Sharmi Surianarain serves as the Chief Impact Officer, Harambee Youth Accelerator, Sharmi is a fierce advocate for opportunity and social justice for young people and women across the African continent, and is a keen analyst and thinker on the future of work. Sharmi leads on Harambee’s impact and systems change agendas, including our key funder partnerships, research and learning agenda. Sharmi is the chair of the Rwanda Global Business Services Growth Initiative advisory board, an initiative incubated by Harambee to drive GBS job growth in Rwanda. Sharmi is the Founder of Making Caring Count, a social enterprise that aims to build impactful solutions around care work in Africa and has launched a TED talk on the subject of care work. Sharmi is an Aspen African Leadership Initiative Fellow, Class of 2020 and an RSA Fellow, and has a BA and MEd from Harvard University. Sharmi is also a singer-songwriter and jazz musician, with a debut EP titled Lost. She lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
Economic OpportunityEducationLivelihoodsPost-Secondary EducationSecondary EducationYouth Job Skills
Eastern and Southern Africa, West and Central Africa
