President Joyce Hilda Banda is a Malawian politician who was the President of Malawi from 7 April 2012 to 31 May 2014. President Banda took office as President following the sudden death of the former President and was Malawi’s fourth president, its first female president, and the second woman to become president on the African continent. Before becoming president, President Banda had served in various roles as a Member of Parliament, Minister of Gender and Child Welfare, Foreign Minister, and served as the country’s first female vice-president. She is also the founder and leader of the People’s Party created in 2011.
Before her active career in politics, President Banda was an educator and grassroots women’s rights activist having founded the Joyce Banda Foundation, the National Association of Business Women (NABW), Young Women Leaders Network, and the Hunger Project. In June 2014, Forbes named President Banda as the 40th most powerful woman in the world and the most powerful woman in Africa. In October 2014, she was included in the BBC’s 100 Women.