Kenya Leaves Empty Handed In The African Woman Awards Despite Being Top In Nominations

Fatoumatta Jallow-Tambajan has been announced the New African Woman magazine’s Woman of the Year in the second edition of the pan-African bi-monthly magazine and Forum in Dakar, Senegal.Jallow-Tambajan who is from Ghana was instrumental in galvanizing the opposition that eventually beat long-term now exiled leader Yahya Jammeh.Kenya, which was among the leading in nominees, returned home empty handed.Nigeria and Kenya topped the list of nominees with 12 and 10 nominations respectively. Both countries were followed by South Africa, Somalia and Gambia, which had 8, 4 and 3 nominations respectively.Nigeria’s Amina J. Mohammed – the new United Nations Deputy Secretary – took home the New African Woman in Politics and Public Office in the awards that celebrate and honour African women who have made exceptional impact and change in their countries or communities in the past one year.Tabitha Karanja, CEO of Keroche Breweries, founder of one of the country’s biggest PR firms Gina Din-Kariuki and Kenya Women Holding CEO Jennifer Riria were among the Kenyans nominated.Winners have been selected by a special panel of judges from 68 shortlisted candidates across 12 categories. The Award for Women in Health, Science and Technology went to Namibia’s Dr. Helena Ndume – a pioneering ophthalmologist and cataract surgeon, who has to date, performed over 35,000 sight-restoring surgeries on Namibians, completely free of charge.Morocco saw serial entrepreneur Salwa Idrissi Akhannouch, take home the New African woman Award in Business.Zimbabwean philathropists and educationist Tsitsi Masiyiwa, received the New African Woman Award in Education for her work with Higherlife Foundation – a not for profit organisation she runs and offers scholarships to orphaned and vulnerable children to give them a better chance in education.Over 250,000 children have benefited from the work of Higherlife Foundation.To see the full list, click HERE.