Ethiopians Enlisted Amongst 100 Most Influential African Women

With the intention of inspiring the next generation of women in Africa who are passionate about leading change and challenging the Status Quo, Avance Media has recently presented 100 Most Influential African Women in its annual publication of which four of them are Ethiopians.

The publication presented a summary of women who have climbed the corporate ladder, started their own businesses, and have been at the forefront of decision making both locally and internationally.

Excellence in leadership and performance, personal accomplishments, commitment to sharing knowledge, breaking the Status Quo, as well as being an accomplished African Woman were the major criteria for the selection of its eight categories from 28 African countries.

Here is the short profile of the four women who were selected from Ethiopia, and are amongst the 100 Most Influential African Women as depicted in the journal.

Sahle-Work Zewde, President of Ethiopia

Sahle-Work Zewde is a politician and diplomat who is the current President of Ethiopia, the first woman to hold the office. She was elected as a president by members of the Federal Parliamentary Assembly on 25 October 2018. Sahle-Work was previously a career diplomat, serving as Special Representative of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union at the level of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Until 2011, she served as Special Representative of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peace-building Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA).

In 2011, Ban appointed Sahle-Work as Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON). Under Sahle-Work, the Nairobi office became a more important UN center for East and Central Africa, per the 2012 Africa Yearbook.

In June 2018, Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Sahle-Work as his Special Representative to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU) at the level of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. She was the first woman to hold the post. She was named among the Inaugural List of 100 Most Influential African Women in 2019 by Avance Media.

Filsan Abdullahi Minister of MoWCY

Filsan became the Minister of Women, Children and Youth Ministry on 12 March 2020 which made her the youngest person in the cabinet. She is founder of the ‘Nabad Project” which in Somali means ‘Peace’ that had a great contribution in creating peace and reconciliation between various ethnic groups in Ethiopia.

She has also served as Speech and Language Therapy consultant in England for several years. In early 2020, Filsan held the status assigned by the Ethiopian Federal Government of a Goodwill Ambassador.

Born in Dire Dawa City, Filsan had received her first degree in Leadership and Management from the privately owned Unity University in Addis Ababa, and went to England to obtain a degree in communications science at the University of Hertfordshire. She later worked as a speech and language therapist in England for several years.

She is the other Ethiopian lady named among the List of 100 Most Influential African Women in 2021 by Avance Media.

Frehiwot Tamru CEO, Ethio telecom

A results-driven, passionate, inspiring leader with an MBA from Open University, UK and a BSc in Information System served in the telecom sector for 17 years out of which 10 years of service were spent in leading the Nation’s biggest telecom company, Ethio telecom and 7 years in running her own IT business, DOXA IT Technology PLC. At the age of 26, demonstrating her leadership skills at an early age, she was made the Chief Information Officer of Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation.

Frehiwot is a servant leader who is primarily concerned about the wellbeing of people and the community that she belongs to; she is indeed a selfless leader one can ever hope for.

Given the dynamism of the telecom market, she has shown her fearless business approaches with impeccable instincts. She is always leading her employees, challenging and coaching them, seeking to get the best out of them. She is known for giving honest and candid feedbacks while still making friends in the sector.

Frehiwot was named in the List of 100 Most Influential African Women in 2021 by Avance Media.

Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu CEO, soleRebels

Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu is an Ethiopian business woman, founder and Executive Director of soleRebels, Africa’s “fastest growing footwear company”. She has received honors and accolades for her business acumen, as well as her efforts to shift the discourse on Africa away from poverty to the continent’s entrepreneurial spirit, social capital, and economic potential.

She launched “The Republic of Leather”, designing sustainable luxury leather goods, and “Garden of Coffee” retail outlets to promote Ethiopian coffee. Bethlehem was named among the Inaugural, second and third lists of 100 Most Influential African Women in 2019, 2020 and 2021 by Avance Media.

Avance Media has been engaged in changing the narrative about Africans through rating and ranking publications through its girls’ empowerment project, “Be A Girl’, which launched this annual publication to highlight and celebrate the astounding accomplishments.

It has been performing its activities with a firm believe that this project presents another opportunity not only to celebrate Africans but showcase the individual and collective works of women who are earnestly inspiring the next generation of leaders in Africa.

The list, which celebrates African women from various backgrounds in business leadership, academia, diplomacy, philanthropy, entertainment and media, is the third publication from Avance Media since 2019, it was learnt.

From fighting the pandemic to reengineering politics in Africa, these influential women–including Sahle-Work Zewde (H.E.), Samia Suluhu Hassan (H.E.), presidents of Ethiopia and Tanzania, respectively and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, World Trade Organization Director-General -are making history, the report stated.

By Ethiopian Herald.