Leaders of large companies, athletes, prominent artists, scientists or politicians: who are the 100 african personalities essential in this year 2020? Jeune Afrique unveils the second quarter of its list (from 26th to 50th place).

In this segment of the ranking, there are some big names whose news in 2020 was a little less rich than it had been in 2019. This is particularly the case of Dr. Denis Mukwege: Nobel Peace Prize at the end of 2018, the Congolese doctor occupied the first place in our ranking last year and could, logically, only decline in 2020.

Conversely, new faces immediately rank in honorable places. This is particularly the case of Antoinette Sayeh, recently propelled to the position of number 2 of the IMF; John Nkengasong, the head of Africa CDC, which is leading the African Union's response to Covid-19; but also the first Miss Black Universe, the South African Zozibini Tunsi...

50 – Masai Ujiri (Nigeria)

Masai Ujiri, Toronto, 2013 © Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images

The 50-year-old Nigerian leads the Toronto Raptors, which won the first NBA title in its history in 2019. Founder of the Giants of Africa training program, aimed at Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Rwanda, the manager continues to promote African talent.

A policy that he applies to his own club, where the Hispano-Congolese Serge Ibaka and the Cameroonian Pascal Siakam play. Masai Ujiri is also very involved in the fight against racism and for the representation of blacks in the world of basketball. He does not hesitate to point to the lack of diversity in high-level positions within the NBA.

49 – Baba Ahmadou Danpullo (Cameroon)

From agriculture to telecommunications, livestock, real estate and finance, the largest fortune in French-speaking Africa ($920 million in 2019, according to Forbes) is now at the head of an empire that continues to expand its tentacles.

Its new field of action: mobile finance. In June, local media announced the creation of the company Best Pay. This start-up with a capital of 500 million CFA francs (762,000 euros) intends to provide electronic payment services.

While he is in conflict with his Vietnamese partners for control of Nexttel, the third mobile operator in Cameroon, the businessman has breached his usual discretion. In an attempt to tilt the arbitration initiated by the Cameroonian authorities in his favour, Baba Danpullo did not hesitate to plead his case in the media. In the meantime, the crisis that is shaking Nexttel is reverberating inside the company, where repeated strikes disrupt its proper functioning.

48 – Patrice Motsepe (South Africa)

Billionaire Patrice Motsepe in the United States, in 2015. © © Prensa Internacional/ZUMA/REA

The first black partner in a South African law firm, the country's first black billionaire, brother-in-law of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Patrice Motsepe made his fortune in the mining sector. Born in Soweto in 1962, he completed part of his studies in the United States, before returning to his country and becoming an an activist in the ANC.

Very sensitive to the plight of the black populations of South Africa, he is committed to them and makes many donations, either directly or through the Motsepe Foundation, which is particularly active in the fields of health and education.

In January 2020, it's the misstep. At a dinner at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he told U.S. President Donald Trump: "Africa loves America. Africa loves you. Quickly relayed on social networks, the statement earned Patrice Motsepe a flood of insults and attacks.

The billionaire quickly rectified the situation, explaining that his goal was simply to encourage dialogue between the US administration and African entrepreneurs, before acknowledging that he did not have to speak on behalf of anyone. Despite these excuses, the little phrase continues to stick to his skin.

47 – Dambisa Moyo (Zambia)

Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo in Madrid, 2011. © CHEMA MOYA/EPA/MAXPPP

Her notoriety and global influence, the 51-year-old Zambian, born in Lusaka and a graduate of Oxford and Harvard, built them in a few shocking books. In Dead Aid, published in 2009, she argues that development aid only increases poverty in the countries that receive it. The book is a bestseller and immediately makes Dambisa Moyo a voice that counts, the American weekly Time integrating her into its ranking of the 100 most influential women on the planet.

This was followed by How the West Was Lost, in 2011, about the decline of western powers, and winner Take All, in 2012, in which she analyzed China's growing appetite for the natural resources of the rest of the world and the increasingly central place that Beijing would occupy.

Now unavoidable, the economist, who now lives in London, is solicited on all major subjects, and, naturally, she has been called upon to speak on the economic crisis born of Covid-19. She argues for a "Marshall Plan for Africa" and predicts that in the post-pandemic world states will regain a more important role.

46 – Mark Bristow (South Africa)

A pioneer in the exploitation of the yellow metal in West Africa with Randgold, which he founded in 1995, the bubbling South African Mark Bristow is now at the head of the world's number two in the gold sector, Barrick, with whom he merged his first company in January 2019.

Since this operation, he has been operating mines on all continents, and not only in Africa, but keeping the model that made Randgold successful: a general management reduced to its bare minimum, focused on operational performance and able to detect world-class opportunities, that is, each capable of producing more than 500,000 ounces per year.

Constantly on the ground, known for his outspokenness towards governments on governance and regulatory issues, Mark Bristow has brought to light in West Africa and CONGO a generation of competent local executives who are now at the helm of Barrick's African sites.

45 – Fally Ipupa (DR Congo)

Fally Ipupa, Congolese © singer Francois Grivelet for JA

Pointed out for his proximity – which he disputes – with former President Joseph Kabila and his successor, Felix Tshisekedi, "the eagle of Congo" almost saw his concert at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris canceled at the end of February, under pressure from radical Congolese opponents. After the success of his performance, the singer announced the release of the title Allô téléphone, from his next album Tokoss 2.

Broadcast in June on all streaming platforms, the song has counted one million views forty-eight hours after its release. Renowned for his dance steps and mastery of Congolese rumba, Fally Ipupa is also known for his commitment to victims of sexual violence in his native country.

He has been involved in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic by distributing nearly 2,500 masks through the Fally Ipupa Foundation and offering a check for 20,000 euros to the managers of the Panzi Hospital, in Kinshasa. These funds represent 10% of the fee obtained by the artist to perform in Paris.

44 – A'Salfo/Salif Traoré (Ivory Coast)

Salif Traore, alias A'Salfo, in concert in Abidjan, August 2017 © Sia KAMBOU/AFP

This is perhaps the most difficult decision he has had to make since he created the Anoumabo Urban Music Festival (Femua), in Abidjan. In March, Salif Traoré, known as A'Salfo, had to cancel the 13th edition of the festival, which was to welcome Youssou Ndour, Koffi Olomidé and Vegedream.

"We didn't want to set up a source of contamination," he explains. The 41-year-old artist and businessman has given himself until September to decide whether to postpone the festival until the end of the year. While waiting to see more clearly, he must take another blow with the cancellation of the international tour of his group Magic System.

These setbacks have nevertheless allowed Salif Traoré to pose once again as a responsible businessman, who places health above the financial stakes. And the confinement does not prevent the strategist from showing his support for different political figures (ambassadors, prefect of Abidjan, first lady ...) without choosing sides, except that of the Ivorians, as always.

43 – Alioune Ndiaye (Senegal)

Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Africa, in Paris, in 2018 © François Grivelet for JA

In January, Senegalese Alioune Ndiaye proudly inaugurated Orange's new Africa headquarters (which he has managed since 2018) in Casablanca. long at the head of the Senegalese subsidiary of the Sonatel group, to achieve the financial objectives set by its CEO, Stéphane Richard.

By 2025, Orange aims to achieve 20% of its turnover in Africa. To achieve this, Alioune Ndiaye will launch Orange Bank in Côte d'Ivoire at the end of the year, before targeting other WAEMU countries. Above all, it will try to obtain a license in Ethiopia, a country of more than 100 million inhabitants – which has decided to open the telecom sector to competition – and to enter another major market: South Africa, Nigeria or, why not, Algeria.

These projects could be financed through the IPO of the holding company, which brings together all the operator's African operations.

42 – Mahmoud Dicko (Mali)

Imam Mahmoud Dicko on Independence Square, Bamako, June 5, 2020. © MICHELE CATTANI/AFP

Can an imam one day become president of Mali? The question is not incongruous when we see the demonstrations of force of which Mahmoud Dicko is capable. On June 5, his appeal gathered a huge crowd in Bamako. The credo of the demonstrators: Ibrahima Boubacar Keïta (IBK) must resign.

At the podium, the religious leader attacks head-on the president of Mali, whom he had supported in 2013. "This time, IBK will regret it, and his exit from the country will be violent," he warns.

Born in 1954 in Tonka, in the Timbuktu region, a champion of Wahhabi Islam, this father of ten children trained in Mauritania and Saudi Arabia. In April 2020, he left the presidency of the High Islamic Council of Mali (HCIM), continued to preach in his mosque in Badalabougou, on the south bank of Bamako, and responded to numerous requests.

At his home, personalities come to plead their case and, despite their differences, President IBK has often consulted him. But the current political crisis has confirmed the imam's role as an opponent.

Having become one of the leaders of the June 5 Movement-Rally of Patriotic Forces (M5-RFP), he calls for calm while his supporters, fearing his arrest, have transformed the neighborhood surrounding his mosque into an entrenched camp.

41 – Black Coffee (South Africa)

On his Facebook page (followed by nearly 2.2 million fans), the South African house icon is enraged not to mix this summer in Ibiza, as he usually does. And promises "the storm" for 2021!

The 44-year-old musician has not sat idly by in recent months, despite the lockdown. In particular, he has performed concerts from his home to raise funds to help the poorest South Africans. His "Home Brewed" campaign raised more than $31,000.

DJ, but also singer, producer and owner of the label Soulistic Music, Nkosinathi Innocent Maphumulo, his real name, has established himself as much as an artist as as a businessman. According to Forbes magazine, his fortune amounts to $60 million, making him the second richest musician in Africa, behind Akon.

40 – Denis Mukwege (DR Congo)

Dr. Denis Mukwege in Paris, in 2016 © Bruno Levy for JA

Denis Mukwege is an uncompromising man. As early as March, the doctor, Nobel Peace Prize 2018, is engaged in the fight against the coronavirus within an ad hoc committee in his province of South Kivu (eastern DR Congo). He then recommends the implementation of a strategy: test, identify, isolate, treat. Three months later, denouncing the lack of resources and the "denial of the realities" of the epidemic in his country, he slammed the door of the committee, condemning the "organizational weaknesses of the response".

Denis Mukwege is not his first cold anger. The 65-year-old gynecologist has even made it his trademark. Medicine is its mission, not diplomacy. Relentlessly denouncing the impunity of rape as a weapon of war, not mincing his words in the face of states, according to him "accomplices", Denis Mukwege is both respected and feared.

Placed under protection since he was the subject of an assassination attempt in 2012, the Pentecostal pastor is gradually carving out an old sage's stature, his voice posed but the verb high.

39 – Matshidiso Moeti (Botswana-South Africa)

Dr Matshidiso Moeti is the first woman to hold the position of Regional Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Africa, headquartered in Brazzaville. Appointed in February 2015, she was reappointed in early 2020. In this position, the Botswanan had to deal with the ebola and cholera epidemics before facing Covid-19.

Working for WHO's Africa Department for nearly two years, Matshidiso Moeti spearheaded the African Heads of State initiative, launched in February 2019, to increase investment in health to achieve universal health coverage across the continent.

38 – Akinwumi Adesina (Nigeria)

Akinwumi Adesina in Paris, in 2015 © Vincent Fournier/JA

A year ago, Akinwumi Adesina imagined himself re-elected by acclamation as President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), a position he has held since September 2015. In October 2019, after intense negotiations with the institution's non-African shareholders, led by the United States, he obtained the doubling, to $208 billion, of the AfDB's authorized capital.

weary! An internal revolt ruined the Nigerian leader's idyllic scenario. At the beginning of January, whistleblowers sent the institution's ethics committee a long list of grievances – reached by Jeune Afrique – against the governance, management and various funding approved under his presidency.

Real scandal or schemer maneuver? Opinions remain divided, despite a report by the ethics committee summarily rejecting the employees' allegations in May. An audit of this report has since been entrusted to former Irish President Mary Robinson. Its findings will be closely scrutinized before the election scheduled for the end of August.

37 – Angélique Kidjo (Benin)

Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo © Patrick Fouque

Undisputed star of African music for three decades, Angélique Kidjo won at the beginning of the year her fifth Grammy Award, against a Burna Boy given largely favorite. Born in an environment conducive to creativity, from a choreographer mother and a photographer father, the Beninese singer combines African and Western music.

The woman who inspires the continent's younger generation of artists is also known for her activism. Through the Batonga Foundation, which she created in 2006 in Benin, she is committed to the autonomy and education of adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa.

Also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2002, at just 60 years old, she is involved in the fight against the coronavirus. She has just taken over the title Pata Pata, by south African Miriam Makeba, on behalf of the UN organization, adapting the lyrics to raise awareness of barrier gestures.

36 – Ade Ayeyemi (Nigeria)

If he hoped for a calmer year, it failed. The man who has been battling shareholders and unions since he started at the helm of Ecobank in 2015 – due to dividends still being pushed back and a continuous decline in membership – is now facing yet another challenge. And not least: the economic impact of Covid-19.

The cost-killer, as he is nicknamed, decided at the end of March: "The year promises to be exceptionally troubled." From his office in Lomé, the Nigerian pilots an ocean liner that has 15,000 employees and manages no less than 23 million customers in 35 African countries. A daunting task, especially in times of physical distancing and sluggish growth.

But the banker, who has made his classes within Citigroup, tries to remain optimistic. "The crisis allows us to think about the economy after," he said. If we make the right decisions, we can come out stronger."

35 – Koos Bekker (South Africa)

Born in Potchefstroom in 1952, Koos Bekker is at the head of a fortune estimated at $ 2.3 billion. After starting his career in advertising, he founded with some young colleagues M-Net, one of the first two pay-TV services in South Africa.

In 1997, he became the CEO of the Naspers media group and set up a very special remuneration system: he received no salary, bonuses or benefits, receiving only stock options. In fifteen years, Naspers' market capitalization has grown from about $1.2 billion to... $45 billion.

34 – Abdul Samad Rabiu (Nigeria)

He is a rival of Aliko Dangote, an unstoppable figure at the top of the rankings, who makes his debut in this year's list. Abdul Samad Rabiu, 59, also from Kano, is the eighth fortune in Africa, according to Forbes magazine.

After starting his career as an entrepreneur in the import of rice, sugar and other raw materials, the boss of BUA Group now defends the production capacities of the country where he was born.

At the head of an empire that stretches from cement to agribusiness, real estate and port logistics, the so-called close friend of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo now says, "There is no reason for Nigeria to import its food."

33 – John Nkengasong (Cameroon)

John Nkengasong, Director of the African Centres for Disease Prevention and Control at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa in March 2020. African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa © REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

John Nkengasong was the first member of his family to pursue higher education. Now in his sixties, he is leading the health response to the Covid-19 pandemic on a continental scale.

From Addis Ababa, where he heads the African Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (Africa CDC), an african Union body created only three years ago, he advises governments and populations. It also coordinates the delivery of screening tests and personal protective equipment.

A virologist by training, this HIV specialist spent twenty years with the US CDC, based in Abidjan and then in Atlanta, where he acquired a detailed knowledge of public health issues.

Calm and pedagogue, he nevertheless protested against the lack of resources allocated to the prevention of diseases. He is currently fighting to generalize the wearing of masks and is sparing no effort for Africa to take part in the creation of an effective vaccine against the coronavirus.

32 – Winnie Byanyima (Uganda)

Winnie Byanyima in New York, 2018. © REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

A long-time commitment to women's rights, the Ugandan has been the first woman to lead UNAIDS since 2019. Its first mission is to restore the accounts and credibility of the organization, pinned for its mismanagement.

Winnie Byanyima was born in 1959 in Mbarara. His father was then involved in politics, while his mother, a teacher, was a human rights activist. Graduated as an aeronautical engineer in the United Kingdom, she joined the armed rebellion that brought Yoweri Museveni to power in Uganda, then built a brilliant international career: African Union, UNDP and Oxfam.

Familiar with the Davos Economic Forum, this feminist carries the voice of the most vulnerable and openly attacks the richest about global inequalities.

31 – Antoinette Sayeh (Liberia)

Antoinette Sayeh, Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, October 2019, in Washington. © Simone D. McCourtie/The World Bank Group

Number two in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since March 16, the Liberian knows the institution perfectly. Before being appointed Deputy Managing Director to assist Bulgaria's Kristalina Georgieva, she spent eight years as head of the IMF's Africa Department from 2008 to 2016, managing several thorny issues: coordinating zero-rate financing for the countries most affected by the epidemic. Ebola haemorrhagic fever in 2015, suspension of aid to Mozambique in 2016 after the hidden debt scandal, etc.

She holds a bachelor's degree in economics and a doctorate in international economic relations and also served with the World Bank for seventeen years.

Liberia's Minister of Finance from 2006 to 2008, she can boast of having managed to clear her country's debts to the IMF. An asset in the perspective of an extension of the moratorium on debt with certain African countries?

30 – Zozibini Tunzi (South Africa)

South African Zozibini Tunzi, elected Miss Universe in December 2019 in Atlanta, USA © REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

With her short, frizzy hair and ebony skin, South Africa's Zozibini Tunzi made history at the age of 26 by becoming one of five black women crowned in major beauty pageants.

Even more, she is the first of them to wear her natural hair. On the night of her election, in a speech committed to the cause of women, the Miss Universe 2019 said she wanted to do everything to encourage young girls to gain confidence in themselves. She also expressed a desire to see beauty standards evolve.

Since her coronation, the young woman, who is the first black South African to win the election, has been strongly committed to the fight for the rights of women and minorities.

29 – Mossadeck Bally (Mali)

"Dare!" This is the appeal that influential Malian businessman Mossadeck Bally likes to make to young Africans. The boss of the Azalaï chain did not lack audacity in 1993 when, to live his own entrepreneurial adventure, he left the family business.

Twenty-seven years later, and despite a great success – he is at the head of a 100% African hotel group that now has ten luxury establishments in West Africa – Mossadeck Bally, 58, does not intend to stop there. While its establishments are mainly located in French-speaking countries, it intends to pursue its African dream by investing in Nigeria, Ghana or in Central African countries, such as Cameroon and Rwanda.

28 – Siya Kolisi (South Africa)

Rugby player Siya Kolisi after South Africa beat England in the Rugby World Cup final in Yokohama in November 2019. © REUTERS/Edgar Su

The first black captain of the South African rugby team, Siya Kolisi lifted the William Webb Ellis Trophy on 2 November 2019, following the World Cup final against England.

Raised by his grandmother in a township of Zwide, near Port Elisabeth, he developed a passion for rugby at an early age. In 2004, at the age of 12, he obtained a scholarship to join Grey High School, where sport and studies are honored in a privileged environment.

His exceptional physical abilities and sense of the game made him know his first selection with the Springboks in June 2013. His promotion to captain in 2018 was a strong symbol in a country marked by apartheid, where rugby remains the prerogative of the white minority.

27 – Aziz Akhannouch (Morocco)

Many already see him as the kingdom's next head of government. The National Rally of Independents (RNI), a party he has chaired since 2016, is positioning itself as the main challenger of the PJD for the 2021 legislative elections and already occupies several strategic departments within the government: finance, industry, trade, tourism...

Himself Minister of Agriculture for thirteen years, he was at the origin of the initiative for the Adaptation of African Agriculture (AAA), launched ahead of COP22, organized in Morocco. Involving 33 countries, this program offers it a continental influence.

Heir to one of the largest conglomerates in the kingdom, Akwa Group, and founder with his wife of one of the leaders in distribution, Aksal, he can also count on his weight and his relays in the business world to support his political career.

Finally, his closeness to Mohammed VI – who did him the honor of inviting himself to his table with his family – gives him an aura that transcends political and economic circles.

26 – Wizkid (Nigeria)

The Nigerian pop-star has been very productive in recent months: singles in a mess (Ghetto Love, Joro...), a mixtape offered as a free download (Soundman vol. 1), featurings (Dis Love, for DJ Spinall, with Tiwa Savage, etc.), concerts abroad, including his first show in Paris, at the end of 2019.

His many activities did not prevent the young man from watching over the careers of other artists through his label StarBoy Entertainment. Juicy advertising deals with multinationals – such as Pepsi, of which he has been the ambassador to Africa since 2012 – have also allowed him to become the fourth richest musician on the continent, with an estimated fortune of $20 million.

Wizkid may have been extremely prolific lately, but he has delighted his fans even more by releasing his fourth album on July 16, the day of his 30th birthday. Announced for more than a year, Made in Lagos gives pride of place to guests since it includes some big names, including Burna Boy, Skepta or Damian Marley.