TOP TEN MOST INFLUENTIAL AFRICANS 2009

1. Obama – The current American president and the most powerful man in the world. His father is a Kenyan.



2. Mandela - Freedom fighter, imprisoned for 27 years and against all odds became the president of the most powerful African nation. HIS truth and reconciliation panel helped healed the rift in the South African nation.





3. Aliaune Thiam( Akon)- record producer and singer from Senegal who has had 23 Top 100 hit songs and has guest appeared 155 times on other artist records. He has two record companies Kon Muzik and Kon Live distribution, and makes the list due to the influence he has on today's youth.





4. Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma- President of South Africa, a freedom fighter who was accused of conspiring to overthrow the government in 1962, served time with Nelson Mandela and was Mbeki’s deputy until 2005 but fell out with the then president.




5. Tidjane Thiam – He becomes the first black CEO in the UK of a FTSE 100 company, the Prudential PLC Chief Executive Officer comes from Ivory Coast.




6. Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi- is of Yemeni and Ethiopian ancestry, he was quoted by Forbes as the 43rd richest person in the world. Based in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, and made his fortune in construction and real estate and later went into oil refineries business in Sweden and Morocco.



7. Aliko Dangote- was the richest black person in the world last year but is now number 3 as a result of Oprah Winfrey and Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi claiming the top two spot. He is a Nigerian business man with business interests in Nigeria and other West African countries.




8. Femi Otedola is a Nigerian billionaire oil magnate.He is the CEO of African Petroleum and was recently involved in a dispute with Dangote (number 7) who was his very close friend.




9.Morgan Tsvangirai and Raila Odinga - both of these men make the list due to their resilience (for the first time in Africa, a power coalition is in existence). It is said that Tsvangirai and Odinga won the majority of their votes but due to their love for their country settled for a coalition. Raila is from Kenya while Tsvangirai is from Zimbabwe.




10. Kofi Annan, the seventh United nations secretary general and former Nobel peace price award winner, is also a member of the global elders group. He was instrumental in the peace pack signed between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga of Kenya. He his seen as a future leader of his country Ghana.

Some very inspiratinal songs from 2008/09.