Amina Gerba

BornMarch 14, 1961 (age 65)^[1]

The Honourable Amina Gerba CQ
Gerba in 2018

Canadian Senator from Rigaud
Incumbent
Assumed office July 29, 2021
Nominated by	Justin Trudeau
Appointed by	Mary Simon

Personal details
Born	(1961-03-14) March 14, 1961 (age 65)^[1] Bafia, Cameroon
Party	Progressive Senate Group
Alma mater	University of Quebec at Montreal (MBA)
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Awards	National Order of Quebec
Website	aminagerba.com

Amina Gerba CQ (born March 14, 1961) is a Cameroonian-Canadian businesswoman and entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of Afrique Expansion, Afrique Expansion Forum, and Afrique Expansion magazine. She also founded the beauty care brands Kariliss and Kariderm–the latter being the world's first shea butter product to earn organic certification. In 2014, she was a recipient of the National Order of Quebec. She is a director for the Canadian Council on Africa, African Business Roundtable, and Fonds Afro-Entrepreneurs, and is the president of the board of directors for Entreprendre Ici. In 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nominated her to the Canadian Senate, as a Senator for Quebec.^[2]

Amina Nleung was born in Bafia, Cameroon, on March 14, 1961. She is the eighteenth child in a nineteen-child family and the only girl in her family to attend school.^[3] She immigrated to Quebec in 1986.^[4] In 1992, she earned her BBA in tourism management (marketing),^[5] and in 1993, her MBA in marketing research at the University of Quebec at Montreal's School of Management Sciences.^[6]

Career

Gerba was president of the Rotary Club of Old Montreal between 2014 and 2015.^[7]

In 2013, Gerba was selected for the United States' International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). Starting on March 14, 2015, and continuing for twelve weeks, Gerba set up the first Technovation Challenge in Montreal along with fellow IVLP alumna Stéphanie Jecrois; the program was to promote STEM studies among girls.^[8]

On February 23, 2018, then-Deputy Premier of Quebec, Dominique Anglade, and then-Ministry of Immigration, Diversity and Inclusion, David Heurtel, announced that Gerba would head the board of directors for a new governmental agency, Entreprendre Ici.^[9] The agency was created to promote diversity within entrepreneurship and to help solve problems affecting entrepreneurs of different backgrounds.^[10]

Gerba is a director for the Canadian Council on Africa,^[11] the African Business Roundtable,^[12] and Fonds Afro-Entrepreneurs.^[13] She serves on the University of Quebec at Montreal's board of directors as a socioeconomic member.^[14]

As a Senator, Gerba was controversial for spending nearly $22,000 on English-language classes in Vancouver, British Columbia.^[15]

Afrique Expansion

In 1995, Gerba founded Afrique Expansion, a consulting firm designed to help create business partnerships between North American and African companies. She also created a magazine of the same name in 1998.^[16]

In May 2017, Gerba set up an international forum under the Afrique Expansion brand in Yaoundé, Cameroon, regarding the strengthening of the digital economy in the country. Numerous delegates came to the event, including Jacques Bonjawo, Ernest Simo, and Arthur Zang, as well as executives from major telecommunications companies in Cameroon such as MTN Group, Orange, and Camtel.^[17]

Afrique Expansion Forum

In 2003, she created a biennial forum called Forum Africa (now Afrique Expansion Forum) to discuss economic development for African businesses.^[18] The event has featured several notable speakers including Pierre Pettigrew and Alpha Oumar Konaré in 2009;^[19] Daniel Kablan Duncan, Charles Sirois, and Jean-Louis Roy in 2013;^[20] Philippe Couillard in 2015; and Lise Thériault, Sheila Copps, Louis Vachon, and Francine Landry in 2017.^[19]^[21] The World Bank, African Development Bank, and AfreximBank also send delegations to the forum.^[22]

Kariderm and Kalids

Gerba founded two beauty companies based out of Laval, Quebec: Kariderm in 1996 and Kariliss in 2011, focusing on shea butter skin-care and hair-care products respectively. She also founded Flash Beauté Incorporated, which manufactures Kariderm, the first shea butter product to obtain organic certification by ECOCERT.^[6]^[23] Her companies employ the 2,000 women of the Songtaaba Cooperative in Burkina Faso,^[24] who receive a portion of all sales and funding from a microfinance program created by Gerba.^[25]

v t e Current members of the Senate of Canada
Presiding officers: Speaker: Raymonde Gagné Speaker pro tempore: René Cormier
AB	■ Fridhandler ■ LaBoucane-Benson ■ Simons ■ Sorensen ■ Tannas ■ K. Wells
BC	■ Busson ■ Dhillon ■ Greenwood ■ Martin ■ Wilson ■ Woo
MB	■ Adler ■ Gagné ■ McCallum ■ McPhedran ■ Osler 1 vacancy
NB	■ Arnold ■ Boudreau ■ Cormier ■ Kingston ■ McNair ■ Poirier ■ Quinn ■ Ringuette ■ Ross 1 vacancy
NL	■ Manning ■ Petten ■ Ravalia ■ D. Wells ■ White 1 vacancy
NS	■ Aucoin ■ Bernard ■ Coyle ■ Cuzner ■ C. Deacon ■ Ince ■ Kutcher ■ MacDonald ■ Prosper ■ Surette
ON	■ Al Zaibak ■ Ataullahjan ■ Black ■ Boehm ■ Boyer ■ Burey ■ Cardozo ■ Clement ■ Dasko ■ M. Deacon ■ Dean ■ Harder ■ Hay ■ McBean ■ Mohamed ■ Moncion ■ Moodie ■ Pate ■ R. Patterson ■ Pupatello ■ Senior ■ Varone ■ Yussuff
PE	■ Downe ■ Francis ■ MacAdam ■ Robinson
QC	■ Audette ■ Brazeau ■ Carignan ■ Dalphond ■ Forest ■ Galvez ■ Gerba ■ Gignac ■ Hébert ■ Henkel ■ Housakos ■ Loffreda ■ Mégie ■ Miville-Dechêne ■ Moreau ■ Oudar ■ Petitclerc ■ Saint-Germain ■ Smith ■ Verner ■ Youance 3 vacancies
SK	■ Arnot ■ Batters ■ Klyne ■ Lewis ■ Muggli ■ Wallin
Territories	NT ■ Anderson NU ■ Karetak-Lindell YT ■ Duncan
■ Independent Senators Group (42) ■ Canadian Senators Group (19) ■ Progressive Senate Group (16) ■ Conservative (12) ■ Non-affiliated (8) ■ Vacant (8)

Career

Afrique Expansion

Afrique Expansion Forum

Kariderm and Kalids

Awards and honours

References

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