IMF chief Lagarde jets in today

PIC: IMF chief Christine Lagarde

Who are the most powerful women in the world?

My bet is the first women to spring to your mind will be German chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May. Maybe even Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland or even Marine Le Pen, the polarizing woman vying for French presidency this year.

Look beyond politicians, there is a woman at the helm of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the most powerful woman in global finance, and her name is Christine Lagarde.

The managing director of the Bretton Woods institution is coming to Uganda this week on a four-day state visit, according to a missive by the finance ministry.

It is understood the 61-year-old will hold bilateral talks with President Yoweri Museveni and also give a public lecture at the Kampala Serena Hotel on Friday.

So what do you know about Lagarde?

Do you know that she was an accomplished athlete with the French national synchronized swimming team in her teen years?

Born in French capital Paris in 1956 to Robert Lallouette, a professor of English literature and Nicole Lallouette, a professor of French, Latin and ancient Greek, Lagarde attended Holton-Arms School, a girls' school located in Maryland, U.S. She completed high school in Le Havre in France.

After high school, Lagarde went to law school at University Paris X, where she graduated with a law degree. Later, she obtained a Master's degree from the Political Science Institute in Aix en Provence.

Life of ‘firsts'

Lagarde then joined Baker & McKenzie, an international firm, as an associate. Her specialty was Labor, Anti-trust, and Mergers & Acquisitions. She grew through the ranks, and eighteen years later, Lagarde became the first female chair of the firm.

In the political arena, Lagarde joined the government of France in June 2005 as Minister for Foreign Trade. Under her reign; the country's exports grew phenomenally. 

In June 2007 Lagarde became the first woman to hold the post of Finance and Economy Minister in France, also becoming the first woman to hold such a position in a G-7 country.

"From July to December 2008, she also chaired the ECOFIN Council, which brings together Economics and Finance Ministers of the European Union, and helped foster international policies related to financial supervision, regulation, and strengthening global economic governance. As Chairman of the G-20 when France took over its presidency for the year 2011, she set in motion a wide-ranging work agenda on the reform of the international monetary

Financial Times voted her as the best finance minister in Europe in 2009.

Lagarde then become the first Managing Director of the IMF, after she was elected to the position in July 2011, becoming the first woman to hold the position after 10 men had led the Bretton Woods institution in a row. Lagarde replaced another French national Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the IMF.

In an interview with CNN's Leading Women in 2015, Lagarde said she does not want to let women down in her role.

"I don't want to let my female colleagues around the globe down," she says. "I don't want them to turn around to me and say...'why did you make a mess out of it'?"

There have speculation that Lagarde may one day consider running for presidency, something she has continually denied.

In her personal life, Lagarde is the mother of two sons; Thomas and Pierre-Henri, who she had with her first husband, Wilfried Lagarde.