International Women’s Day: WTO’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Oteh Shine at 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Awards—Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has been honored with the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Lifetime Achievement Award with Arunma Oteh, Chairperson of the 124-year-old Royal African Society, recognized as the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Changemaker of the Decade Award recipient.
Arunma Oteh is celebrated not only for her significant contributions across the continent and beyond, but also for her influential role as Executive Residence & Member of the Global Leadership Council at the Said Business School, University of Oxford.
Her impressive career includes previous positions as Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank and as Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Nigeria.
In her acceptance speech, Dr Okonjo-Iweala remarked: “The award reminds me of strong women who have paved the way for others and continue to inspire me, including past awardees and my big sisters, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Her Excellency Graça Machel and Madam Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.”
Since 2021, when she became the first woman and first African to assume the role of Director-General at the WTO, Okonjo-Iweala has drawn on more than 40 years of experience as a global finance expert, economist, and international development professional working across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America.
In her acceptance address, she also acknowledged the inspiration she draws from young African women, stating: “While I’m proud [to be the first woman and African DG], I always have mixed feelings,” she said. “I always feel there should have been a woman prior and an African, why not? But that being said, I’m happy that I’ve been able to break that glass ceiling, and I’m glad that, as many of us continue to break glass ceilings, young African women will hopefully no longer face as many barriers as those who came before them. I have to say that young African women inspire me.”
The FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Awards shines a spotlight on some of the continent’s most prominent personalities—those who have harnessed their personal stories to reshape the development narrative in Africa.
Among the night’s honorees were Tiwa Savage, acclaimed as “the Queen of Afrobeats,” who took home the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Media Icon Award. Earlier in the day, her digital cover was unveiled at the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit.
Known for her signature mix of Afrobeats, R&B, soul, and pop, she explained in an interview with FORBES AFRICA that she thinks “a lot of times when people think of music, they think of just being an artist. But there are so many aspects to the industry. I want to build a school or scholarship program that teaches that.”
A standout moment was the recognition of 12-year-old Eniola Shokunbi, who was awarded the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Young Achiever Award. The young health advocate, born in the U.S. and of Nigerian descent, has already been recognized by the Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation and is noted for her efforts to promote cleaner air and for installing air filters in classrooms around the world.
Also among the youth honorees, 12-year-old Hephzibah Akinwale, who at the age of 10 set a world record for the longest fiction novel written by a child with her book, Chronicles of the Time Keepers: Whisked Away (spanning over 58,000 words), was presented with the 2025 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Next Generation Award.
Last Updated on March 16, 2025 by Senel Media
