YESTERDAY TIME revealed its list of Next Generation Leaders and local comic and international television star Trevor Noah has cracked the nod.
The annual list that dates back to 2014 comprises of ten young innovators and rising stars that according to the publication “run the gamut from innovative artists and impressive athletes to risk-taking activists and groundbreaking entrepreneurs”.
The Daily Show host Noah, will be the second South African to feature on this list after HIV activist Phindile Sithole-Spong featured on the list in 2014. While also marking the seventh African to place on the list which in 2014 included Tunisian women’s rights activist Ikram Ben Said and Nigerian pilot Ola Orekunrin. In 2015 it featured Kenyan artist Boniface Mwangi while last year it had conversationalist Olivier Nsengimana and Liberian water activist Saran Kaba-Jones.
On the rise in international viewership for The Daily Show, Noah tells TIME: “Donald Trump has made everyone interested in everything, everywhere. He’s a worldwide phenomenon. And with everything that’s going on—the Muslim ban, threats to women’s rights, the environment—I feel like I can finally say the show has a purpose.”
This year’s list also features Nigerian software engineer Oscar Ekponimo, politicians Nayib Bukele from El Salvador, Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Integration Sebastian Kurz and Belgian model Hanne Odele.
