Mrs. Monica Geingos is a qualified lawyer with extensive corporate experience. Prior to becoming the 3rd First Lady of the Republic of Namibia, she was a co-shareholder and the Managing Director of Namibia’s largest private equity fund for over a decade. She also served on the Boards of large public and private sector companies as either Chairperson or Deputy Chairperson.
Mrs. Geingos served as the 3rd First Lady between March 2015 and February 2024. During her tenure, Mrs. Geingos channelled her first-hand insight into the intrinsic relationship between social development challenges and macro-economic trends into the work of the One Economy Foundation (ONE). ONE focuses on sustainably lifting people out of poverty traps and ensuring fair access to opportunities. ONE has over the past nine (9) years taken key learnings from the #BeFree Movement and institutionalised the learnings into Project #BeFree – a one-stop youth centre that provides a continuum of holistic youth-friendly healthcare services to young people.
Mrs. Geingos served as the President of the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) between June 2022 and February 2024. During her tenure, she spearheaded the inception of the #WeAreEqual campaign aimed at advocating for gender equity in Africa.
Presently, Ms. Geingos serves as a co-chair of the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS, and Pandemics and as chairperson of the Africa REACH Leadership Council. She is a board member of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Centre and WomenLift Health.
In recognition of her work for Young Women and Adolescent Girls and leadership in the global agenda to end AIDS by 2030, Mrs. Geingos was awarded the ‘World Without AIDS Award’ from the German AIDS Foundation and appointed a UNAIDS Special Advocate for Young Women and Adolescent Girls.
Recently, in April 2024, she received an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy from Jharkhand Rai University.
