On the sidelines of the 112th International Labour Conference, held in Geneva from June 3 to 14, 2024, and attended by delegates from the 187 member states of the International Labour Organization (ILO), a number of prominent figures were elected to the Governing Body of the International Labour Office (ILO), the executive body of the International Labour Organization (ILO). They were elected for a 3-year term (June 2024-June 2027) in elections held on June 7 and 10, 2024, by secret ballot among three separate electoral colleges: government, employers and workers.
The government electoral college met on June 7, the employers’ and workers’ electoral colleges on June 10, 2024.
The ILO Governing Body meets three times a year, in March, June and November. It is made up of full, deputy and alternate members. Indeed, according to the Board’s regulations, governments represented on the Governing Body may appoint an alternate of the same nationality, who replaces their titular delegate in the event of absence or impediment.
Below, women representing Africa on the ILO Governing Body.
Jacqueline Mugo (Kenya), Regular member/Employers’ Member
Elected regular member of the ILO Governing Body, Kenyan Jacqueline Mugo was also elected President of the International Organization of Employers (IOE) on June 2, for a three-year term (2024-2027). She is the first African woman to take the reins of the world’s largest private sector network since its creation over a century ago.
Jacqueline Mugo, a lawyer by profession, is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) and Secretary General of BUSINESSAfrica, the employers’ confederation in Africa. She is also the first President of the East African Employers’ Organization. Previously, she was IOE Vice-President for Africa.
Hedia Arfaoui (Tunisia) Regular member/ Workers’ Member
Hedia Arfaoui was also elected on June 10. She is Deputy Secretary General in charge of Arab and international relations at the Union générale tunisienne du travail (UGTT), Tunisia’s main trade union center.
Nancy Chenard (Congo), Deputy member / Employers’ Member
Elected deputy member of the ILO Governing Body, Nancy Chenard is the first Congolese woman to represent employers at the ILO since the organization was founded in 1919.
Nancy Chenard holds a Master’s degree in Business Economics and Industrial Development, International Economics, and has been Executive Secretary General of UNICONGO, the employers’ association of the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), since December 2022.
From December 2016 to November 2022, Nancy Chenard worked in Gibraltar as business manager for Ophis Consulting Ltd, a company specializing in international auditing, training and technical assistance in the QHSE (Quality, Health, Safety, Environment) field. She was in charge of business development, coordinating the network of business introducers, and monitoring and improving quality.
Prior to Gibraltar, Nancy Chenard worked in Congo as General and Specialty Sales Manager at Total Energies, between 2012 and 2014, overseeing the department in charge of B2B. She also worked for Iota Group in Pointe-Noire and as Business Development Manager at Solar 21.
Nancy Chenard began her career in France with Era Immobilier, where she worked for 4 years, notably as branch manager in the Cléry St André commune.
Joséphine Andriamamonjiarison (Madagascar), Deputy Member/Employers’ Member
A graduate of Sciences-Po Paris and holder of an MBA from HEC, a DEA from Panthéon Sorbonne University and an MBA in Finance and Derivatives from The Wharton School, Pennsylvania (USA), one of the world’s most prestigious business schools, Joséphine Andriamamonjiarison was elected to the ILO Governing Body in the elections held on June 10. She is the founder and associate consultant of Hermes Conseils in Madagascar, a company she set up in 2003 and which specializes in economic studies, marketing, human resources and finance/accounting.
A senior consultant in private sector development and international trade, Joséphine Andriamamonjiarison works in Madagascar, the Indian Ocean and the rest of the African continent. Since January 2019, she has also been Managing Director of Jocker Marketing, a billboard and large-format digital printing company that currently owns 3 companies specializing in visual communication: Jocker Graphics, Elettrica and Eco Designer.
Since March 2019, Joséphine Andriamamonjiarison has also been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Société Générale Madagascar.
She was President of the Groupement des Entreprises de Madagascar, from July 2011 to December 2019, and President of the Antananarivo Chamber of Commerce, from March 2016 to October 2022. She is also a member of the Board of Directors and Chairwoman of the Supervisory Committee of the Malagasy Vocational Training Fund,
Joséphine Andriamamonjiarison began her career as a financial analyst with the BNP bank in Paris, where she was in charge of the insurance sector. In this capacity, she drew up the privatization dossiers for 3 Portuguese insurance companies. She subsequently managed the Bolloré Group’s cigarette distribution subsidiary in Madagascar, before setting up a billboard advertising and large-format printing company, while working as a consultant. Joséphine Andriamamonjiarison founded Hermès Conseils in 2003.
Joaquina Almeida (Cape Verde), Deputy Member/ Workers’ Member
Joaquina Veiga de Almeida was also elected to the ILO Governing Body on June 10, 2024.
Since 2016, she has been the a General Secretary of the National Union of Cape Verdean Workers – Central Sindical (UNTC-CS). She is the first woman to hold this position in the country. In 2022, she was re-elected to the post for a second 5-year term.
Zingiswa Losi (South Africa), Deputy member/ Workers’ Member
Zingiswa Losi is President of the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which was founded in 1985 and currently has 21 affiliated unions and 1.6 million members. Cosatu was, along with the ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP), one of the historic pillars of the anti-apartheid movement.
The first woman to hold this position, she was elected to the post at the 13th National Congress in 2018. She has also served in the ANC’s Youth League structures in the Eastern Cape province.
Trained as a military officer, Zingiswa Losi served in the South African Defense Forces for three years, before resigning, while denouncing the working conditions of the military.
After resigning from the army, she was employed by car manufacturer Ford, in the city of Port Elizabeth, as an operator in the components and engine assembly division. She later became a quality inspector.
In 2002, Zingiswa Losi became a shop steward for the powerful National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) at the plant. At the same time, she sat on various NUMSA committees, such as the finance and education committees in the Eastern Cape region.
Aline Valérie Mbono (Cameroon), Deputy member/ Employers’ Member
Aline Valérie Mbono has been Executive Director of the Groupement des Entreprises du Cameroun (GECAM), Cameroon’s employers’ association, since 2021. She is the first woman to hold this position. In this capacity, she is responsible for GICAM’s overall organizational, administrative and financial management.
She was elected Employer member of the ILO Governing Body in 2022. On June 2, 2024, she was elected to the Governing Board of the International Organization of Employers (IOE) for the period 2024-2027, at the organization’s General Assembly held in Geneva, Switzerland. She was chosen by IOE members for her expertise in issues relating to improving the business climate, as well as for her commitment to social dialogue and the promotion of employers’ interests at international level.
Aline Valérie Mbono holds a post-graduate degree in international business law (BAC+5), and specializes in business law in general and digital law in particular. In this capacity, she participated in the reform of the digital sector in Cameroon, with a view to bringing the regulatory framework into line with international legislation on the subject, which began in 1999.
In addition, since 2009, Aline Mbono has been a member of the committee of experts in charge of drafting texts for the digital sector in Cameroon.
The Cameroonian executive also has solid experience in consultancy, compliance auditing, negotiating, drawing up and monitoring various contracts and awarding contracts in accordance with Cameroonian regulations and international guidelines.
Prior to her appointment as Executive Director of Gecam, Aline Valérie Mbono was Director of Legal Affairs at Cameroon’s National Information and Communication Technologies Agency.
Désyrée Fouqueray-Porquet Mada (Côte d’Ivoire), Substitute Member, Employers Member
Ivorian Désyrée Fouqueray-Porquet is also an alternate member of the ILO Governing Body. Since 2016, she has been Managing Director of Atalian Côte d’Ivoire, a company she founded in 2005 and which, in 2016, became a subsidiary of the French group Atalian Global Services, whose main activities are tertiary cleaning, industrial cleaning, maintenance of green spaces and phytosanitary treatments.
Since March 2023, Désyrée Fouqueray-Porquet has also been president of the “vocational training and research” commission within the Confédération Générale des Entreprises de Côte d’Ivoire (CGECI). Since 2016, she has also been the founder of “Office 101”, a space for organizing corporate events and offering ready-to-use smart offices.
With a degree in Marketing and International Business, obtained in 1998 from SUP de CO Reims, now NEOMA Business School, Désyrée Fouqueray-Porquet began her career in France as an account manager with Xerox in Paris. On her return to Côte d’Ivoire in 2003, she founded several companies, including “Ivoire nettoyage service”, specializing in cleaning.
In 2019, Désyrée Fouqueray-Porquet was awarded the Prix d’Excellence for best female entrepreneur.
Lindiwe Sephomolo (Lesotho), Substitute Member/Employers Member
Lindiwe Sephomolo is CEO of the Association of Lesotho Employers and Businesses (ALEB), created in 1961 to facilitate dialogue between government, employers and employees (through their unions).
Lindiwe Sephomolo is a lawyer of the Lesotho courts, a specialist in labor law, a seasoned negotiator and a policy specialist with over 25 years’ experience in the legal field. A staunch advocate of social dialogue and tripartism, e 2017, she was the employers’ spokesperson at the adoption in Lesotho of the landmark Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience Recommendation No. 205.
Clarisse Reine Fandy GNAHOUI (Benin), Substitute
Bio not available
