Fatoumatta Jallow-Tambajan, Gambian human rights activist and Minister of Women’s Affairs, has won the New African Woman magazine’s Woman of the Year Award at the ceremony which took place in Dakar on Wednesday night.
The award, which is now in its second edition, is seen as a platform to recognise, celebrate and honour African women who have made exceptional impacts and change in their countries or communities over the past year.
The event was held at a Gala Dinner at the Terrou-Bi hotel in the Senegalese capital, and winners were selected by a special panel of judges from 68 shortlisted candidates across 12 categories.
Fatoumatta Jallow-Tambajan was seen as playing an important role in “galvanising the opposition that eventually beat long-term now exiled leader Yahya Jammeh” stated BizNis Africa.
Other winners were: Namibia’s Dr Helen Ndume, a pioneering ophthalmologist and cataract surgeon who took home the Award for Women in Health, Science and Technology; Morocco’s Salwa Idrissi Akhannouch, a serial entrepreneur who took home the Award for Women in Business; Zimbabwe’s Tsitsi Masiyiwa, a philanthropist and educationist who received the Award for Women in Education; and Kenya’s Vivian Onano, the Kenyan girls rights activist and UN Women youth advisor who won the Award for Woman on the Rise.
For a full list of the winners and nominees, click here.
