Rosalind McLymont

Rosalind Kilkenny McLymont is the executive editor of The Network Journal, a leading Black-owned and operated U.S. business magazine targeting an audience of Black professionals and business owners; CEO and publisher of AfricaStrictlyBusiness.com, an online Africa business news, analysis and resource platform for a targeted global audience of business owners, executives and students, investors, policymakers and academicians; author of the award-winning novel, Middle Ground, the first “rebranding Africa” novel on the market (See videos at www.youtube.com/watch?v=aag7JIvQtCY and www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeUXCmdu97Y); the new novel, The Guyana Contract; and the non-fiction title, Africa: Strictly Business, The Steady March to Prosperity. She is also a partner in McLymont, Kunda & Co., international trade and business development strategists.

McLymont has more than 25 years’ experience as a journalist, writer, speaker and adviser to small and medium-sized companies on global business and entrepreneurship. She began her career in business journalism in the mid 1980s as an international trade reporter at The Journal of Commerce, a Knight-Ridder daily newspaper focused on global shipping, logistics and trade. (Founded by Samuel Morse in 1827, the paper was once considered America’s most prestigious paper.) McLymont became the paper’s first Black managing editor under ownership by The Economist Group, publishers of The Economist. In this role, she was the highest-ranking Black professional ever in the entire Economist Group. She left The Journal of Commerce in 1998, after 13 years in its employ, to work independently.

After leaving The Journal of Commerce, McLymont provided entrepreneurship training for women entrepreneurs in Africa as a consultant to the United Nations Development Program (Africa Bureau)’s Gender Program, and for women entrepreneurs in Russia as a Citizen Ambassador to that country under the Alliance of Russian and American Women. She provided expertise on accessing U.S. markets for the American and African Business Women’s Alliance conference in Botswana in 2002.

As executive editor of The Network Journal, McLymont oversees the editorial content of both the print magazine and TNJ.com. She speaks on behalf of the publication at its annual “25 Influential Black Women in Business Awards” Luncheon, its “40 Under Forty Black Achievers Awards’ Dinner, and represents the publication at high-level events with senior U.S. and non-U.S. business and civic leaders, government officials, and African heads of state. She has made several trips to Africa on behalf of The Network Journal and AfricaStrictlyBusines.com, most recently as a delegate to the 4th World Summit of Mayors and Leaders from Africa and of African Descent.

McLymont was featured for consecutive years in the annual Media Guide to America’s top financial writers. She appeared frequently on CNNfn financial news to comment on the monthly release of U.S. trade figures, and as a regular guest lecturer at New York University’s graduate program in Latin America and Caribbean studies. Her articles and columns on international trade appeared in such publications as The Journal of Commerce, The Congressional Record, America Economía, World Trade, Business Standards, Minority Business Entrepreneur, Transport Topics, Quality Digest, and Shipping Digest. Her Journal of Commerce articles, under the byline Rosalind Rachid, have been referenced in U.S. Congressional debates on trade policy, and worldwide in newspapers, books and scholarly research.

McLymont has also appeared on ABC TV’s Like It Is, GRITtv, at The Brecht Forum, and as a Literary Leader on Esther Armah’s radio show “Off The Page,” WBAI 99.5 FM, New York. She has also appeared on ABC TV’s “Here And Now,” hosted by Sandra Bookman; CUNYtv’s “Independent Sources.” She has also been a frequent guest speaker on international trade topics at colleges, universities and trade organizations.

McLymont has served as an advisor to the Institute on African Affairs; founding vice president and subsequently president of the Caribbean Media Association; an executive board member of the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation; and as a volunteer mentor at New York Women’s Foundation’s Girls Leadership Day. She is a founding member of the Advisory Board of York College (City University of New York) Journalism Program, currently serves as a member of the Council of Advisers to the Songhoy Paramount Chief; and served two terms as a member of the Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States,

McLymont taught English and French in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1973 to 1980. An alumna of the prestigious European Community Visitors Program, she has been named a “Woman History Maker” by the Caribbean-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a “Phenomenal Woman in Media” by Our Time Press and Herbert Von King Park Cultural Arts Center, and one of “50 Power Women in Business” by MEA Magazine.

She has received commendations and awards from the New York Association of Black Journalists, the International Black Women’s Congress, the CEJJES Institute (Rockland County), the National Minority Business Council, the New York Regional Chapter of the National Association of Health Services Executives, the Office of the Comptroller of New York City, the Guyana Cultural Association, the National Association of Kawaida Organizations – New York Chapter (Malcolm X Unity Award), the Global Alliance of Mayors and Leaders from Africa and of African Descent. In June she was awarded Guyana’s Golden Arrowhead Award of Achievement and Distinction.

McLymont was born in Guyana and speaks French and Spanish. She has a master’s degree in journalism from New York University, a bachelor’s degree in French from The City College of New York, and a Certificate in Spanish Language and Literature from the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. She has a Black Belt in T’ai Chi, a Zumba™ Gold Instructor Certificate, and a Senior Instructor Certificate from the International Fitness Association. She has completed courses in Qi Gong at The New York Open Center. She created and teaches Trim Brulée, a fitness program incorporating all of the above disciplines.

McLymont is married to Fritz-Earle McLymont, cofounder of the National Minority Business Council, Inc. (NMBC); founder/executive director of NMBC Global and NMBC Global Entrepreneurship Center; managing partner of McLymont, Kunda & Co.; and CEO of Brittonearth Energy Ltd. The couple resides in New York.