Forbes releases the 20 youngest
Power women ranging from
45years below: See Excerpts for
the Nigerian Women including
top-runner up from Morocco:
Fatima-Zahra Mansouri ,
Moroccan, Mayor of Marrakech
Mansouri, 38, is the Mayor of
Marrakech, the third largest city in
Morocco with a population of
more than 1 million. After
studying commercial law in France,
she returned to Morocco where
she established and ran a
successful commercial law firm.
She was elected Mayor of
Marrakech in 2009 at age 33 after
she won a seat at the City Council
on the platform of the Authenticity
and Modernity Party (PAM). In the
last 5 years, Mansouri has
significantly cut down on graft,
and is widely credited with
introducing transparency,
accountability and efficiency
within Marrakech’s 96-member
city council. Her father,
Abderrahman Mansouri,
previously served as deputy
governor of Marrakech and
Ambassador of Morocco to the
United Arab Emirates.
Ada Osakwe, Nigerian, Advisor to
the Honorable Minister Federal
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Nigeria
Nigeria’s agricultural sector has
attracted more than $4 billion in
private sector investment
commitments over the last year,
and Ada Osakwe is an integral
reason why. Osakwe, 34, currently
serves as the Senior Investment
Adviser to Nigerian Minister of
Agriculture Akinwunmi Adesina –
arguably the best-performing
member of President Goodluck
Jonathan’s kitchen cabinet. She
works directly with the minister,
advising him on his policies
regarding private sector
investments into the food and
agriculture sector. Osakwe also
interacts with current and
prospective agribusiness investors
and champions innovative
approaches to channel sustainable
private sector engagements in the
sector. Previously, she served as
Vice President of Kuramo Capital,
a New York-based investment
management firm. She also
worked in various capacities at the
African Development Bank.
Amy Jadesimi, Nigerian, Managing
Director, LADOL
The 39-year-old Nigerian
businesswoman is the Managing
Director of the Lagos Deep
Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL),
Nigeria’s only indigenous-owned
deep offshore logistics base.
Jadesimi earned a BA in
physiological sciences at Oxford
University, and then went on to
work for the investment banking
division of Goldman Sachs in
London. She subsequently
attended Stanford Business School,
where she earned her MBA, and
returned to Nigeria to set up a
financial consultancy outfit before
joining LADOL (a company
founded by her father) as
Managing Director. Since it was
founded in 2001, LADOL has
turned a former industrial
wasteland into a $500 million
industrial village and specialized
port facility, providing an
environment in which high value
operations, such as oil and gas
drilling and production support,
ship building and repairs,
specialized manufacturing and
engineering can take place 24/7 in
a secure Free Zone. The second
phase of the LADOL development
is currently ongoing and it includes
Nigeria’s single largest local
content development – a $300
million investment in West Africa’s
largest vessel fabrication and
integration yards. LADOL Free
Zone was created to make Nigeria
the hub for West African maritime
and oil and gas activities through
long-term investment in world
class facilities and services.
Jadesimi is spearheading this
vision.
Rimini Makama, Nigeria, Director,
Africa Practice
Rimini Makama, 34, is the
Communications Director at Africa
Practice, Africa’s foremost strategy
and communications consultancy.
Over the last half a decade,
Makama has successfully
introduced some of the largest
international institutions on the
continent and beyond into the
Nigerian market, simultaneously
helping to strategically positioning
them as key players in their
industry and encouraging foreign
investment in the country. Some of
her clients include BlackBerry,
Union Bank, Renaissance Capital,
Bloomberg, Western Union, World
Economic Forum Africa, The Africa
Union and Paypal. Rimini has a
background in law and after
obtaining a BL from the Nigerian
Law School and an LLM in
International Law and World
Order. Prior to a career in
communications, she joined the
Office of Legal Affairs at the
International Criminal Police
Organization (INTERPOL) in Lyon,
France where she worked as a
lawyer primarily reviewing notices
and individual requests
safeguarding international security
and safety across borders. She also
drafted cooperation agreements
between the 190 member
countries.
Afua Osei (Ghanaian) and Yasmin
Belo-Osagie ( Nigerian), Co-
Founders, She Leads Africa
Yasmin Belo-Osagie and Afua Osei,
both 27, are co-founders of She
Leads Africa, a platform that
provides the most talented female
entrepreneurs across the continent
with access to the knowledge,
networks and financing needed to
build and scale strong businesses.
Their goal is to jumpstart female
entrepreneurs from SMEs to pan-
African industry leaders, and they
are certainly on the way. Within
less than a year, and while juggling
full-time positions at McKinsey &
Company, Yasmin and Afua
successfully launched an
entrepreneurship showcase
competition which drew close to
400 applications from 27 countries
and multiple industries. To date,
the two have recruited nearly
1,000 women-led start-ups into
their network; their goal is to
engage at least 10,000 female
entrepreneurs in 2015. She Leads
Africa is set to become a staple of
the African investment community
with VC funds already seeking
access to its database of female
entrepreneurs. It has the potential
to become the 500 Startups of
Africa. Its leaders are two young
women who are positioned to
significantly increase the volume
and impact of female
entrepreneurs.
Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji ,
Nigerian, Social entrepreneur
Ogunsiji, 31, is the Founder of
RISE NETWORKS, a Nigeria-based
private and public sector funded
Youth Interest social enterprise
with a primary focus on
wholesome youth and education
development. The organization
focuses on creating intellectual
development and capacity building
programs for young Nigerians
between 16 and 30 and receives
generous support from several
state governments and blue-chip
companies. Ogunsiji is an alumnus
of the United States Government’s
International Visitor Leadership
Program.
Adiat Disu, Nigerian, Founder,
African Fashion Week
Adiat Disu, 27, is an international
publicist and founder of Adirée, a
New York-based communications
and brand strategy company. In
2009, Adirée launched the annual
Africa Fashion Week in New York,
one of the most popular
international African-focused
fashion events, in an effort to
place structure around Africa’s
fashion industry and promote
international economic
partnerships while promoting
brands from Africa on a global
scale. It has been a resounding
success. Disu and Adirée are also
working on hosting other
international African Fashion
Weeks in other fashion capitals of
the world including Paris, Milan,
London and Tokyo. Photos of those listed above are listed as mentioned above.
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