Across leadership, contemporary art, climate action, fashion and technology, African women are creating new pathways for influence and impact. This week, Women of the Week celebrates five women whose work reflects the power of expertise, creativity and purposeful innovation to shape industries and communities.
Dr Julie Gichuru – President/CEO, Africa leadership and Dialogue Institute
Dr Julie Gichuru is a Kenyan media and development leader who has built a career around storytelling, leadership and African development. She is the Founder, President and CEO of the Africa Leadership and Dialogue Institute, a pan African organisation focused on African storytelling, knowledge building, agenda setting and leadership development. Before establishing ALADI, she served as Chief Public Affairs and Communications Officer at the Mastercard Foundation, where she led global communications, public affairs, reputation and stakeholder engagement across Africa, North America and Europe.
Her career spans more than two decades in mainstream media, including leadership and broadcasting roles at Royal Media Services, Nation Media Group, Standard Media Group and Capital FM. Beyond journalism, Gichuru has increasingly positioned herself as a builder of African institutions and conversations, using communications as a tool for leadership and inclusive development. Through ALADI, she is creating platforms that place African perspectives, experiences and aspirations at the centre of conversations about the continent’s future.
Aminata Mboup – Sculptural Artist and Designer, Founder of IYEKETI Studio
Aminata Mboup is a Senegalese multidisciplinary artist and designer whose practice moves across sculpture, ceramics, photography and digital storytelling. Born and raised in Dakar and now working between Dakar and Toronto, she developed her ceramics practice after studying sculpture and has built her creative practice around questions of memory, identity and ancestral connection. Her studio, IYEKETI, describes itself as a digital studio practice by Mboup, while the name reflects the idea of lifting something up.
Her work reflects a contemporary African artistic language that connects material, heritage and technology. Mboup has also worked as a creative director for cultural institutions, demonstrating the breadth of her practice beyond individual artworks. Through IYEKETI, she continues to explore how sculpture and digital storytelling can become vehicles for preserving memory, interpreting heritage and presenting African creative perspectives to wider audiences.
Temilade Salami – Climate Education and Communications Expert, Author, Founder of Tuntunre and Climate Match
Temilade Salami is a Nigerian climate education and communications expert, author and environmentalist whose work has focused on equipping young Africans with the knowledge and tools needed to participate meaningfully in climate action. She founded EcoChampions, a youth-led environmental organisation that has developed climate programmes across 26 African countries and built a network of young environmentalists focused on education, leadership and advocacy. She holds a Master’s degree in Environment, Development and Policy from the University of Sussex as a Chevening Scholar.
Salami has also authored environmental books for children and established the Climate Education Leaders Fellowship, which was designed to develop a new generation of African climate leaders. Her more recent work through Tuntunre moves into the circular economy, with the platform focused on transforming textile waste into functional products and creating market based solutions to the global waste challenge. She is also the founder of ClimateMatch, a digital platform that helps people identify career pathways within the growing climate economy by connecting transferable skills with climate related roles.
Mimi Yina – CEO, Medlin Couture, Stylist and Brand Influencer
Mimi Linda Yina, popularly known as MedlinBoss, has built Medlin Couture into one of Nigeria’s recognised fashion and styling brands. A fashion entrepreneur, stylist, brand influencer and CEO, Yina began developing her fashion business while studying Sociology at the University of Port Harcourt. What started with buying clothes abroad for friends and classmates eventually grew into a boutique business before evolving into Medlin Couture. She later moved the business from Port Harcourt to Lagos in 2019 as demand for her styling services expanded.
Yina’s influence has been particularly visible through celebrity and red carpet styling. Her clientele has included major Nollywood personalities and entertainers, while Medlin Couture has also provided styling for prominent public figures and high profile occasions. Her work has extended into television, including styling the judges and host of The Voice Nigeria, while the brand has developed its own signature apparel alongside its styling services. Through a combination of personal branding, fashion entrepreneurship and visual storytelling, Yina has helped establish celebrity styling as a significant creative business within Nigeria’s fashion ecosystem.
Imade Bibowei Osuobeni – Business Leader and Founder of Tech Herfrica and Circuit Streams
Imade Bibowei Osuobeni is a Nigerian business and economic transformation leader whose work sits at the intersection of public policy, digital inclusion, entrepreneurship and women’s economic empowerment. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Tech Herfrica, an organisation created to bridge the gender digital divide by providing rural women and girls with digital and financial literacy, access to technology and pathways to markets and finance. She also serves as Chief Operating Officer of HerLocal Market, an e-commerce platform connecting women farmers and traders with customers beyond their local communities.
Her motivation for Tech Herfrica emerged after encountering a rural female farmer in Edo State whose ability to grow her business was constrained by limited access to digital tools and markets. The organisation has since expanded its programmes to thousands of rural women, girls and young people across Nigeria and has developed initiatives designed to improve digital literacy, income and market access. Her EquipHer4Growth initiative received the 2023 SDG Digital Game Changers Award from the International Telecommunication Union, while Bibowei Osuobeni has also received recognition including MIPAD’s Most Influential People of African Descent recognition and the Top 100 Most Inspirational Nigerian Women award.
Why SHE Matters
These women demonstrate the many dimensions of modern African influence, from building institutions and preserving cultural identity to advancing climate education, shaping fashion and expanding digital opportunity. Their work is creating ideas, platforms and systems that can outlive individual achievements.
