Forbes: Okonjo Iweala Named as One of The Most Powerful Women in the World 

– Justice Okamgba

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the seventh Director-General of the WTO. She took office on 1 March 2021, becoming the first woman and the first African to serve as Director-General. Her term of office will expire on 31 August 2025.

She is renowned as the first female and African candidate to contest for the presidency of the World Bank Group in 2012, backed by Africa and major developing countries in the first truly contestable race for the world’s highest development finance post. As Managing Director of the World Bank, she had oversight responsibility for the World Bank’s $81 billion operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia. Dr Okonjo-Iweala spearheaded several World Bank initiatives to assist low-income countries during the 2008-2009 food crisis and later during the financial crisis. In 2010, she was Chair of the World Bank’s successful drive to raise $49.3 billion in grants and low interest credit for the poorest countries in the world.

As Minister of Finance in Nigeria, she spearheaded negotiations with the Paris Club of Creditors that led to the wiping out of $30 billion of Nigeria’s debt, including the outright cancellation of $18 billion. In her second term as Finance Minister, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was responsible for leading reform that enhanced transparency of government accounts and strengthened institutions against corruption, including the implementation of the GIFMS (Government Integrated Financial Management System), the IPPMS (Integrated Personnel and Payroll Management System), and the TSA (Treasury Single Accounts).

Dr Okonjo-Iweala has been listed in the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World (Forbes, 2022, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011), as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World (TIME, 2014 and 2021), one of the 25 most influential women (Financial Times, 2021), Minister of the Decade, People’s Choice Award by Nigeria’s This Day newspaper (2020), one of Transparency International’s Eight Female Anti-Corruption Fighters Who Inspire (2019), one of the 50 Greatest World Leaders (Fortune, 2015), the Top 100 Global Thinkers (Foreign Policy, 2011 and 2012), the Top Three Most Powerful Women in Africa (Forbes, 2012), the Top 10 Most Influential Women in Africa (Forbes, 2011), the Top 100 Women in the World (The UK Guardian, 2011), the Top 150 Women in the World (Newsweek, 2011), and the Top 100 most inspiring people in the World Delivering for Girls and Women (Women Deliver, 2011). She has also been listed among 73 “brilliant” business influencers in the world by Condé Nast International.

In 2023, she was awarded the Lord Byron International Prize from the Society for Hellenism and Philhellenism, the Global Economy Prize from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, and the 2022 Laureate Prize of Ambassadors from the International Organisation of La Francophonie. In 2022, she obtained the Global Leadership Award by the American Academy of Achievement. In 2021, she received a Global Leadership Award from the United Nations Foundation as a “Champion for Global Change”. In 2020, she became an Angelopoulos Global Public Leader at Harvard University Kennedy School. She was also appointed to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) for President of South Africa His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa in 2020. In 2019, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2017, she received the Madeleine K. Albright Global Development Award from the Aspen Institute, the Women’s Economic Empowerment Award from WEConnect International, and the Vanguard Award from Howard University. In 2016, she received the Power with Purpose Award from the Devex Development Communications Network and the Global Fairness Award from the Global Fairness Initiative in recognition of her contribution to sustainable development. She was also conferred High National Honours from the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire and the Republic of Liberia. She was also the recipient of Nigeria’s second highest national honour Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON, 2022) and Nigeria’s third highest National Honors Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR). In 2023, she received the Grand Cross of the Order of Rio Branco from the Federative Republic of Brazil.

The director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has be named one of the Forbes Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women in the World.

Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigeria’s Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, was named alongside fellow compatriot and media mogul, Monisola Abudu, popularly known as Mo Abudu. According to Forbes’ 20th annual ranking released on Tuesday, the WTO boss holds the 87th spot, surpassing South African businesswoman, Mpumi Madisa, who stands at 88th.

Tanzanian President Samia Hassan also makes her debut on the list at the 93rd position, alongside Mo Abudu at the 98th position. Okonjo-Iweala, who shattered barriers in 2021 as the first woman and the first African Director-General of the WTO, is celebrated for her remarkable career at the World Bank and impactful economic reforms in Nigeria.

Her recognition on Forbes’ list underscores not only her significant contributions to global trade but also her commitment to economic development, governance, and international leadership.

Reacting to the development via X handle on Wednesday, Okonjo-Iweala wrote: “Feel truly honored to be named one more time as one of the @Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in the world. This will be the 7th time, starting in 2011. Congratulations to all the women on this list working hard to make a difference and to others working hard to change the world even if they are not on the list. Special congratulations to my younger sister @MoAbudu, great to have two Nigerian women on this list.”

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala GCON ; born 13 June 1954 is a Nigerian-American economist, who has been serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 2021. Notably, she is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organization as Director-General. She sits on boards of: Danone, Standard Chartered Bank, MINDS: Mandela Institute for Development Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, One Campaign, GAVI: Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, Rockefeller Foundation, R4D: Results for Development, ARC: African Risk Capacity and Earth shot Prize plus others. She also previously sat on the Twitter Board of Directors, and stepped down in February, 2021 in connection with her appointment as Director General of the World Trade Organization.

Okonjo-Iweala serves Brookings Institution as a non-resident distinguished fellow with the Africa Growth Initiative in their Global Economy and Development Program. She is a Commissioner Emeritus and Co-Chair of Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. At The World Bank, she had a 25-year career as a development economist; rising to become Managing Director for Operations from 2007 to 2011. Okonjo-Iweala was the first Nigerian woman to serve two terms as Finance Minister of Nigeria; initially, under President Olusegun Obasanjo from 2003 to 2006; and secondly, under President Goodluck Jonathan from 2011 to 2015. Subsequently, from June to August 2006, she served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria. In 2005, Euromoney named her Global Finance Minister of the Year.