Influential African Personalities may be famous, but most are not. Famous personalities are easily identifiable if you want to learn about the continent and current affairs. But some tremendous African personalities are shaking the table, and you want to know about them too. This is the beginning of not only understanding that many Africans have overcome major societal, economic, and policy issues and taken up myriad opportunities the continent offers. Across the continent, creatives, scholars, entrepreneurs, activists and other African personalities are driving initiatives to solve current local problems and make meaningful global contributions. Keep reading to learn about some of the most unique and celebrated African personalities changing the world.
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Paula Kahumbu
This wildlife changemaker received the Special Commendation, United Nations Person of the Year Award, 2013. Paula Kahumbu is a conservationist and CEO of WildlifeDirect. After completing her doctorate, Kahumbu returned to the Kenya Wildlife Service and led the Kenyan delegation to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Kahumbu also teaches conservation as a lecturer at Princeton University.
Aliko Dangote
Aliko Dangote is the wealthiest person of the continent with a staggering net worth of $13.9 billion. He established Dangote Cement, Africa’s biggest cement manufacturer. He has an 85% stake in public Dangote Cement through a holding company. Dangote Cement produces 45.6 million metric tons yearly and is operating in 10 nations across Africa. Numerous years after its development, Dangote’s manure plant in Nigeria started activities in mid-2021. Dangote Refinery has been under development starting around 2016. Once completed, it will be one of the world’s most extensive petroleum treatment facilities.
Martha Koome
Justice Martha Karambu Koome is an advocate and Human Rights Defender, filling in as the Chief Justice of Kenya since 21 May 2021. She is the first woman to serve as Chief Justice in Kenya. She started her career as a legal associate at Mathenge and Muchemi Advocates.
Koome has established herself as among influential African personalities safeguarding Human and Gender Rights. She was also one of the attorneys who effectively took an interest in the noise for the annulment of segment 2A of the Constitution and for the Independence of the legal executive.
Kwasi Kwarteng
Kwarteng was born to a barrister mother and an economist father who emigrated from Ghana to study in London in the 1960s. In 2017, he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond. On 8 January 2021, he became Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. He is the second black man working in the Cabinet after Paul Boateng and the first black Conservative. Also, He is the first black man to handle a government department as Secretary of State. He plans on cutting global emissions to stop climate change using stern measures. Kwasi is a successful book writer as well.
Samia Suluhu Hassan
Samia Hassan was sworn in as the President of Tanzania in 2021, after the death of president John Magufuli. She was the Member of Parliament for the Makunduchi voting public from 2010 to 2015 and was the Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office for Union Affairs from 2010 to 2015. In 2014, she was chosen as the vice chairperson of the Constituent Assembly entrusted with drafting the country’s new Constitution. In the mid-2000s, She is among influential African personalities give she was the most prominent high-positioning lady serving in the bureau and peered down on by her male associates since she was female.
Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr
Another influential African is Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr. She is a Sierra Leonean politician who is the current mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital and biggest city. Ebola broke out in Sierra Leone in 2014. She drove a mission in the UK, fully intent on expanding worldwide awareness about the flare-up. Aki-Sawyerr played a brilliant part during Sierra Leone’s Ebola emergency with an Ebola Gold Medal. It was awarded by the then leader of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, in December 2015.
Abiy Ahmed
Abiy Ahmed has been the Ethiopian prime minister since 2018. He was the man behind the forum “Religious Forum for Peace”. It was a result of the need to devise a maintainable goal system. This system would re-establish serene Muslim-Christian people group collaboration in the locale.
He won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for finishing the 20-year post-war regional conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Kumi Naidoo
Naidoo has been an activist since childhood battling politically-sanctioned racial segregation in South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s. He is a fellow benefactor of the Helping Hands Youth Organisation. He has driven worldwide missions to end poverty and safeguard fundamental freedoms in different positions. This includes serving as the Ninth Secretary-General of Amnesty International. Kumi was the foremost African to lead Greenpeace, filling in as its International Executive Director from 2009 to 2015. He also worked as the Secretary-General of Civicus, the worldwide coalition for resident support, from 1998 to 2008. During the politically-sanctioned racial segregation period, Naidoo was captured a few times. The case was for disregarding arrangements against mass activation, Common defiance and abusing the highly sensitive situation. He is, without a doubt, one of the most persistent African personalities.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Times Literary Supplement called Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie “the most prominent” of a “procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors [which] is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature”. This Nigerian writer was also listed among The New Yorker’s “20 Under 40” in 2010 and, in 2013, listed among the New African’s “100 Most Influential Africans 2013”. Chimamanda is a feminist and often speaks a lot about gender issues, making her one of the breakout African personalities. With her women’s activist methodology, she is ready to separate orientation-based oppressive hindrances.
Agnes Kalibata
Agnes Matilda Kalibata was born in Rwanda. She is an agricultural scientist and president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Agnes is one of the top policymakers in the country. From 2008-2014 she was the minister of agriculture and animal resources in 2008 before becoming the president of (AGRA) in 2014. In her leadership, Rwanda’s poverty level went down by 50 per cent, and the agricultural sector’s annual budget expanded from under US$10 million to over US$150 million. Additionally, Rwanda was the first country to sign a compact under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (an initiative of the African Union Commission). These improvements took place only in six years.
She is a member of the International Fertilizer Development Center (IDFC)’s board of directors since 2008, chairing the board’s Africa Committee. Kalibata is also a member of many national and international boards such as the University of Rwanda, Africa Risk Capacity, the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council, the Global Commission on Adaptation and the Malabo Montpellier Panel of Agriculture and Food Security Experts. Also, United Nations appointed her as UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ special envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit 2019.
So many influential African personalities aren’t on this list, or it would be a never-ending tale. They are innovative, committed and inspiring the next generations to come.
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