The Real Big Girls: 3 Nigerian Women Holding Top Positions in International Organizations the World Respects
The world stands in unison every March 8 to mark International Women's Day. According to the International Women's Day website, it is a special day set out to celebrate women's global, social, economic, cultural, and political achievements.
You must have come across photos of personalities on social media crossing their arms to strike an "x" pose, a show of solidarity with this year's them, which says #BreaktheBias.
Source: Getty Images
In the spirit of this special day, Legit.ng highlights 3 powerful Nigerian women holding top positions in international organisations.
1. Amina J. Mohammed (Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations)
In 2017, Amina J. Mohammed was appointed the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, making her the 5th person to hold the role.
PAY ATTENTION: Subscribe to Digital Talk newsletter to receive must-know business stories and succeed BIG!
The Liverpool-born Nigerian woman is also the Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group.
Source: Getty Images
The well-read award-winning diplomat is not a new face when holding key roles in international organisations.
In 2012, she served as the Special Adviser to the former Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) on Post-2015 Development Planning. She spearheaded the process that resulted in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and creating the Sustainable Development Goals, per Nairametrics.
The 60-year-old former Nigeria's Minister of Environment (2015-2016) served on the advisory boards and panels of global organisations like the ActionAid International "Right to Education Project, Global Development Program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
2. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Director-General, World Trade Organisation)
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the perfect poster girl for this year's theme Breaking the Bias with her record-breaking and historic appointment as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The appointment made on Monday, February 15, 2021, made the Delta-born the first Nigerian, African and woman to hold sway at the top position.
Source: Getty Images
The 67-year-old is well-deserving of such an elevated role considering her impeccable wealth of experience, rich CV and educational background.
The Harvard University graduate is the first woman to become the Finance Minister in Nigeria and held the position under President Olusegun Obasanjo (2003–2006) and President Goodluck Jonathan (2011–2015).
The 2005 Euromoney Global Finance Minister of the Year had a sterling career that spanned 25 years at the World Bank. She rose through the ranks, from a development economist to a Managing Director, Operations.
She was also on the board of Twitter Inc. as well as other top global organisations.
3. Bola Adesola (Co-Vice Chair, United Nations Global Compact)
Bola Adesola completes this list of powerful Nigerian women holding top roles in global organisations with her appointment as the Co-Vice Chair of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) in 2018.
The Harvard Business School and Lagos Business School alumnus has over 25 years of banking experience and is currently Senior Vice-Chairman Africa of Standard Chartered Bank Group.
Source: UGC
Bola was formerly the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank for Nigeria and West Africa.
Google.org announces $1m grant funding to support women entrepreneurs
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Google-org had on International Women's Day announced a whopping $1m grant funding to support women entrepreneurs.
In addition to the funding announcement, Google has also announced #LookMeUp, a campaign to showcase women entrepreneurs and tell their stories.
These stories feature women like Vivian Nwakah in Nigeria, who launched Medsafe, a pharma supply chain solution to help Nigerians access quality pharmaceutical health care services.
Source: Legit.ng
