Ameenah Gurib-Fakim served as the sixth President of the Republic of Mauritius from 5 June 2015 to 2018, becoming the country’s first female head of state.
She has held several leadership roles in academia and research, including Managing Director of the Centre International de Développement Pharmaceutique (CIDP) Research and Innovation, Professor at the University of Mauritius where she was also Dean and Pro Vice-Chancellor, and Manager at the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council.
Gurib-Fakim earned a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Surrey in 1983 and a PhD from the University of Exeter in 1987. She has received seven honorary Doctor of Science degrees and authored numerous books and scientific publications on sustainable development and biodiversity.
Her work has been recognised with several prestigious awards. These include the L’Oréal-UNESCO Prize for Women in Science (2007), the African Union Commission Award for Women in Science (2009) and Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques from the Government of France (2010).
She was awarded with the honours of Commander and Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean by the Government of Mauritius. She also received the Legion of Honour (France, 2016), the Order of St George (Germany), and the Trailblazing Award for Political Leadership from the World Women Leaders Council (Iceland, 2019).
Gurib-Fakim was listed among Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women in the World (2016) and ranked first in Forbes Africa’s Top 100 Women lists (2017, 2019). She was named a 2015 Global Thinker by Foreign Policy and became Honorary President of the International Engineering and Technology Institute in 2020.