…As she clinches Global Heroes Women Executives Role Model List 2022

The global Heroes Women Role Model Lists, supported by Yahoo! Finance showcase leaders who are championing women in business and driving change for gender diversity and Efe Ukala was one of the three African women on the list of 100 women executives. The Heroes Women lists compiled by diversity and inclusion organisation, INvolve, featured other notable women such as Francesca McDonagh, CEO, Bank of Ireland; Shimna Sameer, Head of Preferred Lending, Bank of America; Rachel Asonibare, Chief Information Officer, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria & West Africa among many others.

Efe was recognized based on the positive impact she’s had on thousands of women globally. Efe is the founder of ImpactHER, an impact driven non-profit organisation that has directly supported over 50,000 women (at no cost to them) across 53 African countries. Her organization was recently awarded at the African Union Forum in Egypt as the best women support organisation in Africa. ImpactHER empowers African female entrepreneurs by bridging the gender business financing gap to help African female entrepreneurs realize their full economic potential.

Speaking about this recognition, Ms Ukala says “I am deeply honored to be amongst highly respectable and exceptional women listed on the 2022 global Heroes Women Executives role model list by Yahoo! Finance and INvolve. Your kind acknowledgement reminds me there is a lot more work to be done. It is vital that we continue to break barriers, both institutional and structural, that impede women’s growth in the business sector which would trickle down to making the world a better place. It is to our collective benefit for the human race to do so. This recognition renews my vigor and commitment to doing my best to ensure that women in Africa and all around the world have access to opportunities that would improve their lives, the lives of their children, family as well as their businesses. Thank you, Yahoo! Finance and the INvolve team for this recognition and honor”.

Founder & CEO of INvolve, Suki Sandhu OBE, says, “I’m so thrilled to be celebrating this global group of trailblazing Executives, Future Leaders and Advocates for women in business. All the individuals within these lists are championing inclusion and, most importantly, leveraging their expertise and knowledge to drive inclusion initiatives and strategic change within their organizations. It’s vital that all women within our global businesses can succeed and achieve authentically, and these Role Models are essential drivers of change and are smashing barriers to progress to create organizations where women can thrive.

This year, an independent panel of judges included Lianna Brinded, Head of Yahoo! Finance UK; Harriet Green, General Manager, Watson IoT, Customer Engagement and Education; Mellody Hobson, President of Ariel Investments and many others. They selected the honorees based on their business achievements and impact on gender diversity and inclusion inside and outside of the workplace.

Under Efe’s leadership, ImpactHER has supported women in Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone countries and enabled them to build best-in-class businesses and provide them access to funding and institutional investors. She remains a practicing investment lawyer at a top Wall Street Bank in New York.