KOKO Woman Of The Year 2020: See The Shortlist

It is our quaternary edition of the KOKO’s Person of the Year, and like the very first edition in 2017, the focus is on the female gender, leaving us with the theme KOKO’s Woman Of The Year.

The bad boy of Nigerian music, a hugely divisive and controversial award-winning talent who built an empire of loyal fans and topped the African chart, Naira Marley, had emerged our Person of The Year 2019 for his street credibility.
It all started with an unfamiliar story to most Nigerians and Africans of every generation in every corner of the globe: an indignant unknown youth and a sudden burst of rebellion. It became one of the most unlikely and surely one of the swiftest ascents in a generation. Unsurprisingly though, whilst many thought his accent and fan-base will depletes, the Marlians grew louder and stronger.
Before him were South African actress and UNHCR ambassador, Nomzamo Mbatha and former Nigerian Minister and Presidential candidate, Oby Ezekwesili. It is 2020 now, the search has begun again, and the torch have shone on powerful women across the black continent, who have through the hardness and many crumbling of the year, risen and made a voice, name and actions which will never leave history for themselves, some of which even got awards and recognition.
Read also: Nigerian Cop Selected For UN Woman Police Officer Of The Year Award
It was pretty much of a hardwork selecting these women, and then shortlisting, as across the African nations this year, many women did excellently well. From a list of 50, KOKO Creative Team, however, rigorously picked out 10 who stood out the most, among of whom only 1 will emerge KOKO’s Woman Of The Year 2020. Here are the 10:
1. Aisha Yesufu: Aisha is a Nigerian socio-political activist, and co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls Movement, an advocacy group that brings attention to the abduction of over 200 girls, from a secondary school in Chibok, Nigeria in 2014, by the terrorist group Boko Haram. She relentlessly and on a daily basis clamours for a better performance from the Government of Nigeria, as against many who think her activism is Haram, as she is a Muslim woman, who is meant to be submissive and not challenge the status quo publicly but complain behind closed doors to her husband. Most recently, she put her strong force, weight, voice and physique behind the #EndSARS protests, joining the Nigerian youths against Police Brutality and bad governance.
2. DJ Switch: Obianuju Catherine Udeh, professionally known as DJ Switch is the leadg woman and voice of the New Nigerian ‘Soro Soke’ generation. Risking her life is an understatement for the Nigerian disc jockey’s act while Nigerian youths fought for an end to Police Brutality and bad governance. Many thanks and kudos to her, however, too many things would have been concealed and twisted than they currently are in the Giant of Africa.
3. Aya Chebbi: Ms Chebbi is an award-winning Pan-African feminist. She is the first ever African Union Special Envoy on Youth and the youngest diplomat at the African Union Commission Chairperson’s Cabinet. She rose to prominence as a voice for democracy and shot to global fame as a political blogger during 2010/2011 Tunisia’s Revolution. She recently received 2019 Gates Foundation Campaign Award and was named in Forbes’ 50 Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women.
4. Esther Agbaje: Esther is a negotiator, lawyer, and a former program manager who ousted an incumbent and won the Democratic primary to become the State Representative for District 59B, covering a growing and diverse area in Minneapolis, including Near North, Harrison, Willard-Hay, North Loop, Bryn Mawr, and Downtown in the United States.
5. Yvonne Orji: The Port-Harcourt, Nigeria-born American actress and comedian is best known for her role in the television series Insecure. She has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and three NAACP Image Awards for the role, and still thriving. 2020 is such a great year for Yvonne as her comedy special Momma, I Made It! made it to the HBO.
6. Joy Buolamwini: Joy is a Ghanaian-American computer scientist and digital activist based at the MIT Media Lab. She founded the Algorithmic Justice League, an organisation that looks to challenge bias in decision making software. In tech, which used to be a men’s world, she is thriving! She was  named by Fast Company, a leading progressive business media brand, as one of its nominees for The Most Creative People in Business 2020.
7. Taaooma: 21 year old Apaokagi Adedoyin Maryam is a Nigerian comedian, content creator, cinematographer, YouTuber who become a social media sensation. Her talent of acting multiple roles in her comedy skits leaves many wondering and just in the year, she was profiled by The Christian Science Monitor as one of Nigerian women breaking into the comedy’s boys club.
8. DJ Cuppy: Florence Ifeoluwa Otedola is a Nigerian disc jockey, music producer and singer who has added media personality to her profile as she hosts #AfricaNow, Apple’s first ever African radio show. Even when many think she is a failure in her choice of career, DJ Cuppy was recently named the Best African DJ at the AFRIMMA Awards.
9. Bonang Matheba: is a South African television presenter, radio personality, businesswoman, producer, model and philanthropist. Born in Mahikeng, North West, she is known for her flamboyant presenting skills and her signature voice. Nicknamed Queen B, Matheba is not called the African style icon for no reason, she does it pretty great. She had won the inspiration and influence award at the 2019 Global Social Awards, and has also been named in Forbes Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women 2020.
10. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: born in Nigeria, the economist and international development expert sits on the Boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, and the African Risk Capacity. After spending 25 year at the World Bank, she scaled the ranks to the Number 2 position of Managing Director, Operations, served two terms as Finance Minister of Nigeria, she is chairing and co-chairing many other bodies and organisation and is now competing the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with South Korea’s Minister for Trade, Yoo Myung-hee.

Photos Credit: Getty

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