Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki Sawyer named as TIME100 Next Most Influential People

Yvonne Aki Sawyer, the Mayor of Freetown has been named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 Next Most Influential People in the world. 

The annual list is an expansion of the flagship TIME100 franchise that highlights 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future. She was nominated by British Sierra Leonean, Idris Elba and she is the only Sierra Leonean to be on the list that consists of global advocates, artists, innovators, phenom, and leaders. 

Yvonne is the first female mayor of Freetown in decades. She was elected into office in 2018, 25 years after working in the public and private sector. As the mayor of a city with more than one million population, she has launched a three-year multi-pronged development plan called the “Transform Freetown initiative.” 

This initiative is covering the cleaning of Freetown’s streets, fixing drainage systems, planting a million trees, and implementation of property tax reform. The list also includes Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford, US Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, English singer Dua Lipa, Nigerian singer Davido, Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin, etc…

For more on the full list follow the link here: 

https://time.com/collection/time100-next-2021/