Just 20 years ago, Nigerian women were largely absent from top global leadership positions.
Fortune reported that in 2005, only eight women were leading Fortune 500 companies, representing as few as 1.6% of CEOs.
At the time, the number of women on corporate boards in Nigeria was also single-digit.
There were virtually no Nigerian women holding Class A roles in major multinationals or cutting the mustard in any leadership positions in global institutions.
More than 20 years on, as women globally are making waves, Nigerian women have not been left out. Women of Nigerian descent are not merely bystanders; they are now in charge, from the boardroom of the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, World Health Organisation execs league.
In 2026, women hold over 10% of Fortune 500 CEO roles, while Nigerian female decision-makers have now risen to over 30%. The country is now seeing a visible cohort of Nigerian women occupying senior decision-making positions across global firms and multilateral organisations.
In celebration of Women’s Month, Nairametrics spotlights 7 of the most powerful women of Nigerian descent operating actively on a global stage today. Their work reflects the growing influence of Nigerian women in global decision-making and institutional leadership.
64-year-old Amina Mohammed occupies the second-highest post in the world’s foremost intergovernmental organisation. As the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Liverpool-born Nigerian is at the pinnacle of multilateral diplomacy.
Though she spent her early years in Kaduna and Maiduguri, she has built her career over three decades in development, environment, and humanitarian policy.
- President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Amina Mohammed as the Minister of Environment in November 2015, a position she resigned from on February 24, 2017, to take up her role as the United Nations Number Two.
- She was a Special Adviser to former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. This process produced the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, one of the most ambitious international frameworks in history.
- She has co-chaired the UN Sustainable Development Group, coordinating the work of the UN system’s more than 40 agencies, funds, and programmes.
Amina Mohammed is now based in New York, USA. She has been instrumental in global climate finance reform and in championing Africa’s position in negotiations over debt restructuring and the green transition.
In today’s world, the daughter of a Nigerian veterinarian of Fulani origin and a British mother who worked as a nurse is among the most powerful voices in international affairs.
