feted among other 50 Africa’s most powerful women by Forbes. These two were featured in the list that was announced during the Forbes leading women summit 2020 in Durban, South Africa, over the weekend.
Lupita, an international filmmaker and actress became a sensation after bagging an Academy Award-winning role as Patsey in ’12 Years a Slave’ and Nakia in ‘Black Panther.’ The 37-year-old has established her career in acting featuring in top-rated movies and films making Kenyans proud. Lupita is also the author of New York best-seller children’s book, Sulwe, where she shares with the world what it is like growing up as a black girl. She is passionate about women and animals right and champions the fight against sexual harassment.
Dr Jeniffer has been previously feted for her role in empowering women in Kenya and Africa at large. She was voted the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014 and 2013. Currently, she is the Echo Network Africa Group Chief Executive, and also the chairperson of Women’s World Banking, a microfinance network of over 53 micro-finance institutions from 30 countries.
South Africa and Nigeria had the highest number of women on the Forbes African list with South Africa having 18 women and Nigeria 10. Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde, Graca Machel, the widow of former South African President Nelson Mandela, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Olympic Champion Caster Semenya, award-winning musician Yvonne Chaka Chaka made it to the list.
According to Forbes, all these women were drawn from various sectors including business, politics, media, science, sports and public life, where they have been trailblazers.
