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Artificial Intelligence

Women and AI: Who Gets to Lead the Businesses of the Future?

Women and AI: Who Gets to Lead the Businesses of the Future?

By Blossom Ukoha Artificial intelligence is creating some of the fastest-growing and highest-paying opportunities in the global economy. But as the technology accelerates, another question is becoming harder to ignore: who is actually getting the opportunity to build, lead and profit from it? The answer, according to new LinkedIn data, is still disproportionately men. In the United States, women accounted for just 26 per cent of new hires into AI roles in 2025, compared with 50 per cent of hires into non-AI occupations. Across 27 countries, women held only 13 per cent of C-suite AI leadership positions at AI companies. Meanwhile, AI job postings have roughly doubled since 2023, with a typical listed salary of about $177,000, compared with $80,000 for non-AI roles. That means the issue is no longer simply whether women have access to technology. It is whether women will have a meaningful share of the economic power being…

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Governance & Policy

South-South Cooperation: Why Women Must Be at the Centre of the Global South’s Next Power Shift

South-South Cooperation: Why Women Must Be at the Centre of the Global South’s Next Power Shift

By Blossom Ukoha The Global South is gaining economic weight. But who gets to shape the power that comes with it? In 2026, only 28 countries have a woman serving as Head of State or Government. Women hold just 22.4 per cent of cabinet positions and approximately 27.5 per cent of parliamentary seats worldwide, according to the latest data from UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The figures arrive at a consequential moment for the Global South. Countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean are becoming increasingly connected through new trade relationships, investment partnerships, technology exchanges and development initiatives. South-South cooperation is no longer a secondary feature of global development; it is becoming an important part of how emerging economies build collective economic strength. The scale is already significant. According to the United Nations, South-South trade reached US$6.8 trillion in 2025, while more than half of developing countries’ exports went to other…

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UN Day

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer: Why the Green Cooling Revolution Needs More Women

The Women Behind a Cooler World: Why the Green Cooling Revolution Needs More Women

By Blossom Ukoha A cooler world is not simply about turning on an air conditioner. Behind every refrigerator preserving food, every hospital storing vaccines, every cold room protecting agricultural produce and every building made safer during extreme heat is a rapidly evolving global industry — one that needs more women. As the world marks the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer on 16 September 2026, the focus is increasingly shifting from protecting the ozone layer to building a sustainable cooling economy. The 2026 theme, “Global action for a cooler planet,” marks ten years of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and its drive to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), powerful greenhouse gases used in cooling. For women, this transition represents more than an environmental agenda. It is an opportunity to participate in one of the world’s essential and expanding sectors, as engineers, technicians, entrepreneurs, researchers, policymakers and business leaders. A…

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UN Day

International Day of Democracy: When Women Have a Voice, Democracy Works Better

International Day of Democracy: When Women Have a Voice, Democracy Works Better

By Blossom Ukoha Every year on 15 September, the world marks the International Day of Democracy, a day dedicated to one of the fundamental principles of modern governance: the right of people to participate in shaping the decisions that govern their lives. But democracy is more than elections, political parties and casting ballots. At its heart, it is about participation, representation, human rights, accountability and the ability of citizens to have a meaningful voice in public affairs. If half of the world’s population remains significantly underrepresented in positions where decisions are made, one question remains: Can democracy truly deliver for everyone when women are not equally represented? The United Nations established the International Day of Democracy through General Assembly Resolution A/RES/62/7, adopted by consensus on 8 November 2007, with the first observance taking place in 2008. The date also coincides with the anniversary of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Universal Declaration on…

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Amazons on Boards

Chantal Umutoni Kagame: The Woman Who Turned Phones Into Bank Accounts for Millions

Chantal Umutoni Kagame: The Woman Who Turned Phones Into Bank Accounts for Millions

By Blossom Ukoha For millions of people, a mobile phone is simply a device for communication. In Rwanda, under the leadership of Chantal Umutoni Kagame, it has become something much more powerful: a gateway to financial opportunity. As Chief Executive Officer of Mobile Money Rwanda Limited (MTN MoMo Rwanda), Chantal sits at the centre of one of Rwanda’s most significant digital transformation stories. Her work has helped expand mobile financial services beyond simple money transfers, creating an ecosystem through which people can send and receive money, pay merchants, save, access micro-loans and participate more fully in the formal economy. But Chantal’s journey to the helm of Rwanda’s fintech revolution did not happen overnight. It was built over more than two decades of experience across the country’s telecommunications industry. A Career Built Across Rwanda’s Telecom Industry Chantal holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, specialising in Finance, from the Kigali Institute of…

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Amazonpreneur

Meet the Inventors Behind Wearables Designed Just for Women’s Bodies

Meet the Inventors Behind Wearables Designed Just for Women’s Bodies

By Blossom Ukoha For years, women have worn smartwatches that could count their steps, measure their heart rates and analyse their sleep, yet offered remarkably little insight into some of the most important changes happening inside their bodies. Imagine waking in the middle of the night with an unexplained hot flash, struggling with an irregular menstrual cycle or wondering whether an unusual symptom is simply hormonal. You reach for your wearable, expecting technology to have an answer. Instead, there is often very little data to explain what your body is doing. That gap is what a new generation of women innovators is determined to close. From hormone-sensing wristbands and smart menstrual cups to postpartum blood-loss monitors and culturally inspired waist wearables, these founders are creating technology around women’s bodies rather than adapting women’s bodies to technology originally designed with men in mind. Their stories are as remarkable as the products…

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Governance & Policy

Campaigning as a Woman: The Costs Nobody Talks About

Campaigning as a Woman: The Costs Nobody Talks About

“Women themselves have not even understood that [violence] is not the cost of participating in politics.”— Sandra Pepera, National Democratic Institute Running for office is expensive for everyone. But for women, the true price is often higher, more layered and largely invisible in official campaign accounts. Beyond nomination fees, posters, rallies and campaign staff, women may face additional costs related to security, transport, childcare, lost income, online abuse, sexual harassment, threats against family members and the constant pressure to prove that political ambition does not make them selfish or neglectful. That is why Sandra Pepera’s observation is so powerful. Violence, intimidation and harassment are too often treated as unavoidable “costs of politics,” rather than barriers that disproportionately push women out of public life. For many female candidates, campaigning demands not only money but also safety, time, emotional resilience, family support and a willingness to endure intense public scrutiny. These hidden…

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