Joyce Banda was the President of Malawi from 2012 to 2014. She is the founder and the leader of the People’s Party created in 2011. She became president following the sudden death of President Bingu wa Mytharika, and became Malawi’s fourth president and the first female president. She was also the second president in Africa.
Banda entered politics in 2004 as a member of Malawi’s parliament. In 2009, she became the nation’s first female vice president. Women’s health, education, economic empowerment, and getting women into leadership roles are the cornerstones of her agenda and what she considers the keys to Malawi’s success.
She entered in politics in 2004 as a member of Malawi’s parliament. In 2009 she became the first nation’s female vice-president and had served in various roles as Minister of Gender and Child Welfare and as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
She was born in 1950 in Malawi and obtained a bachelor’s degree from the Atlantic International University, an online university based in the US. Before her active career in politics she founded and directed various business and organizations, including the National Association of Business Women (NABW), Young Women Leaders Network and the Hunger Project and the Joyce Banda Foundation, an organization dedicated to rural development and improving the lives of women and
children. On the international scene, President Dr. Banda was instrumental in the formation of the African Federation of Women Entrepreneurs (AFWE), currently running in 41 countries in Africa; the Council for the Economic Empowerment of Women in Africa (CEEWA); and the American & African Business Women’s Alliance (AABWA), of which she served as First President. In June 2014 Forbes quoted President Banda as the 40 th most powerful woman in the world and the most powerful woman in Africa.
