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Geneva (dpa) - Where the renowned development economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (66) appears, she makes an imposing figure.
Despite decades of living in the USA, the Nigerian has retained her style among suit and costume wearers: She wears very colorful dresses, with large patterns, almost always with a boldly tied headscarf.
She once opted for traditional Nigerian clothing when things had to be quick when she brought her four children to school in the morning, she told the BBC in 2012.
She stuck to it, and it pays off: she pays the equivalent of 25 euros per outfit, she said at the time.
In the World Trade Organization (WTO), which it is soon to lead, people in suits predominate.
Director General Roberto Azevêdo, who left the organization last summer, was the ninth man in a row since 1948 at the head of the WTO and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
The four deputies who have headed the WTO since Azevêdo's departure are also men.
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"I want to revitalize the organization," said Okonjo-Iweala when applying for the post.
Whereby it is not just about a better women's presence.
The WTO urgently needs a breath of fresh air.
It has long been paralyzed by trench warfare between countries in the south and the north and by the blockade of the US administration under Donald Trump.
"I'm a doer," promised Okonjo-Iweala.
"Trade is important for prosperity, resilience and sustainable growth, and the WTO is central to that," she said.
"If we didn't have the WTO, we would have to invent it."
The straightforward style that she shows through her clothes could also be her work motto: sleeves up and tackle.
She was the number two head of the World Bank in Washington, where she set up short-term programs for the poorest countries during the 2009 financial crisis.
She got into the ring against corruption in Nigeria as finance minister.
When her own mother was kidnapped to force her to resign, she did not flinch.
The mother was released.
Okonjo-Iweala was most recently chairman of the Gavi vaccination alliance, which is currently coordinating the vaccination program against the coronavirus.
She was previously at the World Bank for 25 years, and in between two times Finance Minister in her home country and briefly Foreign Minister.
The professor's daughter has been named among the 100 most influential people in the world several times over the past ten years by the magazines “Time”, “Forbes” and others.
She studied economics and development economics at the elite universities of Harvard and MIT in the USA, where she received her doctorate.
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Okonjo-Iweala is very popular in Nigeria.
She is considered one of the most successful members of the government since she negotiated a $ 30 billion debt relief with rich countries in 2005.
She is also considered to be the architect of better management of oil revenues, the largest chunk of government budget finance.
Okonjo-Iweala is married to a neurosurgeon and has both Nigerian and American citizenship.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210215-99-444736 / 2
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WTO Okonjo-Iweala portrait
Okonjo-Iweala's website
US statement on Okonjo-Iweala dated February 5, 2021