Sahle-Work Zewde

Born 21 February 1950, Sahle-Work Zewde built her path through diplomacy, working in roles that kept her outside the country's most visible political fights. On 25 October 2018, the Federal Parliamentary Assembly elected her president unanimously, breaking a threshold that had held since the republic's founding. She served until 2024. Forbes ranked her 93rd on its list of the world's 100 most powerful women — the highest-ranking African woman that year — a measure of attention more than authority in a role that carried symbolic weight but little executive power.