Wanuri, Adut Akech, Bobi Wine among most influential Africans: TIME100Next

Wanuri Kahiu (Kenya), Bobi Wine (Uganda), Adut Akech (South Sudan) and Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi (Nigeria) are among the seven Africans on TIME100Next.

Wanuri made history as the first from Kenya to premiere a film, Rafiki, at the Cannes Film Festival last year.

“I’m on the first TIME100Next list! So proud! So happy! So pleased to represent Kenya,” she said.

Her film Rafiki is a romance story about two young women, Kena and Ziki, who fall in love amidst family and political pressures around LGBT rights in Kenya.

It was banned in April last year, after the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) on grounds that it promotes lesbianism.

Wanuri moved to court and in June this year, it was ruled that the film be played in court as exhibit; the case is ongoing.

ADUT AKECH

Adut Akech is one of the world’s most sought-after young models.

CNN reports that she was a former child refugee who spent the first eight years of her life in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya before migrating to Australia.

Two years ago, just after graduating from high school in Adelaide, she made her runway debut, walking as an exclusive in the Saint Laurent Spring-Summer 2017 show.

Since then, she’s walked for the likes of Christian Dior, Burberry, Alexander McQueen and Prada, and this past July became only the second black model to close the Chanel haute couture show.

BOBI WINE

Bobi Wine, the Ugandan singer-turned-politician who has been highly critical of the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is also in the TIME100Next list.

He said: “This is exceedingly humbling. Dedicating this recognition to the young people of Uganda, esp the ghetto youth. May this be a reminder & encouragement that you’re not what your detractors say you are. You are what you choose to be!”

OLUWASEUN AYODEJI OSOWOBI

https://twitter.com/AyodejiOsowobi/status/1193096442136735744?s=20

Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi founded the Stand to End Rape organization in Nigeria, one of very few organizations that offer help to women who have been sexually abused.

In March this year, she was also named 2019 Commonwealth Young Person of the year.

She is a survivor of sexual violence and set up Stand to End Rape in 2004 to offer support to women, men and young people with similar experiences.

Also on the list is Kwame Onwuachi, an American-Nigerian chef whose restaurant gained a lot of buzz and his memoir ‘Notes from a Young Black Chef’ is to be made into a film next year.

Others are Njideka Akunyili Crosby, a Nigerian-born visual artist living in the US and Joy Buolamwini, a Ghanaian-American computer scientist and activist based at the MIT Media Lab.

She founded the Algorithmic Justice League, an organization that highlights the social implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI)