The annual awards celebrate the individuals, teams, and organisations that shape the future through excellence in project management.

This year, Sub-Saharan Africa once again proved its growing influence on the global project management stage, with four awardees recognised for their outstanding leadership, innovation, and social impact.

Representing Angola, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and South Africa, these honourees exemplify how African project professionals are driving transformation across industries, communities, and borders.

Angolan Marco Romero was named the global winner of the 2025 PMI Rising Leader Award, which honours early-career professionals who are already making significant contributions to the profession.

Romero’s recognition underscores the region’s growing youth-driven innovation and its capacity to deliver global standards of project excellence.

“Marco’s win is a testament to the talent and determination that defines Africa’s next generation of project leaders,” said George Asamani, Managing Director, PMI Sub-Saharan Africa. “He embodies the spirit of possibility and purpose that we see across the continent, a belief that great ideas, when managed with rigour and passion, can change lives and reshape industries.”

In recent years, Marco has focused his work on advancing Angola’s emerging space ecosystem and inspiring youth through STEM and project-based learning.

As a Ballistic and Navigation Satellite Operator Specialist at the Angolan Office for Space Affairs and National Point of Contact for the Space Generation Advisory Council, he has led initiatives such as establishing an Analog Site in Namibe, organising Space Mission Design Workshops, and developing programmes that bridge science, technology, and project management.

As one of the lead mentors alongside Marco Carlos, he played a pivotal role in transforming the “PMI Angola Chapter Goes to Space” concept into a structured, results-driven learning experience. Two stratospheric balloons were successfully launched in November 2025 and recovered. Drawing on his project management expertise and passion for education, Marco guided 30 students through every phase of the project, demonstrating how professional project management frameworks can make even the most ambitious ideas achievable.

The MTN Ghana Project Management Office (PMO) was named the Africa PMO of the Year, a category within the prestigious PMO of the Year Awards.

This honour recognises PMOs that deliver exceptional value through leadership, strategic alignment, and executional excellence.

MTN Ghana’s PMO stood out for its transformative role in aligning large-scale technology initiatives with business strategy, demonstrating how disciplined project governance enables innovation and customer value creation at scale.

Their recognition places Ghana at the forefront of enterprise project management maturity in Africa and positions MTN as a model for how African organisations can leverage PMOs to drive operational excellence and strategic agility.

The PMI Ghana Chapter was named a regional finalist for the prestigious PMI® Chapter of the Year Award, which celebrates chapters that demonstrate outstanding leadership, innovation, and impact within the global PMI community.

Stéphanie-Laure Zoro from the PMI Côte d’Ivoire Chapter was honored with the PMI Chapter Leadership Impact Award, which recognises volunteer leaders who elevate their chapters through mentorship, collaboration, and innovation.

Zoro’s leadership has played a pivotal role in strengthening the project management community in West Africa, fostering collaboration across borders, and nurturing the next generation of professionals.

South Africa’s Greenpoint Educational Dome, designed to promote environmental awareness, sustainability, and the adoption of mass timber building practices, received an Honourable Mention in the Social Project category of the PMI Project of the Year Awards.

The project was celebrated for its creative use of design and project management to enhance access to educational spaces, demonstrating how project methodologies can support sustainable community development.

The achievements of these winners reflect a broader transformation across Sub-Saharan Africa, where project management is becoming a cornerstone of national development, enterprise growth, and youth empowerment.

Speaking recently at the Global Summit Series Africa, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, former President of the African Development Bank, noted that African project professionals are now delivering world-class results, from the Dangote Refinery in Nigeria to the Noor Power Station in Morocco.

They demonstrate that Africa’s talent can plan, execute, and deliver complex projects to global standards.

“These accolades are catalysts to shine a spotlight on project management as a career of choice for Africa’s next generation. As PMI’s Global Project Management Talent Gap 2025 report shows, Sub-Saharan Africa will need to add up to 2.1 million project professionals by 2035, marking a 75% surge in demand, one of the fastest growth rates globally. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report echoes this outlook, identifying project management as one of the top roles expected to see sustained growth globally,” adds Asamani.

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The grant is a total amount of $21.7 million in funding over a three-year performance period for the VIAVI Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN (VALOR).

VALOR is based on VIAVI’s industry-leading NITRO Wireless test portfolio, delivered through Lab-as-a-Service (LaaS) and Test-as-a-Service (TaaS) models.

This solution is designed to manage and support 5G and Open RAN projects that would benefit from access to tools and expert staff with a minimal ramp-up time.

VIAVI provides dedicated engineers (onsite or offsite), automated test processes, access to comprehensive testing capabilities and expertise, standard and customized tools and libraries, and assistance with demonstrations.

VALOR intends to empower Open RAN component providers to leverage LaaS in a structurally cost-effective way that the NTIA grant will further augment, regardless of the scale of a component provider’s operation.

“VIAVI is proud to be a recipient of a grant from the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, which will make Open RAN testing accessible, affordable, and sustainable for the entire ecosystem,” said Oleg Khaykin, president and Chief Executive Officer, VIAVI. “Open RAN is critical to securing the telecommunications supply chain of our nation, but the inherent openness and flexibility of this technology also bring about complexities. As a leader in 5G and upcoming 6G, VIAVI is committed to certification, benchmarking, optimization and verification to enhance the efficiency, automation, and security of Open RAN systems.”

“Innovation in Arizona continues to flourish thanks to our work on the CHIPS and Science Act,” said Senator Kristen Synema, Arizona. “The $21.7 million grant we secured for VIAVI Solutions in Chandler will fuel economic growth, spur innovation, and lower costs — and we couldn’t be prouder to help make it a reality.”

“Thanks to cutting edge companies like VIAVI, Arizona is a hotbed for industries of the future, including the next generation of wireless technologies,” said Senator Mark Kelly, Arizona. “As a lead negotiator of the Chips and Science Act, I worked to secure investments that will fuel innovation, increase competition, and reduce reliance on wireless equipment providers that threaten our national security.”

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