20 movers and shakers in Africa

Ndidi Nwuneli
Nigeria
Founder of LEAP Africa and NIA

Following an early career as a management consultant Nwuneli set up NIA which empowers female university students to achieve their potential and LEAP which provides executive coaching for youth, business owners, social entrepreneurs and the public sector. She is also the managing partner of the African Alliance for Capital Expansion.

Susan Mboya
Kenya
Founder of Zawadi Africa Educational Fund

Mboya’s day job is at Coca-Cola, where she also leads the “5 BY 20” initiative to empower five million female entrepreneurs by 2020. Zawadi provides scholarships to academically gifted girls from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Bruktawit Tigabu
Ethiopia
Co-Founder of Whiz Kids Workshop

The former primary school teacher developed the animated TV show, Tsehai Loves Learning, to teach preschool children and their parents about health education. She set up the TV production company Whiz Kids Workshop with her husband.

Swaady Martin-Leke
Ivory Coast
Founder of YSWARA A former management consultant and General Electric manager Martin-Leke is set to launch an upmarket tea company next month. She also blogs about management issues for the Harvard Business Review.

Naima McLean
South Africa
Singer/song writer and poet

McLean was born in New York to an American father and South African mother and subsequently raised in South Africa. The singer/songwriter mixes jazz, R&B, hip-hop among other genres to create her distinct style with very personal lyrics. She recently made her acting debut with 2012 film Vehicle 19 where she stared opposite Hollywood actor Paul Walker.

Tokunboh Ishmael
Nigeria
Venture capitalist Ishmael is one of the co-founders of Alitheia Capital, an investment management and advisory firm.

Prior to this she worked in various investment and fund management roles and led the first secondary listing of a Nigerian company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. She is an alumni of London Business School and the University of London.

Isis Nyong’o
Kenya
Managing Director of InMobi Africa Nyong’o helped develop the mobile strategies for Google and MTV in Africa. The Stanford University and Harvard Business School graduate, who now works at mobile advertising company InMobi, has been named one of Kenya’s “top 40 under 40 women” to watch by newspaper Business Daily.

Stella Kilonzo
Kenya
Chief executive of the Kenyan Capital Markets Authority Kilonzo, who trained as an accountant in the US, was voted one of Forbes’ 20 Youngest Powerful Women in Africa last year. She has been at the capital markets authority since 2008. She is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Banking and Capital Markets and on Kenya’s National Economic and Advisory Council.

Ngozi Edozien
Nigeria
Director of Actis (West Africa) Edozien joined the private equity investor from Equity Vehicle for Health in Africa in 2009. The Harvard graduate previously worked in investment banking and management consultancy in US.

Tebogo Skwambane
South Africa
Founding member of North Road Consulting Skwambane co-founded North Road consulting in 2005, having previously worked for Bain in the US and UK. In February 2011 she was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Clare Akamanzi
Rwanda
Chief Operating Office of the Rwanda Development Board Akamanzi works on improving Rwanda’s investment climate and investment values. She was honoured recently by the World Economic Forum by being nominated as a Young Global Leader in 2012 alongside Prime Minister David Cameron.

Nana Kagga-Hill
Uganda Petroleum engineer, model and actress
Kagga-Hill has had an eclectic career leading up to her current position with Tullow Oil. Her CV boasts roles in Star Trek and He’s Just Not That Into You as well as advertising for Coca-Cola and Apple.

Lynn Mukonoweshuro
Zimbabwe
Chief executive of Kingdom Financial Holdings Mukonoweshuro was appointed in 2010 as the first female chief executive of Kingdom. Previously she was the company human resources director and chief operating officer.

Eleni Gabre-Madhin
Ethiopia
Chief executive of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange The Stanford-educated economist responsible for building Ethiopia’s first commodities market. She has also held senior positions at the World Bank and International Food Policy Research Institute.

Gloria Wavamunno
Uganda
Fashion designer Gloria Wavamunno’s mantra is to create, not follow, trends. She believes fashion is a universal means of sharing and learning about character, beliefs and cultures.

“My designs stem from emotions I feel, things I see, people I meet, music I hear ... from there an idea starts and evolves into pieces and collections,” she says. “Life has many elements of inspiration from colours to music. My craft allows me to encapsulate these elements and create.”

Born in London, and raised in Kampala, she graduated in fashion from the American Intercontinental University London in 2008. A year later she launched her fashion label in Uganda. She is now planning her own online store. Wavamunno, who has worked with Ozwald Boateng and showcased at London Fashion Week, says that she would like to see more opportunities for African designers to collaborate with European fashion houses. Raymond Baguma

Modesta Lilian Mahiga
Tanzania
Entrepreneur and mentor

Four years after she graduated with a law degree from Durham University, Mahiga (below) set up the Professional Approach Group. The group of five HR and “institutional capacity building entities” aims to help Tanzanian business people to compete economically.

“The talent pool in Tanzania is too small to depend on, while the private sector mainly depends on talent from the diaspora,” she says. Mahiga recently met with Barack Obama to discuss Africa’s future.

Erick Kabendera

Jackee Batanda
Uganda
Author and poet

As a teenager, she inked a collection of poetry in exercise books but was disillusioned by the lack of up and coming Ugandan authors. “I made a promise to myself that one day I would see my books in Ugandan bookstores,” says the award winning author. Batanda’s skills were refined by mentors at the Uganda Women Writers Association, where she served as secretary-general. Now the MIT International Women’s Media Foundation Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow, she is mentoring other young writers. Tabua Butagira