Ameenah Gurib-Fakim

““The one thing I have to say to young people is embrace the idea that you have to take risks because no business school will teach you to take personal risks.””

““This is when you realize you are in a position where you can make a difference. You can be the voice for so many things.””

““There is plenty to do,””

““Africa should own her agenda in terms of generating Africa-centric data, Africa-centric projects but we need to leverage collaborations and partnerships with institutions where these things are already happening,””

““The youth is our biggest asset and the sooner we add value to that asset the better it is going to be for the continent…”

“If you index your dollar to raw material it will go down. If you index your dollar to knowledge, the growth will be exponential…”

““My biggest success will be if I have touched the lives of so many youth to make them successful,””

“It’s not easy for women; there is a lot of misogyny.”

““So I said ok if I can serve my country at the highest level, why not?””

““I think I would really like to keep on operating in that space where you can touch the lives of your people.””

“My father said ‘so what are you going to do’? And I said ‘I am going to study chemistry, because that’s where my heart is’.””

“I was determined that I will not sink, I will rather swim.””

““That was a very important moment because it added a lot of credibility, as people were still looking down on herbal knowledge; they called it witchcraft… so that was very important also in opening doors for more research grants. That really put the spotlight on Mauritius.”Ameenah after winning the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science in 2007”

“"Women must be empowered with knowledge, technology, financial resources, and land. Increasing access to financial mechanisms and removing legal barriers are among the many ways that women can stay in the workforce and achieve their fullest potential." Innovating Women's Leadership Across Sectors: A Conversation with H.E. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, President of Mauritius https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/innovating-womens-leadership-across-sectors-conversation-he-ameenah-gurib-fakim-president#:~:text=%22If%20women%20are%20left%20out,being%2C%20including%20scientific%20advancement.%22”

“"When science is rejected as a career choice, it is often due to limited information and the dearth of positive role models to encourage young girls to participate."”

“" If you're a scientist, you tend to really look at the perfection of the human body, the way it functions. If you look at nature as a whole. I'm still amazed at the perfection with which the entire ecosystem functions together."”

““increasing the gender parity and addressing the attainment of the SDGs in a holistic and comprehensive manner has the potential of positively shaping synchronous outcomes such as improving instant and child mortality rates, increase labour force participation rates and earnings or fostering further educational investment in children” Dr.Gurib-Fakim in her first address to the International Labour Conference. https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_558592/lang--en/index.htm”

“"Africa make a sizeable contribution to the continent’s economy. They are more economically active as farmers and entrepreneurs than women in any other region of the world. It is the women who grow most of Africa’s food, and who own one-third of all businesses””

““Eliminating gender inequality and empowering women could raise the productive potential of one billion Africans, delivering a huge boost to the continent’s development potential”.”

“"I think we need to break that vicious cycle where negative stereotypes abound and deter girls’ engagement in science." Dr. Ameenah F. In Q&A: Break vicious cycle that deters girls in science https://www.scidev.net/sub-saharan-africa/role-models/qa-break-vicious-cycle-that-deters-girls-in-science/”