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The 2nd Annual Over 30 Under 50 List: The Power Women Redefining Success

In November last year, Yemi Alade earned her first Grammy nomination in the 2025 Best African Music Performance category. That moment is already a major milestone for her.



“If you had asked me this six [or] seven years ago, I would say that success for me, personally, is when I win the Grammy. Late last year, I got nominated for a Grammy, and that honestly was a chip on my shoulder. It was a sign to continue to be myself, my original self, irrespective of what the world might think. [I need to] continue to shine in my culture, continue to shine in my personality,” she says.



Although 2024 was a memorable year for Alade, she says her journey in the industry has not always been easy. When she compares the experiences at the beginning of her career to now, Alade says the biggest challenge she has had is with herself.



“Challenges will always come up. It doesn’t matter what stage of life you are in. However, the one challenge that has stayed in my face is being consistent. That is waking up every morning and choosing to do this thing called music. It’s a challenge because nothing good comes easy,” she explains.



“In the beginning, when I had nothing but this talent to offer, it seemed to people like I was crazy, because I was waking up in the morning to go out and sing, and in an African community that makes no sense. And now where I am, at this point, comfort also becomes a huge distraction. The minute I succumb to comfort, I would not be waking up in the morning to choose music. I feel like that’s a personal challenge.”



Well-known for her feature on global icon, Beyonce’s song, The Power, Alade was the first African female Afropop artist to hit over 100 million views on YouTube and VEVO with her hit single, Johnny. It is also among Afrobeats’ biggest songs of all time. Alade released her anticipated sixth studio album, and tenth project overall, Rebel Queen, which features five-time Grammy award-winning artist Angélique Kidjo, in July.



Alade told FORBES AFRICA in an interview in 2024 that the album was a homage to her journey so far, which is why a lot of the music on the album is reminiscent of the core of Afrobeats, as she remembers it. Alade says: “I feel like history is actually in the making, and I am one of the few people holding the pen and writing history in my own time. I feel honored and privileged to experience this. To be one of the many who continue to fly the flag of African music and our culture. It’s a good time to be alive.”

Yemi

Over 30 Under 50: “History Is In The Making, And I Am One Of The Few Holding The Pen.” – Nigerian Singer Yemi Alade

With a career that began at a young age and as a woman who is no stranger to being in the limelight, Minnie Dlamini tells FORBES AFRICA that she believes in turning her challenges into opportunities. It’s a lesson that she only truly learned, now, in her 30s.



“I don’t think I would have been able to handle everything that I’ve handled – good and bad – all the opportunities, the resources that have been afforded to me, the resources that I’ve gone out and gotten myself, had I been younger,” Dlamini says.



“[I] needed to go through life, to be older, and to be this 34-year-old woman so that I can fully embrace everything that’s coming my way.” Having hosted a multitude of events and award shows such as the South African Music Awards (SAMAs); the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs); Miss World South Africa and the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards (AMVCAs), and presented at the cov- eted BET Awards in Los Angeles in the U.S., Dlamini burst onto the scene in 2010 while covering the Youth Day and World Cup celebration shows.



It was not long after that she found herself immersed in the world of sports broadcasting.



“One of the things I wanted to do was to create an environment where watching sports with your male counterparts, be it with your father or significant other, was normal and just redefining how people consume sports in a mainstream entertainment way,” she says.



Her success in the entertainment industry motivated her to start her own production company, Beautiful Day Productions, which pro- duced a pilot series called Becoming Mrs. Jones, a competition reality show called Spirit Of Mzansi, two Showmax movies; Goodbye Gogo and No Love Lost, as well as a viewer-generated content show for Channel O called Own The O.



However, as a woman, being in the public eye has not always been smooth sailing. She notes the comments made about her when she an- nounced her divorce from her husband in 2022.



“The world is not kind to a woman who’s getting divorced, which I think is an incredibly painful narrative. I thought [that] was something completely outdated, but I had no idea that, in this day and age, I’d be ostracized for getting divorced, and that was incredibly painful,” she says.



Dlamini did not let it stop her, as she again turned her lemons into lemonade by taking part in Roast of Minnie Dlamini on Showmax.



“I used that opportunity and we had the Roast; got paid lots of money,” she explains with a smile.



“…but more than anything, I got to use it as an opportunity to laugh at myself, and as a great brand exercise. If we take the finances away, it was an incredible brand exercise for me; it was an incredible career move that was risky, but the risk definitely paid off.”

Minnie

Over 30 Under 50: ‘I Don’t Think I Could Have Handled Everything I’ve Faced – Good And Bad – Had I Been Younger.’/ South African Actor Minnie Dlamini

In 2022, Sheila Atim made her way to South Africa to film a movie that, to this day, has had a profound impact on her.



It would explore themes like racism, gender-based violence, and female oppression, to name a few, and most of which still plague Africa today. It’s a story that Atim believes stands the test of time.



Alongside award-winning actors, Viola Davis and Thuso Mbedu, the film is about a fierce, all-female warrior regiment that protects the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s.



“There are many other [defining] moments in my career. I don’t just only value the things that get lots of public traction. Things that feel like they’ve genuinely touched people mean a lot [to me]. I know it sounds like a sort of obvious thing to say, but it is the truth.”



Atim was born in Uganda and moved to the United Kingdom with her mother when she was five months old. Growing up in Essex, she was always a creative child, and her mother embraced that about her. “I give a lot of credit to my mum because she was progressive in her thinking at that moment [when I decided I wanted to be in the entertainment industry]. A big part of it [was] about allowing her to understand and experience what I was doing, for herself,” Atim says after recalling the time her mother watched her star in Jesus Christ Superstar at school.



This was after her mother had told her that, as a final-year student, if she was planning on doing her A-levels in drama, she could not do the show.



“I lied, and auditioned for the school show anyway, and I didn’t tell her that that’s what I’ve been doing after school. They were selling tickets to the parents, and I just gave her a letter… I was playing Mary Magdalene so I was very visible,” she recalls with a laugh.



“I remember in the car afterwards, my mom was really proud and really happy. She has always been very supportive of my artistic side.”



Soon after, Atim thought she would be going to medical school to become a doctor. But following a rejection and the subsequent disappointment, she went on to study biomedical science, earning her degree at King’s College London. She continued to pursue music during the time.



“At first I thought I was just going to be a singer and songwriter, and then that ended up expanding into so much more because of the different artistic avenues I was going down while I was studying in London.”



Atim looks back at these moments, excited to be at the forefront of storytelling, especially as an African actor. She also continues to intentionally choose projects that consist of upliftment, growth and truth. Atim sees it as her duty to play a wide array of roles, but to also bring a level of authenticity to every one of those characters.



“Storytelling, whether it’s through song, dance, literal storytelling or the written word, is such a huge and intrinsic part of most African cultures, if not all. And for us to be able to transmute that now into broader avenues of expression, and avenues of expression that have a place on the global stage, is really important. And I feel like it’s something we’re owed.



“Africans, African culture, and the diaspora have been contributing to mainstream culture forever – that’s not a new thing. But to be able to lead the charge on our work and be credited for it directly and reap direct benefits from it as well is a wonderful development.” And on the multifarious opportunities there are, she says: “I think greeting each with curiosity and the attitude that there’s always something new to learn, and what a wonderful thing to be able to apply to your craft in multiple different ways. I think that’s really exciting.”

Sheila

Over 30 Under 50: ‘Africans Have Been Contributing To Mainstream Culture Forever… To Be Credited For It Directly Is A Wonderful Development.’/Ugandan-British actor Sheila Atim

The female powerhouses in FORBES AFRICA’S OVER 30 UNDER 50 list &#8211; compiled for the second consecutive year- are the business leaders, musicians, models, movie stars, innovators and entrepreneurs who have intent and impact on their vision boards, as they scale greater heights, reinvent themselves and rewrite the rules in their 30s and 40s.



Reinvention is not to be taken lightly. Just ask the women in their 30s and 40s doing just that, armed with a tote bag filled with hard-learned lessons and a playbook stuffed with life notes.



These women will tell you that their 20s were spent wearing out their heels, to be able to bring their true selves to work and confidently stride into the next chapters of their life – the thriving 30s and fabulous 40s – that they are determined to script themselves. They are defying society’s conventional definitions of success to boldly stand out from the crowd – in their pointed Manolo Blahniks. “The biggest lie we have ever been told is that we are stagnant at this stage. I am thriving; I love my 30s,” says Rawdah Mohamed, a Somali-Norwegian model and activist, to FORBES AFRICA.



“In your 20s, you think you have this deadline; you have this rush and unnecessary anxiety. And then you come into your 30s – you’re settled and you have better self-esteem. You love your life. Then you meet other women in their 30s and they’re also thriving. Life is just so much calmer and better, and there’s quality in everything.”



The Over 30 Under 50 list is inspired by formidable women, from age 30 to 49, who are reaching career peaks, in addition to fulfilling their roles and responsibilities as daughters, wives and mothers.



But the balance between the personal and professional – particularly for women with ambitious career goals and children and/or parents to look after – is often portrayed as unachievable.



“What’s interesting about that narrative is that ‘state of play’ was imposed on women in their 30s and 40s,” explains award-winning Ugandan-British actor, singer, composer, and play-wright, Sheila Atim.



“It wasn’t innate to us; what I mean by that is it’s not that we suddenly fall off a cliff and sink into irrelevance and inertia after we turn 30. It’s that certain industries had decided for us [that] they would shut us out, or decided that it was too complicated to work with women who also want to be mothers. They had their kind of arbitrary ideals about what to prioritize when it came to ‘platforming’ (placing on a pedestal) women, supporting women, and raising women. And it’s a massive conversation with so many branches.”



Lisa Z. Lindahl, in a 2024 Forbes opinion piece, queried, Is This The Age Of Women in Leadership? Lindahl found that, as of 2023, women held 10.4% of leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies. She also noted that there were a total of 52 women running businesses on the Fortune 500 list at the time – an all-time high.



“The most profitable Fortune 500 companies, according to a 2007 study, also had the highest percentage of women directors,” she writes.



However, a 2021 report from McKinsey &amp; Company, co-authored with LeanIn.org, found that only 86 women are promoted to the position of manager for every 100 men, across all industries.



In their Women in the Workplace 2024 report, they noted that women’s representation had increased at every level of corporate management over the past decade, but that progress had been much slower at the entry and manager levels.



However, equitable representation at every level is an important part of fostering growth and advancement in the workplace.



“There were few women that we could look up to as role models,” Doris Ahiati, CEO and Co-founder, of Crescendo Consult, says to FORBES AFRICA. “I set out that, by the time I was [at] age 40, I would like to be a CEO to serve as an inspiration to other women, especially girls, so that they wouldn’t feel like there’s a certain glass ceiling when you get here [and] you can’t go any further. I have this written as a goal on my performance contract, wherever I work.”



It’s much the same in the creative industry. This is according to Ana F. Borges, Co-founder and Creative Director at Itsanashow Studio, who wrote a LinkedIn op-ed and a blog online, titled, Why is there a lack of women in the creative industry, and what can we do about it? “Women are still struggling to break into the creative industry at the same rate as men, particularly in technology and video games. To break through another glass ceiling, we should work on encouraging, supporting, and creating opportunities for this next generation of working women to take leadership roles in creative industries and build equity,” Borges notes.



Surprisingly, breaking the glass ceiling is not always top of mind for the women on this list – their focus is on ensuring that they are paving a path for others.



Captain Londy Ngcobo, for instance, is Africa’s first female dredge master and passionate about unlocking the continent’s ocean economy. More importantly, she has dedicated her 16 years in the maritime industry to ensuring that she “pushes past the narrative of multiplying as a woman and that there are more youth, more Captain Londys, more little BlaqMermaids [as she is known]”.



Ntsiki Biyela, who became the first Black female winemaker in South Africa, was unfazed by the male-dominated liquor industry. She had grown up with boys so that was not the difficult part.



“The only difficult part of entering the [wine] industry was figuring out how to navigate the different culture…,” she says, “but I like introducing myself to people. I don’t like the word ‘networking’ because I like building connections and friendships.”



For the women in this age cohort, it’s about acknowledging the statistics but also following it up with concerted action. They would rather embrace the opportunity to adapt to challenges and create success stories.



“I feel like we need to stop focusing on the naysayers; people who keep saying the things that don’t make sense,” Grammy-nominated Nigerian singer, Yemi Alade says to FORBES AFRICA.



“We need to shed more light on the people who say the truth about reality and the positives, which is that ‘if you believe it, you can achieve it’. Age is not the restriction and age is not the determinant. It’s all about what is in your mind. Just go for it.”



“What Iwant women in entertainment to know is that I don’t want them to be limited by just being on screen,” says South African actor and TV personality, Minnie Dlamini. “There’s so much more in this industry. But more than that though, I want people to look at my journey and realize that I didn’t do things conventionally. I didn’t do things the same way everyone did.”



These are the resolute and resilient women gracing the pages that follow. Their stories exemplify both bravado and brilliance, and are about breaking new ground.



Editor’s note: The list is unranked and in no particular order. 



<a href="https://shop.forbesafrica.com/product/single-digital-issue-february-march-2025/">To see the full list download your digital copy NOW </a>


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Second Annual Over 30 under 50 List: Power Women Redefining Success

Story curated by Chanel Retief and Nicole Pillay Art Direction: Lucy Nkosi Photography: Katlego Mokubyane ; Assistant: Sbusiso Sigidi Styling: Deneal Van Wyk; Outfits supplied by Fashimo Styles Studio, Ukara, Suited For Her and Preview Accessories Hair &amp; Makeup:Vanessa Unamaca, MakoleMade Location: NewKatz.Studio, Johannesburg



Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng’s story is not one that kickstarted with a university degree, or when she started advocating for the sexual and reproductive health and mental health rights of all. In fact, the story that shaped Mofokeng, known as Dr T, had its beginnings in her childhood in QwaQwa, in the Free State province of South Africa during apartheid. 



“[I] experienced some of the most exciting but also frustrating and scary times growing up [during] apartheid, but [as] an adult, [I also] experienced the wonder of a democratic South Africa. [I wanted to become a doctor] after witnessing adults and neighbors around me injured in the protests [that happened], and I was there and helpful. I think, as a child, [I was] also inquisitive about [these] protests; I&#8217;m grateful that they never chased me away but incorporated me in a way that I was safe [and] could still participate. 



At the photoshoot for this feature, Mofokeng is anxious to get to a table where she can open her laptop to finish up some work, as she wears many hats.



As a medical doctor, she specializes in advocating for women’s health with regards to their sexual health and relationship concerns. As the United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur, her work focuses on the rights of every individual to experience the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. in the US.



“Would you consider yourself a power woman, Dr T?” we ask.



“A power woman is bold. And she is fearless, in that she gets to determine life for herself, she moves at her pace, and is not shy to say ‘I&#8217;m exhausted, can someone else take over?’ I accept that for this moment that power is being projected on to me. But I like to project power more than take it as an identity or something that I have to live up to because I&#8217;m only human and some days, I&#8217;m really not feeling so powerful.”

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Over 30 Under 50: ‘A Power Woman Gets To Determine Life For Herself’/Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng

Story curated by Chanel Retief and Nicole Pillay Art Direction: Lucy Nkosi Photography: Katlego Mokubyane ; Assistant: Sbusiso Sigidi Styling: Deneal Van Wyk; Outfits supplied by Fashimo Styles Studio, Ukara, Suited For Her and Preview Accessories Hair &amp; Makeup:Vanessa Unamaca, MakoleMade Location: NewKatz.Studio, Johannesburg



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“I wouldn’t say a ‘power woman’ is fearless because some way, somehow, I do get that fear. But I can say she is a strong woman even though problems approach. She will always be strong and stand up for herself; she has perseverance.”
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In 2023, Nomcebo Zikode was celebrated across Africa, but especially in her home country South Africa after she brought home her first Grammy award with two-time Grammy award-winning flautist, Wouter Kellerman and singer and producer, Zakes Bantwini for their song Bayethe. It was a win she did not think would happen. At the FORBES AFRICA power women photoshoot, Zikode walks in with a big smile, ready to reflect on the journey that led to that moment.



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“I knew that I wanted to be on TV or I wanted to be a singer,” Zikode says. “Becoming an actress was the second thing but being a singer was the first thing, so I&#8217;m living my dream. I&#8217;m really so happy to be recognized, not only in South Africa but abroad, and seeing people loving your work as they do, even though there was a point where I was about to give up because I [was] looking at my age. I was over 30 and this music thing was not happening, so I am really grateful to God.”



Also successful as the founder of record label, Emazulwini Productions, Zikode wants to inspire the youth, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. 



“Personally, it was never about changing my life,” Zikode explains. “It’s about showing another child who’s currently sitting at home, watching me win a Grammy so they can see that Nomcebo made it possible to achieve her goals, so that where they are sitting – whether they&#8217;re coming from a rural area or from a poor family – they know that it is possible for them!”



Zikode’s admission of wanting to give up – this was before her hit song Jerusalema topped charts across the globe – is not unique to her. To the women who feel that their careers have stunted, Zikode offers the best advice: “Just keep going and respect your craft. You never know when your time is coming.”

Tag: Over 30 Under 50