Ellen Johnson-Serliff, having received more than 50% of the valuable scarce on November 8th,

is hereby declared the winner of the presidential election.

It's the 23rd of November 2005, and Ellen Johnson-Serleaf has just been announced as the winner

of Liberia's first post-Civil War elections.

I'm excited, but I'm also humbled by the awesome challenges that we'll be facing.

It was a historic moment.

She became Africa's first elected female president.

During her 12 years in power, she played a crucial role in the nation's recovery from years of brutal conflict.

Her efforts earned her a Nobel Peace Prize for her work.

But her journey was not an easy one.

It had many challenges.

She faced sexism, bullying, persecution and two civil wars.

I was fair in complexion and always was teased. bullying, persecution, and two civil wars.

I was fair in complexion and always was teased in my class.

And I developed that resilience.

I developed that fighting mood. That's Ellen Johnson-Surliff speaking to me, Rahul Tandon,

for this edition of Business Daily, here on the BBC World Service.

My father, he was the first indigenous member of the House of Representatives.

He was part of the prosperous ones and our lifestyle was comfortable because of that.

Born in 1938, Ellen Johnson-Serleaf was raised in Liberia's capital city,

Monrovia. In a multicultural household, a father was from the Gola people, a West African

ethnic group, while her mother had mixed German and crew routes, an ethnic group from

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