The most powerful Black women of 2021

11. Samia Suluhu Hassan

Samia Suluhu Hassan became the president of Tanzania following the demise of John Magufuli. He had passed away from heart complications.

She became the first female president in Tanzania and East Africa and only the third in the entire continent (Africa has had several female presidents who acted in the role). Hassan is Tanzania’s second Muslim president after Ali Hassan Mwinyi. Both Muslim presidents were raised on the island of Zanzibar and identify as culturally Zanzibari.

Popularly called Mama Samia, the mother of four is slow to talk, keeps a low family profile, and is generally non-confrontational despite having been in politics since the year 2000.

Hassan has worked in public service all her life even before she entered politics. She became a development officer in the semi-autonomous Zanzibar and was a project manager for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Tanzania.

Before entering the Zanzibari legislature, she was the head of an umbrella group that oversaw NGOs in Tanzania.

According to Forbes, she is the 94th most powerful woman in the world.