Clutch Magazine released it’s list of 21 International Women of Power and Influence list, and featured 17 Africans. Interestingly, many were from the entertainment industry.

Miriam Makeba (South Africa)

Honored for being a woman who highlighted the plight of black South Africans. She won a Grammy for her record against apartheid and was consequently sent into exile by South Africa. She married Black Panthers’ leader, Stokely Carmichael in 1968 which resulted in her tours and records being cancelled. She has served as a Guinean delegate to the United Nations which won her the Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize in 1986.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)
Award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie earned a degree in communication and political science at Eastern Connecticut State University, and during her senior year she started working on her first novel, “Purple Hibiscus” a book that received wide critical acclaim,was shortlisted for the Orange Fiction Prize (2004) and was awarded the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book. Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, is set before and during the Biafran War and has also received critical acclaim.

Angelique Kidjo (Benin)
A UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2002 and founder of The Batonga Foundation, Angelique Kidjo has used her fame to make a difference for disadvantaged people around the world.

June Arunga (Kenya)
June Arunga is a journalist and law graduate. She wrote and presented the 2004 BBC documentary on Africa, The Devil’s Footpath and was the co-presenter with the former president of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings in 2005 BBC documentary Africa: Who is to Blame? She previously studied law at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and directed youth programs at the Inter-Region Economic Network- (IREN-Kenya). June is a Member of the Board of Advisors for Global Envision, a pro-market organization in the United States, and Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, a public policy non-profit.

Iman (Somalia)
Iman made history as the first black woman to appear on the cover of Vogue, and the first black model to sign a cosmetics contract. She is CEO of IMAN Cosmetics, Skincare & Fragrances,and a spokesperson for Keep a Child Alive, which provides drugs to HIV/AIDS children and families in Africa and India. Her passion to make a difference using her public platform has been powerful and effective.

Alek Wek (Sudan)
She has appeared in ads and walked the runway for high-profile fashion designers, launched a range of designer handbags, Wek 1933, and is a member of the U.S. Committee for Refugees’ Advisory Council. Last year, she released an autobiography, documenting her journey from a childhood of poverty in Sudan to the catwalks of Europe.

The other African women includeJudge Akua Kuenyehia (Ghana), Asha Rose-Migiro (Tanzania), The Women of Rwanda (Rwanda), Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Liberia), Luisa Diogo (Mozambique), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Nigeria), Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (South Africa), and Wangari Maathai (Kenya). To see the complete list, visit Clutch Magazine’s website. They are truly phenomenal women who make us proud to be African!