Neo Jane Masisi also known as Mma Atsile is the

First Lady of Botswana The first lady of the Republic of Botswana is the wife of the president of Botswana. The current first lady is Neo Masisi, the wife of President Mokgweetsi Masisi. The role is largely ceremonial and has no salary. President Masisi has said that ...

, the wife of President

Mokgweetsi Masisi Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi (born 21 July 1961) is the fifth and current President of Botswana, serving since 2018. He served as the 8th Vice President of Botswana from 12 November 2014 to 1 April 2018. He was a Member of Parliament in the ...

Personal life

Neo Jane Masisi was born in in

Francistown Francistown is the second largest city in Botswana, with a population of about 103,417 and 147,122 inhabitants for its agglomeration at the 2022 census. and often described as the "''Capital of the North''" or as the natives would have it “''T ...

, the eldest of six children of Baruki and Irene Maswabi. Both her parents were university graduates. She grew up and attended school in

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

, where her parents were working. She married Mokgweetsi Masisi in 2002; they have a daughter named Atsile.

Career

Masisi is an accountant. She trained at the Accountancy Training Centre of the Debswana Diamond Company where she obtained membership of the

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) is the global professional management accounting body based out of the UK. CIMA offers training and qualification in management accountancy and related subjects. It is focused on accountan ...

. From 2001 to 2004 she continued her studies at

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was tak ...

in England, where she obtained an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree. First Lady Neo Masisi was in 2019 conferred Fellow Chartered Management Accountant by CIMA President Mr Steven Swientozielskyj in Gaborone. In 2004 she joined the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

, initially working at the

UN Headquarters zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg , im ...

in New York City and then at the

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA or ECA; french: link=no, Commission économique pour l'Afrique, CEA) was established in 1958 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council to encourage economic cooperation among its ...

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

. She has also worked for the UN in the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

. In 2017 Masisi moved back to New York to work on Umoja, an

enterprise resource planning Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of main business processes, often in real time and mediated by software and technology. ERP is usually referred to as a category of business management software—typically a sui ...

software system to be used by United Nations entities worldwide. She left the UN in 2018 when her husband became President of Botswana. Her role as First Lady is largely ceremonial. As First Lady, Masisi has focused on issues that affect children and adolescents, and on women's empowerment. In 2018 she launched ''Eseng Mo Ngwaneng'', a

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...

campaign against sexual exploitation and abuse.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masisi, Neo First Ladies of Botswana Living people Alumni of De Montfort University 1971 births African women