CSR-in-Action celebrates the appointment of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala as Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) at which she emerged as the first female and first African leader to attain such a significant career height, just in time to mark International Women’s Day for 2021 #IWD.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, the 2020 recipient of the Aminu Kano Award for Leadership category of our Community and Human Rights Awards, had massive support of the people through the transparent and people-centric process of selection. Although she could not be present to receive the award physically due to pandemic and other official duties, upon receiving the award, she shared a heart-warming video at the award ceremony during which she expressed her delight at the prestigious award.
CSR-in-Action’s Chief Executive, Ms Bekeme Masade-Olowola, in her statement to the press pointed out that “Our aim is to recognise those individuals and businesses that are working not for clout but for legacy, those who seek to leave a legacy for generations unborn to emulate”. “Dr Okonjo-Iweala has shown exemplary leadership consistently and has added value to various industries and organisations all over the world. Her influence spreads across continents which has led to many women to take on to social media platforms to create and participate in the viral #BeLikeNgoziChallenge. The social media challenge featured thousands of women, young and old, from all over the world dressed in African fabrics with head gears styled similarly to the WTO Director-General’s mode. Recently, Chinonyerem Okeke, a young Nigerian lady living in Ireland, took to Twitter to share the good news of her emergence as the winner of the Spotlight Award, according to her the award is the highest attainable in the topmost bank in Ireland. She tweeted; “So this happened yesterday! I work in Central Bank of Ireland and yesterday I won the ‘Spotlight Award’ which is the highest award you can ever win in Central Bank. Still in shock! Ngozi Iweala is the woman that motivates me to work viciously hard! I dedicate this award to her.”
Many have described the emergence of Dr Okonjo-Iweala in this position as coming at a difficult time for multilateralism and against the backdrop of COVID-19, a tumultuous period for global trade and increasing nationalist tendencies, which makes her emergence more inspiring. We believe that Dr Okonjo-Iweala will fill this critical role with her wealth of experience, wisdom, and determination – steering an inclusive global trade agenda which is a very critical way to lifting millions out of poverty and bring shared prosperity to the world.