The BBC released its 2019 official list of the 100 most inspiring and influential women across the globe on Wednesday, Tunisian Hayfa Sdiri promptly made the list for great her contribution for creating a platform for Tunisian youth, connecting entrepreneurs with ideas, skills and funders.
This year’s list was powerfully drawn from the question, “What would the future look like if it were driven by women?” And these formidable females have certainly been driving conversation this year.
At 16, Hayfa founded not-for-profit Entrcrush, an online platform for future entrepreneurs where they could be matched with donors and take e-courses in areas like management and accounting. She works with the UN in Tunisia on gender equality initiatives.
Check out the complete list below.
The BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women for 2019:
• Precious Adams, ballet dancer, U.S.
• Parveena Ahanger, human rights activist, Indian-administered Kashmir
• Piera Aiello, politician, Italy
• Jasmin Akter, cricketer, U.K.-Bangladesh
• Manal AlDowayan, artist, Saudi Arabia
• Kimia Alizadeh, athlete, Iran
• Alanoud Alsharekh, women’s-rights activist, Kuwait
• Marwa Al-Sabouni, architect, Syria
• Rida Al Tubuly, peace campaigner, Libya
• Tabata Amaral, congresswoman, Brazil
• Yalitza Aparicio, actor and human-rights activist, Mexico
• Dayna Ash, cultural activist, Lebanon
• Dina Asher-Smith, athlete, U.K.
• MiMi Aung, project manager at NASA, U.S.
• Nisha Ayub, transgender activist, Malaysia
• Judith Bakirya, farmer, Uganda
• Ayah Bdeir, entrepreneur, Lebanon
• Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, monk, Thailand
• Mabel Bianco, doctor, Argentina
• Raya Bidshahri, educator, Iran
• Katie Bouman, scientist, U.S.
• Sinéad Burke, disability activist, Ireland
• Lisa Campo-Engelstein, bioethicist, U.S.
• Scarlett Curtis, writer and campaigner, U.K.
• Ella Daish, environmentalist, U.K.
• Sharan Dhaliwal, artist and writer, U.K.
• Salwa Eid Naser, athlete, Nigeria-Bahrain
• Rana El Kaliouby, AI pioneer, Egypt
• Maria Fernanda Espinosa, U.N. General Assembly, Ecuador
• Lucinda Evans, women’s-rights activist, South Africa
• Sister Gerard Fernandez, Roman Catholic nun, Singapore
• Bethany Firth, Paralympic swimmer, U.K.
• Owl Fisher, transgender activist, Iceland
• Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, athlete, Jamaica
• Zarifa Ghafari, mayor, Afghanistan
• Jalila Haider, lawyer, Pakistan
• Tayla Harris, footballer and boxer, Australia
• Hollie, sex-trafficking survivor, U.S.
• Huang Wensi, professional boxer, China
• Luchita Hurtado, artist, Venezuela
• Yumi Ishikawa, founder of anti-heels petition #kutoo, Japan
• Asmaa James, journalist and activist, Sierra Leone
• Aranya Johar, poet, India
• Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman, anthropologist, U.S.
• Gada Kadoda, engineer, Sudan
• Amy Karle, bioartist, U.S.
• Ahlam Khudr, protest leader, Sudan
• Fiona Kolbinger, cyclist, Germany
• Hiyori Kon, sumo wrestler, Japan
• Aïssata Lam, microfinance expert, Mauritania
• Soo Jung Lee, forensic psychologist, South Korea
• Fei-Fei Li, AI pioneer, U.S.
• Erika Lust, filmmaker, Sweden
• Lauren Mahon, cancer campaigner and co-host of podcast You, Me and The Big C, U.K.
• Julie Makani, doctor and scientist, Tanzania
• Lisa Mandemaker, speculative designer, Netherlands
• Jamie Margolin, climate-change activist, U.S.
• Francia Marquez, environmentalist, Colombia
• Gina Martin, anti-upskirting campaigner, U.K.
• Sarah Martins Da Silva, consultant gynecologist and obstetrician, U.K.
• Raja Meziane, singer, Algeria
• Susmita Mohanty, space entrepreneur, India
• Benedicte Mundele, fresh-food entrepreneur, Democratic Republic of Congo
• Subhalakshmi Nandi, gender-equality expert, India
• Trang Nguyen, conservationist, Vietnam
• Van Thi Nguyen, CEO, Vietnam
• Natasha Noel, yoga expert, India
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, congresswoman, U.S.
• Farida Osman, swimmer, Egypt
• Ashcharya Peiris, designer, Sri Lanka
• Danit Peleg, designer, Israel
• Autumn Peltier, clean-water advocate, Canada
• Swietenia Puspa Lestari, diver and environmentalist, Indonesia
• Megan Rapinoe, footballer, U.S.
• Onjali Rauf, writer, U.K.
• Charlene Ren, clean-water advocate, China
• Maria Ressa, journalist, Philippines
• Djamila Ribeiro, writer and equality activist, Brazil
• Jawahir Roble, referee, U.K.-Somalia
• Najat Saliba, chemistry professor, Lebanon
• Nanjira Sambuli, digital-equality expert, Kenya
• Zehra Sayers, scientist, Turkey
• Hayfa Sdiri, entrepreneur, Tunisia
• Noor Shaker, computer scientist, Syria
• Bonita Sharma, innovator, Nepal
• Vandana Shiva, environmentalist, India
• Pragati Singh, doctor, India
• Lyubov Sobol, anti-corruption activist, Russia
• Samah Subay, lawyer, Yemen
• Kalista Sy, screenwriter and producer, Senegal
• Bella Thorne, actor and director, U.S.
• Veronique Thouvenot, doctor, Chile
• Greta Thunberg, climate-change activist, Sweden
• Paola Villarreal, computer programmer, Mexico
• Ida Vitale, poet, Uruguay
• Purity Wako, life coach, Uganda
• Marilyn Waring, economist and environmentalist, New Zealand
• Amy Webb, futurist, U.S.
• Sara Wesslin, journalist, Finland
• Gina Zurlo, religion scholar, U.S
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