--- description: Find out why Duma Boko is one of the 100 most influential people of 2025. title: Duma Boko: The 100 Most Influential People of 2025 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae2dcca10398f41/6998c5bc9fbc7c6229d99fd6/time100-2025-duma-boko.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 16, 2025 # Duma Boko ## Video: TIME100 2025 | See Every Honoree [Watch (HLS stream): TIME100 2025 | See Every Honoree](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6HpL33vZ.m3u8) (3:55)  _Published 2025-04-16. See every 2025 TIME100 honoree._ by [Vivienne Walt](/author/vivienne-walt/) ## Vivienne Walt Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Botswana President Duma Gideon Boko is pictured during a diplomatic meeting between the Belgium and Botswana heads of government, Wednesday 27 November 2024 in Brussels. BELGA PHOTO JONAS ROOSENS. No Use Belgium. Botswana President Duma Gideon Boko is pictured during a diplomatic meeting between the Belgium and Botswana heads of government, Wednesday 27 November 2024 in Brussels. BELGA PHOTO JONAS ROOSENS. No Use Belgium.Jonas Roosens—Belga/Reuters Few predicted the seismic election upset that made Duma Boko President of Botswana. Last October, the 55-year-old Harvard-trained lawyer ousted the party that had ruled the nation of 2.5 million people since its independence from Britain nearly 60 years ago. But in hindsight, the outcome seems almost inevitable. In a democratic, stable country with vast diamond reserves and the world’s largest population of elephants, voters were increasingly frustrated over [political corruption](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2yx5nk1l0o "undefined"), and the huge influence of multinational giant De Beers, whose diamond trading accounts for more than 80% of Botswana’s foreign exports. World diamond prices have been plummeting, as lower-cost lab-grown stones flooded the market. Despite his impressive victory at the polls, Boko has no easy way to reverse the decline and fulfill his campaign promises, which include doubling the minimum wage, expanding social benefits for new mothers and seniors, and creating thousands of new jobs. He says he is eyeing cannabis and solar-power industries as two paths to better times. Whatever the recourse, he told the country bluntly: “We can no longer afford to depend on a single commodity.” Even in Botswana, diamonds might not be forever. _Walt is a TIME correspondent in Paris_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273796/duma-boko/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273796/duma-boko/"},"headline":"Duma Boko","datePublished":"2025-04-16T10:30:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:46:36.248Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273796/duma-boko/","keywords":["TIME100","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","T100Leaders2025"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae2dcca10398f41/6998c5bc9fbc7c6229d99fd6/time100-2025-duma-boko.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Vivienne Walt","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/vivienne-walt/"}],"creator":"Vivienne Walt","articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae2dcca10398f41/6998c5bc9fbc7c6229d99fd6/time100-2025-duma-boko.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273796/duma-boko/","name":"Duma Boko"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 2025 | See Every Honoree","description":"See every 2025 TIME100 honoree.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/6HpL33vZ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2025-04-16T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6HpL33vZ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273796/duma-boko/","duration":"PT3M55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2025/7273796/duma-boko/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```