The Emerging Leaders Initiative brought together the next generation of social entrepreneurs from around the world. Selected and supported in partnership by the Skoll Foundation and The Mastercard Foundation, the Emerging Leaders represent the great potential and passion existing in social entrepreneurship’s future leaders, addressing a wide range of issues like energy access in sub-Saharan Africa and the links between corruption and natural resource exploitation.
Cohorts were selected from those already demonstrating leadership qualities and making significant efforts to bring social change in their communities. The primary goal of the Emerging Leaders Initiative was to create a tailored learning experience to develop relationships and resources that extend well beyond the Forum that will help grow their impact on the communities they serve.
Currently, the nomination process is closed. We continually evaluate new partnership opportunities and content ideas. If you have any questions about the Emerging Leaders Initiative, please submit your inquiry to emergingleaders@skoll.org .
Co-Founder and CEO, Urban Refugees Sonia Ben Ali is the Director and Founder of the non-profit URBAN REFUGEES, (www.urban-refugees.org) and a recent Ashoka Fellow. She holds a Master’s degree in Humanitarian Affairs from the French Institute of Political Sciences of Bordeaux, and started working with refugees and IDPs in 2007. DSonia started working with refugees and IDPs in 2007 in Bogota (Colombia) with a local NGO. She then worked on refugee protection programs in Casamance (Senegal), in a refugee camp of the Palestinian Territories and in Beirut (Lebanon) with both NGOs and UN agencies. Sonia holds a Master’s degree in Humanitarian Affairs from the French Institute of Political Sciences of Bordeaux. She is a Ted X speaker, a finalist of the Echoing Green Fellowship 2016, was awarded the prize of social innovator by Deloitte Australia and social entrepreneur of the year 2014 by ShoeString.
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Melissa Bime is a 22 year old licensed Nurse from Cameroon. Being of the medical background, Melissa got to experience first hand the challenges patients in Cameroon faced at the hands of
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'm a Computer Scientist with successful experience in using technology to innovate and distribute high-impact, scalable solutions.
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Deputy Executive Director, Talent Beyond Boundaries Madeline is the Deputy Executive Director at Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB). Madeline joined TBB as an early team member in 2016 and has been an integral part of developing the organization’s goals, processes, strategy, and story. She is based in TBB’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. and spends significant time in TBB’s offices in the MIddle East. She joined TBB after serving as Manager of Development and Communications at the Cisneros Center for New Americans in Northwest Arkansas and working with the
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I was 15 when I first got introduced to environmental issues through the GLOBE program (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment), through which I discovered how one could be useful to their community. With my peers, we would observe and identify clouds in the sky, manage our local weather station and share our experiences weekly with other students. On hearing about my involvement in 2004, the Director of LC2 TV offered me a position as a TV host, on a show to bring awareness to the youth. From the University of Benin, I hold a master’s degree in the Environment and graduate as a journalist after I trained in journalism, video shooting, and editing skills in France.
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COO, CATO Foods and Agro Allied Global Concepts ATINUKE LEBILE, a vibrant lady with utmost interest in Agriculture and its value chain, and her passion for agriculture and feeding the nation and ensuring Food security has made her the Strategist Officer for Ogunmod Farms and Farmers' Academy and the Co-founder of Cato Foods and Agro-allied Global Concepts, that is committed to addressing Malnutrition especially in children under 5 and pregnant women using staple foods
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Co-Founder & Director of Football, Monrovia Football Academy I am Sekou Dgeorges Manubah, borne unto the union of Mr. and Mrs. Musu Sekou Manubah at the St. Joseph catholic Hospital, old road, Congo Town, Monrovia, Liberia.
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Founder and CEO, Vetsark Limited Blessing Mene is a seasoned entrepreneur with a passion for agriculture, finance and technology. He is currently the CEO of Vetsark Limited, an agritech startup based in Nigeria, where he has been working full-time. Vetsark's vision is to transform agri-financing in Africa and to build with our partners in agriculture the opportunity to manage and finance their farms and agribusinesses, using the right tech tools, guiding them to best performance and increased profitability for a sustainable growth.
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Co-Founder & President, AgriSan Edith Violet Naisubi is a Ugandan studying MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Edinburgh. She did a Bachelors’ degree in Business Administration at Ashesi University, Ghana as a MasterCard Foundation scholar at both institutions. Edith is interested in social entrepreneurship, the open-source movement, and transformative leadership. Edith co-founded AgriSan which focuses on helping women in Eastern Uganda who are sole breadwinners to collectively grow a farming business and develop financial literacy, among other skills.
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Founder & Team Leader, Collage Ritah Namwiza is a youth advocate with a special interest in how young people can harness technology to create and sustain livelihoods, improving their lives, and those they care about. She is a co-founder of Collage and Development Connection, both e-based platforms that bring development opportunities closer to young people. Ritah has supported various initiatives that equip youth with the skills they need to meaningfully contribute to development processes, including the implementation of Agenda 2030 and has worked with the Restless Development BIG IDEA programme, the UNAIDS Special Youth Programme and the Global Campaign to End Child Labour.
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CEO, Enda Athletic Limited Navalayo Osembo is the Co-Founder and CEO of Enda Athletic, Inc. Osembo is a graduate of the London School of Economics and has worked internationally, including in the US, UK, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya where she utilizes her diverse skills as an accountant, a lawyer, risk manager, and in international development.
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Co-Founder and CEO, CareNx Innovations Shantanu is creating an ecosystem for quality pregnancy care in low resource settings of India. His initiative CareNX with the team of 20 people is ensuring sustainable approach and efficient healthcare delivery model. 'CareMother' the flagship product of CareNX is a platform for doorstep care and management of high-risk pregnancies. CareMother is recognised by Her Majesty ‘The Queen of England’, UN-Women, Botnar Foundation and Grand Challenges Canada etc. Shantanu is awarded by “The President of India’s Innovation Scholar Award in 2015”, Google SMB Hero Award in 2017 and Top 10 Innovator by MIT, DST and Lockheed Martin in 2018.
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Founder & CEO, Ishtar Handmade Soap i was born and raised in Iraq all of my life, after a long journey to continue my studies during war and worst situation in Iraq i was successful to graduate from business administration at the age of 22 , i started after that working and volunteering in humanitarian organization (Alrawdh) where i focused to help women in need, i found my passion in life which is empowering and helping women in Iraq specially widowed and refugee and displaced women and ending child marriage and help girls go to schools, in 2014 i started my own business (Ishtar) which is a small business to support women by training them and hiring them inside the company , we faced many difficulties as it was the first women business that was self funded , but we were very successful to hire 12 women full time and over 25 women part time all around Iraq , we hired widowed women , women who live in poverty, and young women who want to finish their study , we are working now to increase the number of our shops and hire more women and start the next project which is about supporting the girls in poor families to go to schools and not be married at a young age .
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Project Manager, Our Voices Array
Angela Code is a member of the Sayisi Dene First Nation. She was born in Churchill, Manitoba (the polar bear capital of the world). Angela spent her childhood in her home Indian reserve at Tadoule Lake, Manitoba. There, she was surrounded by denesuline (Chipewyan Dene language), culture, family and community of her people. The Sayisi Dene are caribou people - much of their identity is directly linked to their traditional territory and living off the land. At age 10, Angela’s parents Allan and Mary Code moved her and brother Mike to Whitehorse, Yukon in order to receive higher quality western education, recreation and general opportunities to "succeed" within Canadian society. The move also proved to assist with Allan and Mary's careers as documentary film makers. After finishing high-school, Angela pursued her Bachelor of Arts degree with a Major in First Nation Studies, a Minor in First Nation Languages and Linguistics at the University of British Columbia - she graduated in 2012. Angela has worked various jobs - largely with youth and film making. Angela has also travelled the world. She believes in social justice and the empowerment of the oppressed. Angela is a strong advocate for indigenous peoples’ rights - particularly for indigenous women. Angela has served as a delegate for various summits including The Indigenous Circumpolar Women's Gathering and The Sustainable Goals Summit at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
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Buvana has 12 years of working experience with in Indian and Bangladesh microfinance industry. She started her career in DHAN Foundation, a leading not for profit in India that focuses on community banking program. She supported 8000 affected families by Tsunami to restore the lives and livelihood of poor communities through Microcredit. Later, She joined in a leading Microfinance Institution (which is a small finance bank) where she built and managed microcredit portfolio of INR 50 million. In 2009, She worked as a microfinance consultant for an urban Not-for-profit based at Dhaka, Bangladesh to set up savings and credit program supported by Development Innovations Group (DIG). While supporting Dhaka project, Buvana has set up the micro-housing pilot project of DIG in Chennai, India. Buvana has been with Water.org for 4+ years bringing changes in the lives of household by creating access to water and sanitation facility. Buvana joined as a Program Manager and got elevated to Senior Program Manager last year. She leads a team of program managers who manages the smart subsidy program implemented by Microfinance Institutions, Banks and WASH supply chain institutions across India. She guides and supports the programs team on the program technical aspects and budget management. Buvana has been instrumental in organizing annual events for Water.org partners and other stakeholders. She holds Masters in Agriculture from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India and also a certificate course on Certified Microfinance Expert from the Frankfurt school of management and Finance, Germany.
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Director of Digital Research and Development Department, Fundacion Capital Maria Antonia holds an MA degree in Finance, Government, and International Relations and has six years of experience in Social Entrepreneurship, field work and Information and Communications Technology for Development. She is the current Director of the Digital Research and Development Department of Fundación Capital. Before this position, she co-founded LittleBigMoney, the first social-crowdfunding platform in Colombia promoted by Fundación Capital and developed the expansion strategy of one of the largest Peer to Peer MarketPlace of Latin America Afluenta (Fintech Platform). She is an active Global Shaper and outgoing curator of the Global Shapers Mexico’s Hub. She currently teaches the "Alternative Fundraising and Negotiation" module at the Masters program of Management for Development at (Externado University Colombia) and the "Financial Innovation" module at the Postgraduate Programe - Economy and Management for Inclusion at (UDELAR Uruguay).
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Faith is a Zambian Youth Activist who believes that young people are the future of today.She’s a member of the MasterCard Foundation Youth ThinkTank,a project implemented by Restless Development Uganda & is leading research on innovations and technology and how they affect young farmers at different stages of the agricultural value chain.She’s also working with other Youth ThinkTank Researchers in East,West & Southern Africa,developing &adapting tools &guidelines that can support development stakeholders improve &increase engagement with young people in their programs.Furthermore,Faith is very passionate about Sexual Reproductive Health.Because of her passion,she co-found COPPER ROSE,a youth-led organization in Zambia that’s committed to educating adolescents &young people about their bodies,sexual rights & menstrual hygiene.She travels to remote areas of Zambia,managing projects focusing on girls in underprivileged communities.In the last 2years,she’s reached out to 12000+ girls teaching them about puberty &menstrual hygiene practices &intends to reach out to 1million women & girls by 2021.Faith has years of experience in Youth Engagement & Grassroots Organizing in low income countries in Africa.She’s a founding member of Project Forward an innovative,self-sustaining ecosystem that allows NGOs to indirectly incentivize volunteers.At its core,Project Forward facilitates the monetization of volunteer hours through a proprietary digital currency called Forward Coins.Faith is currently a National Youth Consultant with Swiss TPH evaluating the ACT!2030 Initiative,youth-led social action initiative which engages young people with advocacy &accountability around the SDGs.She has a BA in Business Administration &is working towards an Msc in Public Health/Public Policy &Global Affairs.In the next 5years,she intends to set up an industry manufacturing disposable &washable sanitary napkins which will provide jobs for thousands of young people in Africa.
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Priyanka majored in English from Delhi University and started her career at a buying house. In the last decade she has worked in sales, accounts, customer service, media, production and as a travel writer across India, New Zealand and the United States. She believes that the diversity in her career and the experience accumulated has helped build her communication, adaptability, management and interpersonal skills extensively. Priyanka joined the development sector two years ago as part of the media team at Breakthrough. Starting out as Manager for campaigns, she now heads the Media Hub for the organisation, a role she moved into a year and a half ago. As part of the current role, Priyanka along with her team is responsible for all the Mass Media and Digital work that is produced by the Breakthrough across various programs. This includes all media products such as films, radio, graphics design, IVRS in addition to all digital content. As part of the Senior team for the organisation, Priyanka's role also includes being part of and giving input on organisational strategy and other processes when requiredAn avid reader, she is a traveler at heart and when not working can be found curled up on the couch planning her next trip.
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Project Manager & Co-Founder., Ukulima Halisi Kevin is the Co-founder and Project Manager for Ukulima Halisi- A social venture Project that has revolutionised tea farming in Kenya by adopting notifications and schedule planning between the tea farmers and the different tea factories via mobile phone. Prior to moving to South Africa, He worked for Equity Group Foundation under the Wings to Fly Program, a project that provides full scholarship funding for needy bright students in Kenya.
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Driven by an interest to witness meaningful and sustainable change in underserved communities, Bvudzai leads the regional research and advocacy agenda for VillageReach’s work in improving immunization supply chains. Some of her current work is focussed on understanding processes and outcomes of transitioning social innovations (funding and management) from non-profit organizations to governments in low-resource settings. Bvudzai studied Public Health in Zimbabwe and South Africa and earned her PhD from the University of the Western Cape in 2017. All of her work experience has been in public health research with a goal to inform policy and practice. She has received multiple awards and fellowships including the Emerging Voices for Global Health, Social Innovation in Public Health Fellowship, South African Research Chair Initiative in Health Systems & Social Change.
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Rwanda Chief of Staff & Head of Government Relations, One Acre Fund Doreen is the Chief of Staff and Director of Government Relations for One Acre Fund in Rwanda. One Acre Fund serves smallholder farmers in East and Southern Africa, providing farm inputs, financing, and training that helps farmers to increase their yields and become more prosperous. Globally, One Acre Fund has 8,500 staff who serve more than 1 million farm families each year, with an additional 1 million households reached through private and public partnerships.
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Co-Founder, Strong Woman Strong Love Alpha Ngwenya is a student at Arizona State University majoring in Economics and Business Data Analytics. He currently works for Changemaker Central as a marketing chairperson. Changemaker provides over $250,000 in start-up funding. Alpha interned with Steward Bank and Public Accountant and Auditors Board were he developed interpersonal skills. By the age of 14 his grandfather, grandmother, father, and mother had passed away and he had to assume responsibility for his two siblings. That was when he started a vegetable garden business that enabled him to generate funds for his education and the education of siblings. His background was his introduction to the world of social innovation. Alpha has pursued his passion for social entrepreneurship by founding African Data Company, a unique startup that trains rural community members in Lupinyu, Zimbabwe on ways to save, accumulate and invest their money. With the aim of disrupting the cycle of poverty which is dominant in rural Africa. He also co-founded Strong Women Strong Love, a non-profit that provides feminine hygiene products to women facing homelessness. They teach women in Uganda the skills of designing a reusable sanity pad that can be sold for a 5500 Ugandan shillings profit per pack. This is unique because it provides entrepreneurship skills and financial benefit to women who are less privileged. Also, Strong Women Strong Love partners with a safe house with an aim to keep a girl child in school all month long, by training them to make reusable feminine hygiene products for personal use. Strong Women Strong Love has impacted over 2400+ women since its inception.
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Postgraduate studying Africa and International Development, Edinburgh University Dorcas Amoh-Mensah
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Founder & Executive Director, Sani Foundation Through the Sani Foundation, Michelle seeks to facilitate the full inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities into Zambian society. A cornerstone of its work is the Sunshine Zambia Project, which provides holistic, relevant training to prepare adolescents and young adults with intellectual disabilities for employment and independence within their community. While employment training services in Zambia typically segregate individuals with disabilities, with few trainees ever graduating to mainstream jobs with fair wages, Michelle pursues a person-centered model that assists those with disabilities in securing and maintaining jobs in the open labor market. Michelle was motivated to research international best practices for addressing the needs of the people with intellectual disabilities as a result of having a brother with Down Syndrome. Through the Sani Foundation, she also advocates for the adoption of more inclusive job market policies, while promoting to employers the commercial benefits of a diverse and inclusive labour market.
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Sam leads Global Witness’s work on data-driven investigative journalism and digital storytelling. His work focuses on the use of data to fight corruption and how to turn this information into change making stories.
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Chairman, Advisory Board, Tanzania Renewable Energy Association Name: Godwin David Msigwa
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Executive Director, B Lab East Africa Olivia is the Executive Director and founder of B Lab East Africa. In her role, Olivia is working on building a community of people using business as a force for good in the region; from recruiting B Corps to capacity building for organisations in the region. Prior to this role, Olivia was the Global Partner Manager at B Lab supporting its network of regional partners. She also worked as a Standards Analyst helping companies going through the B Corp Certification process, and supporting impact investors to measure and report their social and environmental impact.
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After receiving her bachelor’s degree from University of California-Los Angeles and her master’s degree in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University, Yamin returned to her home country to lead Proximity School, a corporate university that provides technical and soft skill trainings to hundreds of staff across rural Myanmar. Yamin has prior experience providing mental health services to individuals, couples, and families in California and in Myanmar. Whether it’s providing mental health counseling, or conducting trainings on a larger scale, Yamin’s passion lies in making a personal impact on people’s minds and paths, and helping maximize individuals’ potentials.
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Postgraduate studying Environment & Development, Edinburgh University “The surest way to keep people down is to educate the men and neglect the women. If you educate a man you simply educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a whole nation" James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey - Ghana
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A descendant of refugees that survived genocide, Antranik Krikor Ozanian, 27, Switzerland, was born to Armenian parents in Bulgaria, as the cold war was ending in 1989. Blessed with new opportunities, Antranik grew up in U.K. with a strong desire to pursue a career helping to prevent future violations of human rights. He completed a Bachelors and Masters in Laws at the University of Manchester, followed by both working in Atlanta, USA protecting prisoners’ rights on death row and working in The Hague assisting the prosecution of war crimes at the UN ICTY. In 2014, Antranik was called to the Bar of England and Wales at Middle Temple, receiving the Dean’s List Award for highest score in advocacy. Drawing on his advocacy skills and armed with creative ideas for justice reform, Antranik immediately began working at International Bridges to Justice where, in addition to fundraising, events management and programme monitoring and evaluation, he is currently spearheading the IBJ JusticeHub, an innovative technology platform that supercharges networks of justice stakeholders around the world.
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Director of Innovation, iLab Liberia Kpetermeni is a native of Liberia but spent his formative years between Liberia and Ghana during the civil wars in his home country. Whilst a MasterCard Foundation scholar at Ashesi University, Kpetermeni helped combat the Ebola outbreak by drastically shortening the time it took health officials to get actionable data from the field.
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Head of Community Impact, United Way of India I am a development sector professional with over seventeen years of experience of working with various stakeholders and beneficiaries in the areas of Education, Life-Skills, Gender Equity. I constantly upgrade myself through studying and reading which enables me to bring in newer ideas and approaches to my work. I also have a zeal for volunteering, training and public speaking which keeps the passion for 'making a difference' alive in me.
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Managing Director, Disa Energy Management Ltd Fhazhil is a passionate educator and a budding social entrepreneur in Information Technology and energy systems. He is currently the partnership director of M-Soma Institute, a social venture preparing young people in East Africa for successful careers in Information Technology and entrepreneurship. M-Soma Institute offers pre-university training in computer programming and software development and general technical entrepreneurial training to high school graduates through boot camps as well as through its online and mobile platforms.
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Chief Program Officer, Medic Amanda Yembrick joined Medic in 2012 and currently serves as interim Chief Program Officer, based remotely in Washington, D.C. USA. In this role, Amanda leads the organization’s global team that designs and delivers impactful digital health tools, provides capacity building services, and implements technology solutions leveraging the Community Health Toolkit. Amanda most recently served as Medic’s Director of Research and Learning, overseeing a portfolio of data science and design research initiatives. Prior to joining Medic, Amanda worked in international and domestic emergency response with organizations including Partners in Health and MIT. Amanda holds a BSc in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University.
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Development Manager, Kiva Valerie is originally from Haiti and responsible for managing corporate and foundation partnerships for Kiva. Prior to joining Kiva, Valerie managed corporate partnerships for the Pan American Development Foundation in Latin America for three years where she developed regional multi-sector alliances. In 2008, Valerie was a Kennedy Fellow with the Haitian American Organization for Women where she focused on youth entrepreneurship and arts education. Valerie holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Stanford and a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the University of Cambridge.
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Mastercard Foundation Scholar in Food Science, Michigan State University Makafui Borbi is from Ghana, and is pursuing a Master's degree in Food Science. Growing up in Ghana, she realized how much agricultural produce is wasted during bumper harvests. This realization spurred her to seek solutions to this problem. Currently, Makafui is pursuing the feasibility of setting up a food processing factory in her community to process and preserve fresh agricultural produce in order to minimize post-harvest waste. Before coming to MSU in 2014, she was a teaching and research assistant at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Together with other teaching assistants, she helped to found Dynamic Research Access Media (DRE-AM) in 2013. DreAM is a registered NGO based in Ghana with the mission of communicating science and technology, and health-related research findings to local communities. DReAM’s major goals are to promote primary prevention of diseases; provide a vehicle through which to communicate science and local research findings to communities; support and promote science and research in Ghana; and to educate local communities on science and technology.
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Advocacy & Campaigns Manager, Crisis Action Eye-opening experiences in her young days in Thailand and a strong sense of empathy led Anouck to engage in humanitarian work from a young age. In her work with the UN and grassroots NGOs across continents, she's had diverse roles from monitoring and evaluating social developments programmes in rural India, to advocating for the rights of refugees vis-à-vis governments and international donors in Iran and Rwanda.
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Antonio Fonseca joined Imazon as a trainee in 2008. In 2010 he graduated in environmental engineering and was hired as an assistant researcher to work at Imazon's deforestation monitoring program. In this program, I have quickly gained remote sensing end Geographic Information System (GIS) skills that led me to assume a technical coordinator of Deforestation Alert System (SAD). As current attributions, I am responsible to run SAD every month, coordinate the team and prepare the reports that are evaluated by the program supervisors. I have also gained experience in communicating SAD results to the general media in Brazil. In 2016, I will be seeking for graduate program in US Universities to strength my academic skills and expect to return to work in the Amazon region in the field of forest monitoring.
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Diana N-Peline Kombui is a member of CAMA (Camfed Association) – the pan-African network of educated young women. She is a graduate from Central University, where she studied B.Sc in Banking and Finance. She was supported by Camfed in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation during her tertiary education. Diana was the President of the University’s CAMA Campus Club and the Secretary for the Camfed Ghana-MasterCard Foundation Scholars Leadership Program. Diana has worked as an intern with Camfed Ghana to help organize leadership and enrichment activities for senior high school and tertiary students.
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Co-Founder, COBURWAS International Youth Organization to Transform Africa A 25-year-old from the D.R. Congo fled from his home country to Uganda at the age of six due to conflict. With his friends, Munyambanza co-founded the organization COBURWAS International Youth Organization to Transform Africa (CIYOTA) at age 14 to educate refugee youth from Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, and Sudan. Munyambanza excelled in his studies in the refugee camp in Uganda and graduated from the African Leadership Academy in 2010. He is a member of the British Council Global Changemaker network and a fellow at the African Leadership Network. Munyambanza is one of 15 young people chosen to serve as advisors on international education to the UN Secretary General. He graduated in biochemistry at Westminster College a MasterCard Foundation Scholar. He is the force behind different new initiatives in innovative education to empower young leaders in the Congo and Uganda. He was recognized along with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia as one of four Global Citizen Award winners of 2013. He was recognized named one of The 99 most influential Foreign Policy Leaders under the age of 33 by the Diplomatic Courier magazine. Munyambanza also awarded the Trailblazer Award by the African Leadership Academy in 2014
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Founder & CEO, Habona Ltd. Jean Bosco is the Founder and CEO of HABONA Ltd, a company that provides integrated waste management services and further processes the waste into affordable and environmentally friendly fuels such as biogas and biomass briquettes. Jean Bosco oversees the overall company management, public relations and fundraising. Upon founding HABONA, he was crowned as the 2014 Top Young Entrepreneur of Rwanda and he received the 2015 young achiever award by the First Lady of Rwanda. He has also won a number of other prizes, including the African Innovation and the India-Africa Young Visionary prizes. Jean Bosco holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Rwanda and is completing his final papers of CPA. He was selected as the 2015 Mandela Washington Fellow through the flagship program of the President Obama for Young African Leaders. Public speaking appearances include at the 2014 Pan-African Youth Conference and the 2014 Rwanda Day Celebration in Atlanta. He has also been invited by HRH Prince Andrew to pitch his business in Buckingham Palace, UK.
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Co-Founder & Country Manager, Pluspeople Kenya Limited "Angela has a background in business and information technology from Strathmore University in Kenya. She is currently the Co-founder and Country Manager of Pluspeople Kenya/ Uhasibu, an IT company that has been recognized and awarded for its focus on empowering SMEs in East Africa by offering them IT solutions to manage their businesses more professionally.
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iFIGHT Coordinator, Voice Of The Free Nica Santiago currently oversees the iFIGHT program at Visayan Forum Foundation, which seeks to empower youth as a driving force in fighting human trafficking and other forms of exploitation. As iFIGHT Coordinator, she works to develop partnerships with schools, colleges and local government units and is primarily responsible for leading major events, delivering speeches and seminars on human trafficking, and developing iFIGHT chapters. Nica is also a filmmaker, having been recognized at various festivals both domestically and internationally. Her short film, “Sa Wakas,” which discusses the right to reproductive health, won prizes at Cinemalaya 2013 and the Active Vista Film Festival 2013 and received selections at festivals in Poland and Australia as well. She is also an Artist-Teacher at the Philippine Educational Theater Association, where she conducts workshops regarding children empowerment and community resilience. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Mass Communication from Far Eastern University, Philippines.
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Founder & CEO, Acacias for All Sarah was born in France to a Tunisian father and a French mother. Influenced by her father who worked for years in the nonprofit sector, Sarah got involved in social causes at a young age to build youth centers, computer labs and public libraries in Tunisia’s marginalized communities. During her time at the Sorbonne, Sarah founded DREAM, an incubator for social and environmental students projects in Paris. In 2011, following the Tunisian revolution, Sarah, who had been leading a very comfortable life in Paris, decided to go back to her homeland of Tunisia. In Tunisia, Sarah saw that the levels of rural poverty, resulting from land desertification, were rapidly increasing. This eye opening experience led Sarah to her conviction that desertification and environmental degradation, leading to rural poverty, was the most pressing issue facing her community. She started by organizing a program called "Castle of Knowledge" in her grand-parents village (Bir Salah), offering women and youth the opportunité to get access to cultural and educational activities. Then she started planting trees with this community and created Acacias for all. Sarah is an Ashoka Fellow and Echoing Green #Climate Fellow.
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Executive Director, Opportunity Youth United Lashon Amado is the Project Director for Opportunity Youth United, a national grassroots movement of opportunity youth and their adult allies seeking to alleviate poverty in their community through civic engagement. After being “pushed out” of high school, Lashon received a second-chance to get back on track by attending his local YouthBuild program in Brockton, MA. After completing the program, Lashon went on to receive his master’s degree from Northeastern University. He is now an emerging social entrepreneur, with a vision to empower young people across the globe to be change agents in their community.
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During my student days, I realized that my business degree needed to be used for something more, besides just making money. I ventured from Serbia all the way to Cambodia to explore how social enterprises really work. Now, I spend my days with the Friends-International teams that save lives and build better futures for children, youth and families around the globe, but mainly in Southeast Asia. Seeing our solutions really work for the people – that’s something worth being part of. My role is to make sure that we have the right people doing the right job, and that they supported with training and tools to make their work outcomes best possible.
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Co-Founder Executive Director , Impact Africa Trust Isaac Jonas is the Co-Founder and Executive Director for Impact Africa Trust (IAT), a not for profit organization that was conceived by his inspiring participation at the Skoll World Forum of 2015. IAT is duly registered in Zimbabwe under protocol number MA913/2015. For more information about Impact Africa Trust work please visit our Website: www.impactafricatrust.org. He has also been working at the University of British Columbia(UBC) doing research on Marine ecosystems.In his spare time if nay is left, he reads and writes books. His first book publication is a biography called "The Serendipity of a Great Network", that traces his life journey from Zimbabwe to now Canada. The book is available online
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Head of Education & Events, CDI Apps for Good Natalie Moore is the Head of Education & Events at Apps for Good. She joined the Apps for Good education team in January 2013, and since joining has grown the community of UK Education Partners from 100 to over 1000. Prior to this role Natalie worked for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games as the International Education Programme Coordinator for the Education Team. While in this role she managed an international school linking programme as well as supporting, developing and building relationships with schools that were part of the UK Get Set network. Natalie is particularly passionate about using education and new initiatives to create an environment that allows young people to be inspired and to achieve.
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Co-Founder, Asikana Network Regina is co-founder of Asikana Network, an organisation that trains Zambian girls and young women in information and communications technology skills, so that they can find better jobs and realise their potential. Regina is planning to link Network members to mentors in order to develop their skills further in the future.
Alumnus, African Leadership Academy Joseph is an alumnus of African Leadership Academy and a current MasterCard Foundation Scholar, studying Transnational Studies and Global Social Entrepreneurship at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. Joseph is passionate about youth development and has begun using his skills to empower young people across Ghana through Youth Impact Workshop. In the past, he conducted research working with the MasterCard Foundation Youth Think Tank on effective youth engagement strategies for NGOs in Sub-Saharan Africa. He was also one of four Emerging Leaders to speak at the 2015 edition of Skoll World Forum. He has worked with the West Africa Civil Society Institute, Opportunity International and Simmons Foods. On campus, he serves as co-Organizer of TEDxWestminsterCollege and Founding President of the Westminster Debate Society. Joseph is a Resolution Fellow having won seed funding to implement the Nima Innovation Lab for Girls, a program that will nurture young women to start socially viable businesses in urban poor communities.
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Founder & CEO, Kito International Wiclif Otieno is a former street boy in Nairobi with a deep passion for social justice and a drive to create economic opportunities for young people in Kawangware slums. After becoming an orphan at the age of 7, he joined the streets to fend for himself and survived on the streets of Nairobi for five years. He was rescued by an American couple who invested in him by helping get him to school and other training.
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I graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work and minor in Human Services at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, and joined Fundación Paraguaya in 2012. As Poverty Stoplight Coordinator, my responsibilities include the management of relationships with 18 organizations abroad replicating this methodology; communications with Hewlett Packard for software development; supervise methodology implementation at 35 private enterprises, governments and churches in Paraguay; lead team in charge of developing tools and solution strategies to the different Poverty Stoplight indicators. This team trains FP loan officers who in the past 3 years have helped 24000 families overcome income poverty, and 3200 families overcome poverty as measured by the 50 indicators in the Poverty Stoplight.
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Operations Director- China, Half the Sky Foundation I am an ordinary woman but lucky enough to start my career in an NGO I’m proud to join at 2010. We nurture those innocent children either orphaned or at risk to reach their full potentials, through affluent programs and caregiver trainings. After having my own baby last year, I devote more with a whole heart to protect those fragile angels.
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CAMA (CAMFED Alumnae Association) Member, CAMFED Abigail is a remarkable young woman and a champion of social and economic change in her nation.
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CAMA (CAMFED Alumnae Association) National Chairperson, CAMFED Rafiatu Lawal is passionate about education and the development of disadvantaged and rural communities. She comes from a family of 11, from a small village called Daboya in the Northern Region of Ghana. She is teaches home economics and general science at Nahadah Islamic Junior High School in Tamale. She is also the past national chairperson of CAMA (Camfed's Alumnae) network in Ghana. Cama is one of a kind in Africa, bringing together young women change-makers. It seeks to break the cycle of poverty in their families. She is deeply interested in education and in working to ensure that every child gets the opportunity of going to school. She is an alumnus of The MasterCard Foundation Youth Think Tank.
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Jenna Wachtel is the Director of Early Learning at the New Teacher Center, a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving student learning by accelerating the effectiveness of teachers and school leaders. After completing her graduate work at Stanford University, Jenna began teaching kindergarten and first grade in East Palo Alto, CA. Throughout her career, Jenna taught in early learning classrooms at regular public and charter schools in both high- and low-income communities. She has earned National Board Certification in Early and Middle Childhood Literacy, was named one of Splashlife’s 30 Under 30 Innovative Educators and participated in the Skoll World forum as an Emerging Young Leader.
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Executive Director, Sistema B Array
Marcel Fukayama is an Impact Entrepreneur, Cancer Survivor and Cathedral Builder. He has been involved with different initiatives in new economy.
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While studying Information Systems Management at Ecole Centrale Paris, Ghislain spent a few months travelling through Cambodia where he volunteered with several NGOs and social enterprises. He graduated in 2007 with a major in Entrepreneurship and decided to further get involved: he returned to Cambodia and started to work for Friends-International. During 5 years based in Phnom Penh he advised and trained local teams developing and running projects supporting unemployed young people and caretakers in accessing better economic opportunities to build their futures. His work took him to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Honduras. In 2013 he became Program Director for Indonesia, leading the development of a new program for Friends in Jakarta.
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Country Director, Malawi and Riders International Vice Board Chairman, Riders for Health Born, raised and educated in Malawi, Mphatso Kachule is a growing leader in the NGO/social enterprise sector in Malawi. She has worked in various industries in her 6 year career as a development practitioner, gaining a unique management perspective.
Young Leader Initiative- INJAZ El Djazair, INJAZ El Djazair Mahdi is the operations officer at INJAZ El Djazair, the Algerian branch of INJAZ Al-Arab, an affiliate of Junior Achievement. While he was in college, he created a [what kind of?] company called Zine Zmen with the support of INJAZ El Djazair. After a year, Zine went bankrupt and Mahdi worked in the foreign guarantees department of the ARAB BANK ALGERIA group. Ten months ago, he returned to his current role at INJAZ El Djazair.
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Young Leader Initiative- Mastercard, Ph.D, Telecommunication: Intelligent Mobile Health Monintoring Systems (mHealth).
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Co-Founder, Oacsoft Technologies, Array
Joseph Ajao is an alumnus of Silicon Valley's top technology community, Singularity University.
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Founder, Riziki Source Limited Fredrick is the Founder at Riziki Source, a social enterprise that facilitates access to job opportunities for persons with disabilities in Kenya leveraging the power of technology. He works part-time as a Co-CETO for ADD International and previously a program officer for disability rights program at Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa, he was also the disability inclusion advisor for Kenya, Light for the World Netherlands and formerly a founding executive director of Action Network for the Disabled for 15 years, a national disabled person` organization in Kenya working to improve life prospects of children
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Young Leader Initiative- Mastercard, Ffene Ltd Over 90% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa do not have any form of automation in their business processes. Storage, retrieval and processing are all done manually on paper. This slows down business and also prevents businesses from being able to capture the insights from their data that would enable them to make intelligent decisions. In June 2012, with a year left in college, Titus decided this was the problem he wanted to solve. He left school and has been building ffene.com, a low-cost business management platform for SMEs in the developing world, ever since.
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