Nigerians have once again dominated this year’s list in
terms of entries, followed by Kenyans in the New African 100 most influential
Africans, reports ITREALMS.
The list, ITREALMS gathered is for the first time having gender
balanced, just as quadruplet covers featured Mo Salah, Bogolo Joy Kenewendo,
Denis Mukwege and Ahmed Abiy.
“For the first time since publishing the list, there is an
equal amount of men and women featuring in this year’s one hundred. Although
this year’s listing is dominated by entries from Nigeria and Kenya, outstanding
personalities from several other African countries are also featured,” a press
statement from the publishers read.
The December issue is published with four different covers
featuring: Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Ahmed Abiy, arguably Africa’s person of
the year; the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize co-winner DR Congo’s Dr Denis Mukwege; Botswana’s
32-year old Minister of Trade
Investment Bogolo Joy Kenewendo;
and Egypt’s soccer superstar, Mo Salah whose influence goes well beyond
football.
The annual list has become an industry and readers’
much-awaited collation – revealing Africans who contributed in shaping the
African narrative in the concluding year and envisaged to play a big role in
the coming year, both on the continent and in the Diaspora.
Collated by and from its global network of correspondents
and industry insiders, this year’s listing consists of some regular names, and
some of them returning for the second, even third year such as businessman
Aliko Dangote. The final 2018 tally sees
a drop in the number of entries for politicians, but an increase in the arts
and culture section at 16 and 22 entries respectively.
In terms of countries, entries are led by Nigeria with 18
names followed by Kenya (11) South Africa (10) Egypt (8) and Ethiopia (7).
“One yardstick which we often employ when coming up with the
final list is to emphasise that influence is not about popularity and
popularity is not always influential. The influencer’s impact on public, social
and political discourse, however, is what largely helps us determine their
influence. Most importantly we focus mainly on people who have been influential
for Africa’s good,” says reGina Jane Jere – editor of the magazine’s sister
publication – New African Woman, who leads and oversees the 100 Most
Influential Africans project.
With many reports indicating how gender parity improves the
quality of governance and accelerates development, and in a year that has seen
the emboldening of gender issues, with countries such Ethiopia even taking a
lead in achieving gender parity in Cabinet, and appointing its first ever
female President under its new reformist Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy, the
magazine felt it apt to produced a 50/50 ratio in this year’s list. According
to the editor of the magazine, Anver Versi, this happened as much by chance as
it did by design. “When whittling down the nominees and choosing our hundred,
we ended with an equal number of women and men. That was the premise of this
year’s ranking but it happened naturally!”
One other outstanding feature of this year’s list is the
increased inclusion of people of African descent making their mark at a global
level in the African Diaspora. “This is a clear indication of the wealth of
talent that our continent possesses and shows that given the slightest
opportunity, our men and women can eclipse their peers worldwide in their
chosen fields of endeavour,” explains Versi.
Also of note is the inclusion of men and women in the
seemingly unglamorous fields such as conservation and climate change, whose
work is often overlooked by the media.
Uj. N. Dominic/GEE
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