By Halimah Olamide
President of the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been inducted into the International Women Forum.
She joins the likes of former United States First Lady, Rodham Clinton, widow of late Mozambican President Samora Machel and later Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel.
Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian Minister of Finance revealed this via her X handle on Saturday.
According to her; “Honored and humbled to be inducted into the International Women’s Forum, International Hall of Fame.
“Following in the footsteps of great sisters such as Coretta Scott King, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Graca Machel & H.E Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, among others.
“Grateful to Congresswoman @RepDebDingell for her wonderful introduction & presentation of my award. Sincere thanks and gratitude to @IWFglobal, President Carolyn Carter and CEO Stephanie Mathews O’Keefe. Congratulations to fellow Honoree, Dr @MonaHannaA, an amazing leader whose ground breaking research exposed the Flint, Michigan water crisis.”
Iweala is a Nigerian-American economist who served as the seventh director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 2021. She was the first woman and the first African to head the WTO.
Okonjo-Iweala received an A.B. degree in economics (1976) from Harvard University and a Master in City Planning degree (1978) and a Ph.D. in regional economics and development (1981) from the Massachusetts Institutes of Technology (MIT).
She held leadership and advisory positions in scores of international, non-governmental, and charitable organizations, including the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI); the African Union, as chair of the African Risk Capacity Group, an agency established to help African countries prepare for and respond to extreme weather events and other natural disasters, and as a special envoy to negotiate international financial assistance for combating the COVID-19 pandemic; the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate; the International Commission on Financing Global Education; the Rockefeller Foundation; and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
She also served as a senior adviser to Lazard Ltd. and as a board member of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter. She was the recipient of a great many awards and honours from international organizations, national governments, charities, and universities around the world.