By Abbas Nazil
Africa’s leading environmental newspaper, NatureNews, has unveiled its selection of the continent’s top 10 most impactful leaders on sustainability for 2025.
In a statement issued on December 31, NatureNews’ Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Aliu Akoshile, said the list is a testament to the corporate and social leaders’ growing commitment to Africa’s greener future.
Those who made the enviable list, according to him, are Sanda Ojiambo, CEO of UN Global Compact, James Mwangi, CEO of Equity Group Holdings Plc, and Wale Tinubu, Group CEO of Oando Plc
Also recognised are Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), Helmy Abouleish, CEO of SEKEM Group, Strive Masiyiwa, Founder & Executive Chairman of Econet Wireless, and Abubakar Suleiman, MD & CEO, Sterling Bank
The list also includes Ademola Ayeyemi, Group CEO of ECOBANK Transnational Inc., Dr. Kola Adesina, Group Managing Director of Sahara Group, and Paul Hanratty, Group CEO of Sanlam Limited.
“African’s top 10 sustainability leaders were selected from across the continent for the remarkable impacts of their trailblazing work in driving climate action, energy transition, and sustainable development goals in 2025,” said Akoshile.
He disclosed that the editorial team of NatureNews considered a pool of nominees and, after a rigorous evaluation of their contributions, came up with the top 10 most impactful sustainability leaders based on the following justifications.
Sanda Ojiambo, CEO of UN Global Compact
Sanda Ojiambo designed and executed systemic, continent-wide change, having successfully shifted the entire corporate landscape from fragmented efforts to a unified, powerful bloc for climate action under three pillars.
She undertook an unprecedented mobilisation of hundreds of African businesses to issue joint climate action statements, thereby creating a unified voice and a shared commitment where none existed before, transforming competitors into collaborators for a single cause. She was also the architect of policy and standardization for corporate ESG integration across the continent as she built the framework that drives the alignment of corporate financial strategies with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 1.5°C goal.
She spearheaded the financial impact drive that directly resulted in the mobilisation of over $1.4 trillion to scale sustainability in Africa, benefiting millions of employees and consumers and bridging the gap between policy, finance, and measurable climate action at a trillion-dollar scale.
Dr. James Mwangi
CEO of Equity Group Holdings Plc, Kenya
Dr. James has transformed a bank from a simple lender into the primary engine for a nation’s climate resilience. He successfully re-engineered the financial DNA of one of East Africa’s largest banks, proving that profitability and planetary health are one and the same.
His contributions are predicated on three pillars of proven leadership, systemic integration of ESG and climate risk across the entire credit lifecycle. Through the “Tri-Engine Model,” his bank embedded sustainability into its core operations, risk management, and community investments, ensuring every dollar it lends or invests in is climate-aligned.
Dr. Mwangi pioneered global standards in Africa by championing the voluntary adoption of the TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures), positioning the bank at the vanguard of global transparency. This innovation was recognized by the IFC, which named the bank Global Leader among all its partners for executing the highest number of climate-related transactions.
Another highpoint of his climate action drive was delivering billions in capital and millions in impact for both people and the planet, with the deployment of $1.57 billion in cumulative sustainable finance, channeling capital directly into clean energy, regenerative agriculture, and critical water projects.
NatureNews notes that his financial mobilisation is not just a number; it is a human impact story that has positively impacted 34 million lives and reached 466,975 families with tangible, climate-aligned solutions.
Damilola Ogunbiyi
CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), Nigeria
Damilola Ogunbiyi connected the world’s largest financial commitments directly to Africa’s most urgent human needs, operating at both the trillion-dollar global policy level and the life-changing, on-the-ground implementation level. Damilola was responsible for the global trillion-dollar mobilisation for SDG7, securing over $1.4 trillion in energy finance commitments through the UN-Energy and SEforALL compacts. She built the financial architecture, like the catalytic Universal Energy Facility (UEF) that de-risks the sector and strategically channels private investment into decentralized renewable energy across Africa.
She also developed the National-Scale Implementer, which initiated the $550 million Nigerian Electrification Project (NEP), a landmark program that has already provided first-time energy access to over 8 million people and serving as a replicable blueprint for scaling energy access that was built from the ground up.
Damilola Ogunbiyi also created the vision for a Powered Continent as a key leader in “Mission 300,” an ambitious partnership to bring electricity to 300 million people in Africa.
Helmy Abouleish
CEO of SEKEM Group, Egypt
Helmy Abouleish is fundamentally rewriting the agricultural rulebook in one of Africa’s most challenging environments: the desert. He pioneered a shift from extraction to regeneration, proving that ethical, biodynamic practices can actively reverse desertification while creating systemic value.
He pioneered ecological transformation by establishing the standard for biodynamic and organic farming in arid landscapes with a focus on regenerative practices that heal the land and the long-term soil health over short-term yields. This commitment positions his projects as vital models for climate resilience across the continent.
Helmy Abouleish also positively influenced National Policy for Health and Ecology to shape national practice that resulted in a 90% reduction in pesticide usage across Egyptian agriculture. This single achievement protects biodiversity, safeguards farmer health, and radically cleans up the food system.
Strive Masiyiwa
Founder & Executive Chairman of Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe
Strive Masiyiwa has leveraged the massive infrastructure needs of the technology and telecom sectors—the future of the continent—to drive unprecedented clean energy transition and ensure absolute operational resilience in Africa. He exhibited a strong commitment to infrastructure transformation at scale specifically to decarbonize the digital backbone of Africa. He spearheaded the replacement of legacy, power-intensive infrastructure across diverse pan-African networks (Econet, Cassava Technologies) with renewable energy alternatives, a systemic operational overhaul driven by clean energy adoption.
Strive Masiyiwa successfully aligned future tech with clean power, a $720 million investment in a cutting-edge AI factory network powered by clean energy from its inception. This sets a non-negotiable standard for future technological investment on the continent.
He also delivered energy security and social upliftment with the large-scale solar rollout that ensures its’ essential telecom and digital services remain operational, directly benefiting millions across Africa who rely on this infrastructure. He is investing in the human capital needed for this green future, supporting over 350,000 youth with critical technology and energy scholarships.
Wale Tinubu
Group CEO of Oando Plc, Nigeria
Wale Tinbu has achieved the most critical sustainability milestone for Nigeria’s energy sector. He’s steering a major indigenous energy group away from a sole reliance on fossil fuels towards becoming a diversified, African-led champion of the clean energy transition. His selection as a top 10 sustainability leader was based on two strategic, high-impact moves.
Wale Tinubu accomplished the strategic indigenous diversification of one of Nigeria’s foremost energy giants with the launch of Oando Clean Energy Limited (OCEL) and the strategic formation of Oando Mining. This is not a minor portfolio adjustment but a bold, capital-intensive restructuring of an indigenous major to align with global net-zero ambitions.
He secured the critical mineral supply chain by positioning the group to focus on lithium and critical minerals. With the creation of Oando Mining, the group is ensuring that Africa not only adopts clean energy but controls the upstream supply chain necessary for electric mobility and grid storage, positioning us as a strategic player in the global energy transition.
Paul Hanratty
Group CEO of Sanlam Limited, South Africa
Paul Hanratty’s impact lies at the crucial nexus of finance, risk, and the future economy based on the transitioning of one of Africa’s largest financial and insurance groups to a low-carbon, climate-resilient model. His selection was predicated on his remarkable success in fundamentally shifting capital allocation at a massive scale
Hanratty integrated risk directly into every core underwriting and investment decision by correctly pricing climate risk and making unsustainable assets financially unattractive for potential clients. Similarly, he insures the low-carbon transition by structuring its insurance and investment products to favour green infrastructure, renewable energy, and climate adaptation projects across the continent.
He visionary innovation elicited a systemic impact on millions of policyholders and investors who rely on a climate-stable environment. Integrating climate risk management into the core of a major financial institution is the most powerful lever for driving systemic sustainability across an entire economy.
Ademola Ayeyemi
Group CEO of ECOBANK Transnational Inc., Pan African
Ademola Ayeyemi’s leadership lies in moving sustainability from a corporate responsibility footnote to the core operating system of a major pan-African financial institution thereby ensuring the flow of capital across more than 30 African countries to actively supports responsible development and underwrites climate stability. Hence, he was selected for strategic influence across the West African financial landscape:
By embedding climate risk into core lending across the bank’s extensive lending portfolio in West Africa, major loan and investment decision within this critical region is now stress-tested against environmental and transition risks, safeguarding the bank’s future while directing capital responsibly.
Similarly, Ademola Ayeyemi is driving regional stability through ESG integration as a standard for responsible development across the ECOWAS region. His intervention stabilises portfolios by mitigating future climate liabilities and actively funding a more sustainable regional economy.
Also, his scale of influence on financial practice extends to millions of bank customers across West and Central Africa, serving as a benchmark for how large African banks can manage climate accountability, influencing market behaviour far beyond their immediate operations.
Dr. Kola Adesina
Group Managing Director of Sahara Group, Nigeria
For embedding energy transition into the core governance and strategic planning of a major pan-African group, and overseeing the corporate strategy that mobilizes resources to solve Africa’s most pressing development challenges: energy, poverty and climate action, Adesina was listed for his dual focus on high-level governance and grassroots execution
His governance and strategic capital alignment with a future-focused agenda designed to mobilise investment specifically toward cost-effective and viable renewable energy projects. NatureNews notes that this ensures Sahara’s operational blueprint supports scalable, real-world solutions, not just aspirational targets.
Dr. Adesina has been championing an inclusive energy transition by prioritising clean energy solutions for marginalized communities across the continent. Through the Sahara Group Foundation, this commitment translates into direct social interventions that deliver energy access where it is needed most, moving beyond corporate footprint reduction to genuine community upliftment. Dr. Adesina is passionately driving operational decarbonisation through a firm commitment to reducing the group’s operational carbon and GHG footprint. This commitment links the corporate performance directly to the environmental advocacy, ensuring leadership by example.
Abubakar Suleiman
MD & CEO, Sterling Bank Nigeria
Abubakar Suleiman has moved Sterling Bank beyond the commitments phase of sustainability into a new era of radical visibility and systemic implementation. By transforming one of Nigeria’s most prominent financial institutions into a living laboratory for green energy, he has provided the definitive blueprint for the African corporate transition. His listing as Africa’s top 10 sustainability leaders for 2025 was based on his indelible contributions to climate action .
He spearheaded a historic milestone transforming Sterling Towers into the first fully solar-powered corporate headquarters in Africa, a markable feat of engineering involving 3,250 crystalline silicon photovoltaic glass panels integrated into a 17-story structure. This generates a 995kWp power supply that turns the building into a self-sustaining energy plant, proving that high-density African urban centres can be decarbonized today.
Also, under his leadership, Sterling Bank abandoned generic banking models in favour of the HEART strategy; specifically targeting Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy, and Transportation. This strategy ensures that every Naira of investment is an intentional impact investment, driving growth in the five sectors most critical to Africa’s socio-economic and environmental resilience.
NatureNews editorial team notes that Abubakar Suleiman’s vision extends from the boardroom to the household. Through strategic partnerships with global leaders like Sun King, he has pioneered flexible financing models that bring affordable solar energy to SMEs and families across Nigeria. This moves the energy transition from an elite corporate luxury to an accessible reality for millions, de-risking clean energy for the mass market. He is not just a banker; he is a sustainability pioneer who has literally reshaped the skyline of African finance to reflect a clean energy future.
Our reporter, Abbas Nazil, holds a First Class in forestry and wildlife management
