WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Power Women
from page 76
a TED Senior Fellow. Patience Mthunzi, Ph.D. South Africa, Senior Scientist, CSIR Born in Orlando West, Soweto, Dr. Mthunzi is currently South Africa’s only Senior Scientist for the Biophotonics Research Group within the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) National Laser Center in biophotonics – a field of study that enables microscopic study of biological molecules, cells and tissue using laser. Unable to study biophotonics in South Africa, she became the first South African Ph.D. student at the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Dr. Mthunzi was recently awarded one of the country’s highest orders, the Order of Mapungubwe, for her contribution in the field of biophotonics.
LiveWello A life-changing event, the diagnosis of her son with Autism gave birth to LiveWello™, social network targeted at health. A U.Ktrained attorney, Iwegbue and her physician husband, a self-taught software developer, built LiveWello (https://livewello.com) to support their Autistic son’s health while harnessing the best elements of their African culture: village life. By building a health app that was social in nature, they were able to collaborate with their son’s health providers, their health coaches and the rest of their family back home in Africa, to collectively manage his health. Now Iwegbue is helping other people manage their own health with the social network app she built.
Lisa Opoku, Ghana, Chief Operating Officer, Goldman Sachs US-based Black Enterprise magazine named the Wall Street executive one of its 2012 “40 Rising Stars Under 40″ and one of “75 Most Powerful Women in Business” for 2010. She is the Chief Operating Officer for Goldman Sachs‘ securities division for the Asia Pacific region. Opoku Busumbru earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with high honors in Sociology from the University of Minnesota in 1993 and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School in 1996. Leila Lopes, Angola, 2012 Miss Universe see Power Women on page 78
Maud Chifamba, Zimbabwe, 14year old University Accounting Student At 14-years old, Chifamba made history this year when she became the youngest student (male or female) in Zimbabwe and possibly the whole of Southern Africa to enroll at university. The young genius was admitted to the University of Zimbabwe where she will study towards a Bachelor of Accountancy Honors Degree. An orphan, Chifamba’s mother passed away last December, days after she sat for her final exams, and her father nine years ago when she was five years old. Despite this and abject poverty (her two brothers were unable to pay her fees for regular school), Chifamba home schooled herself and broke academic records earning a four-year scholarship of nearly USD$10,000. Florence Iwegbue, Nigeria, Attorney & Co-Founder,
Maud Chifamba, Zimbabwe
77 March 2013 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819