Nigeria has once again taken its place on the world’s most influential stage.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, and Mo Abudu, global media entrepreneur and cultural powerhouse, have been named among Forbes’ 2025 World’s 100 Most Powerful Women—a distinction reserved for women whose leadership actively shapes economies, industries, public discourse, and global outcomes.
How Forbes Makes the Selection
Each year, Forbes evaluates candidates across multiple sectors using a rigorous set of criteria. The ranking is not based on popularity or visibility alone, but on measurable influence and real-world impact. Key considerations include:
- Scope of Influence: The scale and reach of each woman’s authority—how many people, institutions, or markets are directly or indirectly affected by their decisions.
- Financial and Economic Impact: Control over resources, budgets, revenues, or industries that shape economic outcomes locally or globally.
- Leadership and Decision-Making Power: The ability to influence policy, strategy, or narrative at the highest levels of governance, business, or culture.
- Innovation and Transformation: How their work has redefined systems, disrupted norms, or created new pathways for growth and representation.
- Longevity and Consistency: Sustained impact over time, not momentary success.
It is through this lens that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala and Mo Abudu earned their places on the list—standing among heads of state, global CEOs, financial leaders, and cultural architects from around the world.
Leadership Without Borders
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala continues to redefine global economic leadership. As the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organization, she occupies one of the most consequential roles in international governance. Her work sits at the intersection of global trade, development policy, and economic cooperation—areas that directly affect nations, markets, and livelihoods worldwide.
Beyond the institution she leads, her influence lies in credibility. She represents steady, reform-driven leadership at a time when global systems demand trust, coordination, and long-term thinking. Forbes’ recognition reflects not just her position, but her authority, integrity, and enduring impact on global economic policy.
Power Through Storytelling
Mo Abudu’s influence is equally profound, though expressed through culture rather than policy. As a media entrepreneur, she has transformed African storytelling into a global force. Through film, television, and international content platforms, she has reshaped how Africa is represented—moving it from the margins to the mainstream.
Forbes’ selection recognizes that cultural power is strategic power. By owning platforms, building global partnerships, and exporting African narratives on her own terms, Mo Abudu has demonstrated that controlling stories shapes perception, opportunity, and identity. Her leadership proves that influence is not only exercised in boardrooms and governments, but also through culture and creative enterprise.
More Than Recognition
Together, their inclusion affirms a deeper truth: Nigerian excellence is not confined by geography. It thrives in boardrooms, policy circles, creative industries, and global institutions. These women did not wait for permission or validation. They built credibility, commanded influence, and shaped outcomes at the highest levels—on their own terms.
This Is Nigeria
Their journeys remind us that power is not always loud, but it is always intentional. It is earned through vision, resilience, and the courage to lead where few have gone before.
Two Nigerian women.
Global influence.
Enduring impact.
This is Nigeria.
