Growing up as a young girl, Asli Hassan Abade the first and only female pilot in the Somali air force, as well as the first female military pilot in Africa and in the Arab world, spent most of her childhood days watching airplanes take off and land at the Mogadishu airport. Asli was born on the first of January 1958, in Mogadishu, Somalia. She lived with her parents Hawa Aden and Hassan Abade and nine siblings in a house close to the Mogadishu airport. She grew up in a family with huge public service record most of which were high-positioned military officers, mostly before the civil war. With the unique dream of becoming a pilot, she was determined to pursue her passion until it became reality no matter what it might take. Apart from her little fantasies drawn from watching planes at the Mogadishu airport, the military influence in her…

Every woman is a rare gem, every woman is special, and every woman has something to offer to her society, it all depends on her (personal) determination and her belief. Does she see herself as incompetent, unqualified, impotent, and unfitted? Or does she considers herself as perfect, able, skilled, gifted, and available irrespective of background or circumstances that may be standing as a stumbling block? Ghulam Sughra Solangi, a light to the women community of Pakistan was born on March 2, 1970, in a little village called Muhammad Arab Solangi, somewhere in Pakistan. Although her father Muhib Ali was a teacher in a government school, Solangi did not have access to schooling based on the local traditional belief that bans females from seeking for education. She wanted to school, she held a strong attraction for education but she was bound by laws which she could not break free from. At…

Halimah Yacob became Singapore’s first female president on the 13th of September 2017. This makes her the 12th woman to serve as president in the Asian continent. Her Excellency has been in Singapore’s political scene for more than a decade with a good record of impartial service. Born on the 23rd of August 1954 to an Indian father and a Malaysian mother, she came from an average family. Following the death of her father when she was eight years old, she was raised by her mother. The president attended the all-girls Chinese school in Singapore and Tanjong Katong Girls’ School. She had her tertiary education in the National University of Singapore in 1978 where she gained an LLB (Hons) degree. It took Yacob some added years to gain an LLM degree at the National University of Singapore (2001), and six years later she was conferred an honorary Doctor of Law…

In as much as there are a lot of women out there who are capable of leading businesses and organizations as well as starting up their dream agencies like their male counterparts, they still face limitations that emanate from the aged long adversary called gender inequality. Records have been broken, times have changed, and women are very hungry, hungry to change circumstances, to become somebody, to be famous and to also impact their world. Many of the women in these categories have not been far from their dreams even in places like the diaspora where it might seem impossible.  Women in the diaspora have done and are still doing tremendous things in places that they do not refer to as their place of origin. That is why we take our time to document and celebrate the women in diaspora whom we sometimes call the women of color, their achievements, and…

Philanthropic activities in recent years have become widespread in South America.  Individuals and corporate bodies have now delved fully into activities that impact on the lives of those living below standard in their communities through many different means. Despite this new found interest in philanthropy, some might argue that the historical roots of giving and volunteering in Latin America remain the same. For this edition of Impact Inspire, we will be focusing the searchlight on the activities of Angelica Feuntes a Mexican business tycoon, who has devoted her time to championing the empowerment of women in South America. Angelica Feuntes grew up in a culture that offers women and girls one out of the three options:  to become a daughter, a wife or a mother. This ideology had been predominant in the region for a long time, but as sure as time and seasons, things began to change as…