Time magazine has released their annual list of 100 Most Influential People and there are six Africans on the 2018 list which is made up of citizens f
Time magazine has released their annual list of 100 Most Influential People and there are six Africans on the 2018 list which is made up of citizens from various countries of the world who have been outstanding in their work in the past year. Time magazine describes its 2018 “100 Most Influential” list not as a measure of power or past achievements, but an indication of individuals whose time is now. Appearing on the list is often seen as an honor, Time magazine makes it clear that entrants are recognized for changing the world, regardless of the consequences of their actions. Individuals or a group of people are exclusively chosen by TIME editors with nominations coming from the TIME 100 alumni and the magazine’s international writing staff.
Here are the six most influential Africans according to the 2018 TIME 100 list
Elon Musk
The world’s most famous inventor was born in South Africa, where he lived till the age of 17. He is an entrepreneur, innovator, inventor, activist and founder of PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla and OpenAI and is changing the world with his inventions. Some of the amazing things he’s done include:
Sending a car to space
Unveiled the world’s fastest electric production car. In 2017, Elon Musk introduced the Tesla Raodster which he called the fastest electric production car in the world. The base model will go from zero to 100kph in 1.9 seconds, making it the first to hit that mark in less than two seconds, and from zero to 160kph in 4.2 seconds, making it the fastest in that category as well, Musk said.
He plans a city on Mars. Over time, Mars will be transformed, Musk insists, making it really a nice place to be. He also plans to have rockets refuel in space for trips to the moon, so a lunar base will not need to store a supply of fuel.
Trevor Noah
Trevor Noah’s meteoric rise in the U.S. entertainment industry, from being an unknown South Africa’s stand-up comedian to host of ‘The Daily Show’ with a massive global following, certainly proves that his time is now. He just launched his own Trevor Noah Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to equip orphans and vulnerable young people with education, life skills, and social capital, to allow them to go further in life. He has his own biopic on the way: ‘Born A Crime’, the title he used for a stand-up comedy show and his autobiography. The film will be directed by South African-born director Liesl Tommy, and Lupita Nyong’o will star as his mother. It will bring to the big screen the story of his ‘illegal’ origins under apartheid as the son of a Swiss father and isiXhosa mum whose relationship was against the law as well as his life growing up as a “coloured” South African. Noah is a recipient of the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Award for Best Host, and also starred in Jay-Z’s documentary ‘Footnotes: The Story of OJ’, which was released with his latest album, ‘4:44’.
Emmerson Mnangagwa
The elation that greeted the end of Robert Mugabe’s 37-year reign naturally, transformed into hope for his successor. And in his first 100 days, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa spoke of re-engaging, forgiveness, democracy and unity. From being expelled to being sworn in as Zimbabwe’s president, Mnangagwa had one hell of a year in 2017. Taking his oath of office, the 75-year-old former security chief known as “The Crocodile” vowed to uphold the constitution of the former British colony, and protect the rights of all Zimbabwe’s 16-million citizens.
Nice Nailantei Leng’ete
21 years young, she has bravely broken taboos on female genital cutting, condoms, sexually transmitted diseases and other controversial health issues in her hometown of Kimana, Kenya. “Nice is an extraordinary example of young African girls standing up for themselves. After the loss of her parents, she could have given up and followed the norm, knowing that challenging attitudes in male-dominated communities can get you cast out. But instead, she fought to get an education so she could help change the sociocultural structures that continue to impede women’s lives and well-being,” says Dukureh, CEO and founder of Safe Hands for Girls.
Virgil Abloh
Virgil Abloh is an American fashion designer of Ghanaian descent who has been the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s men’s wear collection since March 2018. Artist Takashi Murakami, an Abloh collaborator who made a case for the designer, wrote, “Kids’ fervor for the stripe patterns and arrow marks he created for his fashion label, Off-White, is not a passing trend; rather, it shows how Virgil’s young followers, with their unclouded eyes, have been seeing right into the core of his creativity all along.”
Kehinde Wiley
Kehinde Wiley is a contemporary African-American painter known for his distinctive portraits. His subjects are often young black men and women, rendered in a Photo Realist style against densely pattered backgrounds. He was born in Los Angeles, California to a Nigerian Yoruba father and an African-American mother. Wiley identifies as gay. In October 2017, it was announced that Wiley had been chosen by Barack Obama to paint an official portrait of the former president to appear in Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. “Kehinde Wiley is a classically, formally trained artist who is transforming the way African Americans are seen going against the grain of what the world is accustomed to. Some consider him irreverent; I see an iconoclast. Some of his subjects come from hip-hop culture, but he’s not a hip-hop painter. To put it simply, he does dope sh-t,” says LL Cool J, an actor and Grammy-winning musician
