In a case of David against Goliath, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim beat her male opponent by a landslide to become the first female president of Mauritius, a small island off the coast of Africa that has a population of just over 1.2 million. No one expected her to win.
Gurib-Fakim, who joined the presidential office on June 5, relishes shuttering glass ceilings. In Africa, there aren’t many women at the helm of countries.
“When the people voted, they voted for a package, they knew that they would have a lady president and yet they voted massively for a party that has not made any provision for constitutional change,” says Gurib-Fakim.
Born into a Muslim Indian family, Gurib-Fakim, 56, is also a former bio-scientist and the Vice Chairman of the Planet Earth Institute, an international NGO and charity that builds a path for the scientific independence of Africa.
Gurib-Fakim published more than 28 scientific books that have been devoured around the world by students and researchers. She graduated with a bachelor of science in chemistry from the University of Surrey in 1983. She then obtained her PhD in organic chemistry at Exeter University in Britain.
“I became interested in sciences at a very young age because I had good motivated teachers who infected me with the virus of science. I went into sciences following my heart because passion was there.”
Back at home, she worked at the University of Mauritius before becoming the Managing Director at CEPHYR, a centre for phytotherapy research that focuses on using plants in cosmetics, nutrition and therapy.
“When I went back to Mauritius, I realized that the work I was doing in synthetic chemistry, the infrastructure wasn’t there and yet in the academic world you either publish or perish. I chose to publish. To publish novel things you have to have novel avenues,” she says.
This is when she started to probe into the biodiversity of Mauritius. The Indian Ocean island nation is known as a global biodiversity hotspot – it is home to about 300 plant species that can only be found on the island, which are under threat as a result of human activity and climate change.
Gurib-Fakim says she wants to drive science and technology in Africa.
“We believe a scientifically independent Africa is one with science, technology and innovation fully embedded in governmental policies and priorities, delivered by properly resourced and empowered educational institutions. A scientifically independent Africa will have both the ability to train and keep brilliant scientists on the continent, and create an inspiring new generation of academic leaders. Ultimately, we believe scientific independence means that African problems can be solved by African-led solutions,” it says on the Planet Earth Institute website.
Gurib-Fakim is also an entrepreneur.
“I didn’t stay in the academic world because my second life was that of an entrepreneur. I translated that research work on herbal medicine into a business so I can safely say I am now living my third life.”
In Mauritius many girls couldn’t go to school. After 1976, this changed and yet transformation is still the biggest problem.
“Coming back to tertiary education this is again an area where we find many women coming to do studies at tertiary level but still find the gap and where we find the downside of this, is for them to get jobs, for them to be leaders in their respective fields because society in Mauritius remains fairly conservative,” she says.
According to Gurib-Fakim, science is still dominated by males in many parts of the world.
As African countries aspire for economic growth and socio-economic transformation, Gurib-Fakim says: “It is becoming clear that any innovation or ambition to become a knowledge economy has to be driven by talented African scientists and with the knowledge that innovation is not instructed!”
She has a strong passion for protecting nature, fostering research and creating a better environment for women scientists.
This year Gurib-Fakim is nominated for FORBES AFRICA’s Person of The Year in recognition of her drive to protect her nation’s environment. She was listed by FORBES in June as being the 96th most powerful woman in 2016.
Her motto is: “Follow your heart, do what you enjoy best and you won’t have to work a day in your life.”

Step Forward The President With A Purpose

A continent with a billion-plus population, Africa has only two female billionaires on its rich lists, and has had only two female heads of state – Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and former Malawi president Joyce Banda – if you don’t count Catherine Samba-Panza, interim president of the Central African Republic.
In June 2015, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim was named the first female president of Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa – and became the continent’s third female head of state.
Unlike the others, Gurib-Fakim’s accomplishments are not in politics, but in science – she has had a stellar international career as a biodiversity scientist.
FORBES WOMAN AFRICA caught up with her in Dakar, Senegal, on the sidelines of the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s conference on intellectual property for an emerging Africa.
With a number of frontline issues jostling for the attention of policymakers and the public purse, intellectual property is fighting to become a mainstream issue on the African agenda.
Gurib-Fakim has set her eyes on changing this picture and advocating science and technology as a priority for Africa’s development.
“We find that many African countries are still not amongst the first 20 to have registered patents, there is still lots to do and I think the challenge is to get to grips with the numbers around intellectual property because this is what is going to be a game-changer for the continent,” begins the president.
Gurib-Fakim believes African governments have it all wrong when it comes to identifying the true resources of their economies.
“Natural resources are a finite commodity. Africa has got the biggest resource, which we undervalue, and that is the youth…natural resources in the short term are going to be a quick fix and an earner but in the medium-to-long term, we have to focus on another wealth which we have not valued and that is the youth, this is where the future is for Africa.”
But she also concedes the leadership of African governments needs to pay more than just lip service and show commitment by funding youth-related innovation initiatives. The strength and credibility of African institutions are not far down her “to-change” list.
“Africa needs strong institutions and not strong men, and this is again something that we have to invest in: the credibility of our institutions. But the credibility of our institutions will come with the credibility of our people,” she attests.
For some of the long-serving Big Men in Africa, this may come as a direct challenge. But Gurib-Fakim is clear that investing in the continent’s people will yield the best returns. She is particular that this starts with education.
“In Africa, [the] talk of the demographic dividend and a time bomb; I think they are two sides of the same coin. Eleven million graduates are going to land on the job market every year on the continent. Now, I don’t think any government is able to absorb all this youth,” says Gurib-Fakim.
So, what is the alternative?
“The alternative would be to have economies vested in technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. I think we will have a new kind of layer of professionals that would emerge to build the Africa we want.”

Tag: Ameenah Gurib-Fakim

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Step Forward The President With A Purpose

‘Build The Africa We Want’