Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Burna Boy, Wizkid, Funke Akindele, Other Nigerians Make Forbes 100 African Icons’ List

By Edna Wande On Apr 7, 2021

Forbes Magazine has listed Burna Boy, Grammy-award winner; Chimamanda Adichie, novelist; and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general, among its top African icons.

In Forbes Africa’s new issue, the top-100 innovations, inventions, and icons across different fields were recognised.

Other Nigerian music superstars like Davido, Wizkid, and Mr Eazi were included in the list.

Nollywood stars, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Genevieve Nnaji, and Funke Akindele-Bello were also recognised, as well as Flutterwave CEO, Olugbenga Agboola and CEO of Kaoshi mobile app, Chukwunonso Arinze.

According to Forbes, the list was curated from Hollywood exports and Grammy artists to award-winning ideas that can save the world.

It also stated that the list is a way of “celebrating those whose ideas, inventions, and influential role models have aided Africa’s growth over the last decade.”

Speaking about each of the Nigerians, Forbes said;

Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian-American economist and international development expert who has served since March as Director-General of WTO and the first woman and the first African to hold the office.

Talking about Davido, the publication described him as ‘one of Africa’s biggest musicians’, saying;

Labeled as an Afrobeats superstar by FORBES in 2020, Davido is without a doubt one of Africa’s biggest musicians. The Nigerian-American artist, who also graced the FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 list in 2018, told us that “it was people like [Nigerian music veterans] P-Square and D’Banj” who made him believe “that all this was possible”. Since his rise to fame, Davido has won multiple awards, including BET awards and MTV awards. He has also signed on several endorsements with MTN and Guinness Nigeria.

Omotola Jalade Ekeinde: Easily one of the biggest actors to come out of Africa, multi-award-winning Omotola J Ekeinde has appeared in over 200 movies, according to Entrepreneurs. In 2013, she was featured on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world alongside Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, and Kate Middleton.

Wizkid: Another one of Nigeria’s brightest and biggest stars, Wizkid, is described by Vogue as “an image-maker who speaks to millennials”. The multi-award-winning Afrobeats artist won a Grammy alongside Beyonce for their song Brown Skin Girl (which came off Beyonce’s visual album Black Is King).

Burna Boy: Often known as one of the biggest and most successful African artists on this continent, Burna Boy won the Best Global Music Album category at the Grammys on March 14. The Grammy nomination described Twice As Tall as “a masterclass in the vibe and hustle that have made Burna Boy an international musical force”.

Funke Akindele-Bello: CNN calls her ‘one of Hollywood’s biggest stars”. Funke Akindele-Bello rose to fame after starring in the popular United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)-sponsored sitcom I Need to Know.

Mr Eazi: Known to the world as ‘Mr Eazi’, Nigerian-born singer Oluwatosin Ajibade has made a name for himself as an award-winning African artist. In 2020, he made the coveted FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 list, in which he spoke about the side hustle while in college in Ghana that led him to a best-selling career in music and earning millions of fans along the way.

Swanky Jerry: Also known to the world as Jeremiah Ogbodo, Swanky Jerry is a Nigerian celebrity fashion stylist who has dressed the likes of Pearl Thusi, Davido, Nyanda, Yemi Alade, Tiwa Savage, AKA, Sarkodie, and African presidents and first ladies. In 2020, he made the FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 list.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Known for her feminism which comes across not only in her books but in the way she speaks, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has brought the power of narrative to all the work she has done. The Half of a Yellow Sun author has been described by The Times Literary Supplement as “the most prominent” of a “procession of critically acclaimed young Anglophone authors [which] is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature”, particularly in her second home, the United States (her first being Nigeria).

Genevieve Nnaji: Described as a trailblazer in Nollywood, Genevieve Nnaji’s directorial debut movie, Lionheart, is the first Netflix Original from Nigeria. Unfortunately, it was the first Nigerian submission for the 2020 Oscars before it was disqualified over English dialogue.

Olugbenga GB Agboola, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave: Nigerian company, Flutterwave, is based on a financial application programming interface that makes it simpler to process payments across Africa. It is not just a useful tool for individuals, but also an enabling technology because it helps other businesses, including start-ups. And while Flutterwave is useful within countries, the unique nature of Africa makes it doubly useful across borders.

Chukwunonso Arinze: Nigerian entrepreneur Chukwunonso Arinze created the Kaoshi mobile app that connects expatriate immigrants and money senders across the globe. In the Mail & Guardian, Arinze states that starting this business was built on the premise that sending money across borders is rarely a hassle-free process. “It usually involves long lines, obscene transfer fees, and lots of red tape. But it doesn’t need to be this way.” It boasts of being able to help users “send money to anywhere in the world quickly and without paying expensive fees”.

Aside from the Nigerians listed, other global figures like Trevor Noah, Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Lupita Nyong’o, Idris Elba, Samuel Eto’o, Djimon Hounsou, Tedros Ghebreyesus, Desmond Tutu, and Nasty C were also named.