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ADERINSOLA ADIO-ADEPOJU

Aderinsola Adio-Adepoju is an educator, life coach, researcher, entrepreneur, and expert on the SDGs & accessing global opportunities. 

Aderinsola is an advocate for youth & women empowerment through skills acquisition as a means of achieving the SDGs.

Mrs. Adio-Adepoju is an UNLEASH Ambassador and UPG sustainability leader of 2021 and has won several global opportunities such as grants, awards, business labs, innovation labs, fellowships that have taken her across 5 continents.

Aderinsola is the Founder of I-Train Africa and she is rounding off her Ph.D. at the University of Lagos Nigeria where she also teaches entry-level students with a mission to shape the lives of 500,000 youths by 2022.

As an academic, she has co-authored several academic publications in reputable journals and attended several local and international conferences. Aderinsola is an international speaker and coach with a track record of inspiring, educating, motivating, and helping her audience achieve clarity, direction, and results. 

As an entrepreneur, Mrs. Adio-Adepoju has over 12 years of management/teaching experience as the CEO/lead trainer of Deryne Couture, a leading fashion school and fashion retail company.  

She has several certifications in entrepreneurship, innovation, and skills with a mini MBA from the International Finance Corporation (IFC); a member of the World Bank Group.

 Aderinsola is a happy wife, mother of 2, who loves to take pictures, travel, and mentor youths.

SAAD UAKKAS

I’m a global youth engagement and health activist living in Morocco. I was the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)’s Liaison Officer to Student Organizations. I represented 1,4 million students from 135 countries leading global campaigns with fieldwork, advocacy, and policy-making on infectious diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance, organ and blood donation, interprofessional education and collaboration, and leading IFMSA’s global COVID-19 campaign collaborating with WHO, UNFPA, and other organizations. I occupied global leadership positions such as the secretariat coordinator of the World Healthcare Students Alliance. I’m an international trainer with 380 hours of trainings facilitated, a TEDx speaker with 170 Hours of webinars and events as speaker/panelist, a One Young World ambassador, a UNESCO Youth Researcher, an UNLEASH innovation lab facilitator and organizer, World Literacy Foundation ambassador, and a Clinton Global Initiative fellow. I organized over 30 health events, projects, and campaigns nationally and globally. I represented youth in 54 international and national events in 20 countries including COP22, COP25, World Health Assembly, and the UN General Assembly. I received multiple awards including the Princess Diana award 2021, the JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons Morocco 2021, the IFMSA’s best activity in the world 2019, and the Arab voluntary union’s best Arab voluntary project award 2019.

CHUKWUEMEKA NDUKWE

Chukwuemeka is an entrepreneur and professional, passionate about applying technology to solve common developmental problems in Africa. He has worked with and built multiple social enterprises across edutech, agritech, and proptech. Currently, he is the CEO of Cofundie, a proptech company working to solve the housing crisis in Africa by democratizing housing finance

RAFAEL BURALLI

RAFAEL JUNQUEIRA BURALLI has a Ph.D. and Master’s degree in Public Health from the School of Public Health from the University of São Paulo (FSP/USP). Visiting student (doutorado sanduiche) at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the School of Public Health of the University of Chile. Currently working as a lecturer at the Federal University of Brasília (UnB), and as a technical consultant for the PanAmerican Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, and Surveillance of Public Health Emergencies of the Brazilian Ministry of Health (DSASTE/SVS/MS). Bachelor in Physical Therapy with practical experience in physical rehabilitation, manager and lecturer. Reviewer for scientific journals and collaborator in international research projects on environmental and occupational health. Has particular interest in themes related to environmental and occupational health, health surveillance, urban health, maternal and children’s health, data and tech for good, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and translational research.

MONIQUE NTUMNGIA

Monique Ntumngia is a sustainable entrepreneur from Cameroon. She is an unapologetic feminist who believes that women and girls deserve the same equal opportunities that men are entitled to.

 

She is the founder of the Green Girls Organisation, a Pan-African NGO that uses AI to provide access to clean and affordable energy to women and girls in African rural communities. Her work across the African continent has earned her numerous global recognitions and she and her work has been featured on numerous media channels.

ADAM MOSTOGL

In any given week, Adam Mostogl might be helping entrepreneurs to kick-start their business ideas, stimulating small businesses to challenge the status quo, challenging communities to understand their potential or teaching hundreds of students to embrace innovation to solve the problems of the future.

 

Adam is passionate about embracing creative and innovative solutions to common problems, with experience across a wide variety of industry areas. As the CEO & Chief Entrepreneur of The Van Diemen Project, every single day is focused on making opportunities matter – through helping more people start businesses with confidence, supporting existing businesses to grow and be resilient in these changing times, kickstarting social enterprises, running engaging workshops and events as well as private advisory work to help larger organizations change for the better.

 

His passion for this has come from his work with young people, where since 2010 over 15,000 students have undertaken entrepreneurial education programs led by Adam as the Founder / Inspirer of Illuminate Education Australia, which focuses on inspiring students to be the confident, creative, and capable people they have the potential to be. Not only are these programs changing the lives of young Australians, but it is also shifting the way schools across the nation teach and inspire students with the skills that they need to thrive.

 

Adam was announced as Tasmania’s Finalist for Young Australian of the Year in 2015, and in 2017 was the only Tasmanian listed in Anthill’s 30 under 30 list for Australian entrepreneurs under the age of 30. In 2017, he was chosen to participate in the International Visiting Leaders Program to study innovative ecosystems as a guest of the US State Department. In 2018 and 2019, Adam was selected to attend UNLEASH, the world’s largest innovation process focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a participant (in 2018 in Singapore) and a facilitator (in 2019 in Shenzhen).

 

And while he is often very busy with these commitments – alongside being based in Tasmania with his wife Jessi and sons Timothy and Zachariah – you will often see him out and about across Tasmania and Australia because of his passion and drive to see more young people believe in tomorrow today. Living by his motto that “if you want something done for the community, you need to get out and do it”, Adam inspires young people to realize their potential, unleash their creativity, and seize the opportunities, because, as he says, “the world is ready”.

GOTO COOPER

Goto Cooper is an educator, mentor and International motivational speaker with over four years of experience in youth leadership and development. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Educate The Future Liberia – ETF Liberia (ETF Liberia), a nonprofit organization that is committed to empowering tomorrow’s leaders through education and mentorship. 

He has impacted over 500 young Liberians through its impact-driven programs. Mr. Goto is currently pursuing his BPA in Public Administration at the African Methodist Episcopal University. He is a 2019 Obama African Leader, Young Political Leadership School Fellow, Global Citizenship Education Ambassador, YALI RLC Alumni, UNLEASH Innovation Global Talent, and a servant leader.

He is a 2021 Mandela Washington Fellow.

DR. SISIRA WITHANACHCHI

Dr. Sisira S. Withanachchi is a senior researcher fellow/project manager at the University of Kassel, Germany. Dr. Withanachchi contributed to the United Nations World Water Assessment Program (WWAP) and is an expert reviewer in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He is an expert reviewer for many reputed international journals. Dr. Withanachchi is a member of the Water Quality Task Force at the International Water Resources Association. His research and working interests are sustainable food systems, water resource management, land management, environmental governance, disaster management, risk assessment, rural development, and local governance. He is one of the United Nations SDGs Global Ambassadors for UNLEASH North and West Europe.

EMMANUEL MARFO

Emmanuel is a social entrepreneur, philanthropist and development communication practitioner with over ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector.  He is currently pursuing PhD In Management (Social Investment and Philanthropy) at Wits Business University in South Africa. He holds a Master’s degree in Development Management and a Bachelor of Arts in Publishing Studies and from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He also holds diploma certificates in Business Management and Administration and Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management.

 

While serving as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Founding Executive Director at Global Alliance for Development Foundation (GADeF), Emmanuel was responsible for fundraising, grants research, program monitoring and evaluation, and youth leadership programming.

 

He is managing International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) grants for a public-private partnership project.  As Co-founder and Curator at GrassRoots Hub, he gained experience in corporate governance, operations management, and youth training and development.

 

His competency in the application of communication for social transformation, partnership development and networking building skills was useful in raising the profile of the organization and sharing the story of GADeF and increased the number of  partners for the foundation and creating additional funding opportunities from organization like European Union, British Council, Ford Foundation, French Embassy, Cummins, IFDC, African Women Development Foundation(AWDF) etc. 

 

Working at a corporate foundation, Emmanuel developed social media strategy and leads event planning and publications development for the Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation (NADeF) in post of a communications officer.

 

As NEXUS Country Director, Emmanuel is promoting impact investment and next-gen philanthropy among international organisations such Commonwealth, USAID, Hilton Foundation etc. He has championed the development of Master in Social enterprise and Philanthropy course in KNUST. 

 

He is currently the Global leader for Ghana for the world largest philanthropy movement, Giving Tuesday and facilitator for the world largest talents and social entrepreneurs platform, UNLEASH. Emmanuel picked Gold Award in Denmark in 2017 and facilitated training programs at UNLEASH Singapore (2018) and China (2019) after speaking at philanthropy and social entrepreneurs conference in 14 countries worldwide.

 

He is the President for the Pentecost Philanthropy and Social Workers Guild of the Church of Pentecost (COP) International which is based in over 100 countries worldwide.

ANDREWS AKOTO-ADDO

Andrews Akoto-Addo exists to inspire possibilities. He does this through idea conceptualization, solution development, growth catalyzation, and innovation support within the scope of Startup and Business Development, Social Entrepreneurship, and Digital Innovation.

He serves as an Investment Associate with the Ghana Tech Lab (GTL). His primary scope of work includes contributing to the design and implementation of startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem development initiatives; thus, startup incubation and acceleration, startup financing, and business advisory.

His background in Business Administration, a certificate in Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania, and as a verified IBM Enterprise Design Thinking (EDT) Practitioner has enabled him to add value and provide agile project management, concept development, idea validation, and social innovation services to several Innovation Hubs and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Ghana.

Serving in several roles and capacities with UNLEASH Innovation Labs for SDGs, Andrews was appointed in 2020 as an UNLEASH Ambassador for Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Andy”, as he is affectionately called, is a Founding Partner of RIGHT to LEAD Organisation.

The organization has so far established leadership and entrepreneurship development clubs across 15 tertiary institutions in the Greater Accra region of Ghana, with 6000+ students trained in Leadership, Management, and Entrepreneurship.

Occasionally, Andy volunteers as an Innovator and Trainer on Youth Leadership Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Nonprofits and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Ghana, including the Ghana CSOs Platform on SDGs, WAN-Hive Ghana, Startup Accra, IDEA Factor Global, BAMBINI Tv, BEATS Foundation, ANIJIE Global Foundation, just to mention a few.

BHONGOLWETHU SONTI

Bhongolwethu is a social impact practitioner passionate about sustainable development. He is Program Manager at Plug and Play, the world’s largest innovation platform, working with startups and corporate partners to drive innovation in sustainability. He is also a member of the Commonwealth Gender Equality Network, working to improve the position of young people and advocate for increased youth engagement and participation in existing structures, processes, and governance.

Bhongo is former Campus Manager and Senior Learning Coach at Valenture Institute‘s Dunkeld Boutique campus. He’s also previously been the international online school’s Sustainability Expert, helping them build their SDG Labs learning component.

Bhongolwethu has served as the Secretary-General and National Chairperson (South Africa) for the Organization of African Youth, he is a former Director of Programmes for Tore’s Africa Foundation. He has also volunteered for TEDx Cape Town‘s Community Engagement team and he was previously a member of the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Youth Advisory Panel bridging the gap between the sustainable development goals, policy, and youth empowerment.

Bhongolwethu has been named a Global Citizen Young Global Leader by Johnson & Johnson, awarded an Associate Fellowship by the Royal Commonwealth Society, and named in The Young Independents 2017 Top 100 South Africans. He is also an Aspen Ideas – Spotlight Health Global Voices Scholar. Bhongolwethu has been a UNLEASH SDG innovation lab talent and facilitator. He has also been named one of the Most Influential Young South Africans of 2018 by Avance Media and nominated for the Africa Youth Awards as Leader & Man of the Year.

RAYAN AL ZAHAB

Rayan is the Founder and CEO of BambooGeeks, a McKinsey & Company Alumni, a Google Developer Expert, a mentor and trainer at Google fit startups accelerator and women techmakers Ambassador with a huge passion to empower youth and women in technology.

LAMIA MOHSIN

Lamia Mohsin is currently working as a Junior National Consultant-Research for Global Center on Adaptation at the Resilience and Inclusive Growth Cluster of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh. As a young development professional and researcher, her key areas of work include projects focusing on local governance, climate resilience, adaptation and resilient rural livelihoods. She is the co-founder of ‘Standing up for the Underprivileged’, a youth-driven, voluntary organization working on areas such as social inclusion, reduced inequalities and access to education, especially for underprivileged children. She has also participated in a number of leadership and exchanges programs including Bangladesh Youth Delegation Program to India (2018), the 4th ASEF Young Leaders Summit (ASEFYLS4), Asia Pacific Youth Exchange (2020), UNITE 20230 Youth Development Programme. A passionate writer, Lamia is also working as a contributor for The Business Standard, national daily, given her experience as a freelance contributor for the Financial express and Dhaka Tribune.

SELORM DORVLO

Selorm is a professional engineer with specialization in Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization and his research focus is on creating innovative sustainable solutions towards the attainment of the SDGs. He has developed major sustainable agricultural mechanization systems, participated in international conferences as well as supervised students to develop simple agricultural machinery and systems. Selorm also volunteers in the mentoring of young talents who seek to develop business ideas for the attainment of the SDGs.

LATHIKA CHANDRA MOULI

Lathika Chandra Mouli, is an electrical engineer working to commercialise cleantech solutions. Passionate about the intersection of technology and urbanization, driven by making our cities more sustainable, safe, and inclusive. Lathika is always on the lookout for new things to learn and ways to help people.

ANASTASIA NTRACHA

Anastasia is building human-centric digital health startups at the Sanguine Lab Venture studio, while pursuing her PhD in AI-driven digital biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases contributing in early disease diagnosis and management. She is an engineer that enjoys the creative challenge of problem solving, the constant up-skilling and learning and the work in impactful multidisciplinary teams of visionaries. She is actively supporting female empowerment initiatives, designing and facilitating educational programs based on design thinking. She has co-founded an internationally awarded baby tech startup and was chosen by McKinsey within the Next Generation Women Leaders.

ABAD ENRIQUEZ

Abad is the founder of Asian Education Network. He is an entrepreneur and a learning and development consultant with over 10 years of experience. He currently provides training solutions for a global tech company, and social enterprises in the field of education. He is trusted by the SMEs and civil society organizations he has worked with across Asia and Europe. He is a proponent of learner-centered pedagogy, and he is passionate about the role of innovation in both business and education.

PETER OKWOKO

Peter is COO and Co-founder at Takataka Plastics. He is passionate about sustainable waste management and a move towards a circular economy through innovative technological solutions. He plays an advisory role to local leaders in Gulu City on matters related to waste management. He believes that through technological innovations, developing countries can switch from a linear economy to a circular economy.

KEVIN SOFEN

I am a water guy that loves technology, the fire service, side hustles, and helping others.

I work for W.S. Darley & Company who manufactures fire, defense, and water solutions for fire departments, federal agencies, and the Department of Defense. I specifically focus on new product innovations that cover two distinct categories: water and virtual reality. I also am a part of several side hustles, my first being a social enterprise called Wristsponsible which raises funds and awareness for water projects that include safe water systems, watershed improvement and water is medicine projects. Additionally, I am a Co-Founder of Box of Rain, an organization with the mission to help corporations provide safe, accessible water to those in need after disasters so those impacted can worry about other urgent needs. In my third side hustle, I am a board member for Comics for Safety where we create and deploy graphic novels to communicate safety messages in an easy-to-digest way. 

After I attended 2019 UNLEASH Innovations Labs in Shenzhen, China, my friend and now partner James Armour and I were asking ourselves, “How can we continue this momentum around the United Nations Sustainable development Goals (SDGs)?” Over lunch discussions between solution co-creation, my fourth side hustle SDG Talks was born with the goal of developing a physical and virtual platform where changemakers could share ideas, best practices and human interest stories around the SDGs via a weekly podcast and monthly webinars. 

KANJI FATEEMA

Kanij Fateema is an architect, currently working for World Resources Institute (WRI) as Road Safety and Urban Design Consultant for better Dhaka. Previously, she worked for IOM-UN’s Migration Agency under the Rohingya Response Project to improve the living quality of the distressed community through site planning. Soon after graduation, she founded Deshoj, a startup to address different urban issues that are affecting our quality of life. One of her notable projects is, CARE (Children’s Amusing Ride Environment), focused on making public buses of Dhaka friendly for children and women. In the future, Kanij would like to continue working for underprivileged communities, ensure accessibility for all.

OLHA RUDA

Olha Ruda is a champion of quality education for all, a mentorship proponent, and youth activist.

 

Currently holding the position of Head of Placement and Public Engagement at Teach for Ukraine, she is determined to bring quality education to children living in rural areas of Ukraine through the engagement of young teachers that would come to work at countryside schools. 

 

In her 5 years of prior experience working with education projects, she acquired experience with both national and international projects, state education system and non-formal educational opportunities, students of school age and university graduates.

 

Olha is the founder of the 10:11 Mentorship Program for high schoolers from around Ukraine. Despite the modest time, the program has been in operation, it managed to form a sound community of mentors and touched upon the lives of dozens of school students.

 

Ms. Ruda holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and represented Ukrainian youth at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly. With the official mandate of the youth delegate, she actively promoted SDGs among young people in Ukraine.

 

Olha deeply values people around her and actively contributes to the communities she is a part of. These include UNLEASH Innovations Lab Alumni, European Forum Alpbach Alumni, FLEX Alumni, AIESEC Alumni, and many nation-wide ones in Ukraine.

ZANNA SAMALIA

Zanna has a background in advocacy & governance with over 5 year’s professional experience in Nonprofit; he is a Global Goals advocate and UNLEASH alumna devoted towards transforming the world through advocacy and social community awareness. He is the Communications Lead of the Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability Initiative (ST&A), an organization that leverages digital technology to strengthen accountability and transparency in government expenditure on healthcare, education and WASH in rural communities in Africa.

 

Zanna is passionate about youth development oriented activities and has served in various roles as a youth worker. He currently serves as a volunteer ONE Champion with ONE Campaign, a global movement campaigning to end extreme poverty and preventable diseases. In 2021, he was nominated by ONE to represent ONE Nigerian on the African-Europe Partnership Task Force. He is also a Cluster Coordinator for the ‘Democratic Governance’, a European Union funded project of Nigerian youth, community peacebuilding, and resilience to crises and fragility

 

For the past three years, Zanna has led the communications engagement of ST&A across Nigeria. In this role, he coordinates various campaigns among which is the citizen-led tracking, a project that received international recognition, one of which; 30 Most Inspiring Digital Innovations (MIDI) 2020 on SDGs by the Spindle Portos and 2020 top 20 Best Innovation on Democracy and Governance in Africa by the African Union Commission.

 

Other programmes he has worked with include the World Bank supported project of Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) as Field Data Collector and Save the Children International.

Zanna has written extensively on challenges and problems that are facing Nigeria and the globe at large, his articles are regularly published in most of the major newspapers and online mediums in Nigeria.

MONIQUE NTUMNGIA

Monique Ntumngia is a sustainable entrepreneur from Cameroon. She is an unapologetic feminist who believes that women and girls deserve the same equal opportunities that men are entitled to. She is the founder of the Green Girls Organisation as a Pan-African NGO that uses AI to provide access to clean and affordable energy to women and girls in African rural communities. Her work across the African continent has earned her numerous global recognitions and she and her work has been featured on numerous media channels.

ARIELLE BERGHAMMER-ZIEGLER

Arielle Berghammer-Ziegler is passionate about leveraging inclusive, innovative approaches and community engagement for sustainable global impact. She is the Senior Specialist for Scaled Impact through Innovation and Investment at Chemonics. Arielle focuses on advancing innovation for scaled impact, including through strategy development, management of strategic partnerships, and operationalizing mechanisms, such as Solutions Labs. She supports the partnership and programmatic work with the UNLEASH Global Innovation Lab in building the capacity and accelerating the launch and scale of social impact ventures addressing the Sustainable Development Goals. As a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a former Pashto linguist, she spent the early part of her career in military intelligence with a focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan before transitioning to policy working for Congress on Capitol Hill and at the district level. Arielle received her Master’s in International Affairs from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University with a concentration in the nexus of security and international development.

SHARON TAN

Sharon is Executive Director of DBS Bank, Southeast Asia’s largest bank. She is currently responsible for the digital experience transformation and strategy of the regional payments and lending business in DBS.

Sharon is passionate about using innovation and technology to make a difference in the community. Sharon is a Singapore representative of the United Nations UNLEASH Innovation Lab, a global initiative that seeks to create solutions to achieve the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. She also served on the Executive Committee of the Young Women’s Leadership Connection.

CORINA KWAMI

Dr Corina Shika Kwami is a public speaker, performer and strategist. She has given keynote speeches and served on panels, performed with her own band, and served as a strategist on the arts in innovation, future cities and sustainability in countries across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. Kwami holds a doctorate in engineering from University College London and is currently the Creative Producer of the Voices Incubator at Purpose. Her work cuts across the arts and sciences, music and dance in order to facilitate exchanges between these worlds. You can see her face on a screen on the Discovery Channel and Science Channel talking about the lessons learned from infrastructure in cities across the globe. She lives in London

ABISHEK NARAYAN

Abishek S Narayan is a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology. He is also a coordinator for the newly formed Swiss Water Partnership Youth. Currently he is finishing his PhD on WASH for Development at ETH Zurich. His interests in water came from founding the Clean Adyar Initative, a citizen action group on river restoration in Chennai, India. He has a background in Engineering and Environmental Policy from Anna and Oxford Universities.

Abishek is a visiting lecturer on the topics of Water, Sanitation, Urbanisation etc., at EPFL, TU Berlin, IHE Delft among others. He is on the board of global WASH networks such as SWP and Sustainable Sanitation Alliance. His professional experience includes the World Bank and 100RC-Rockefeller Foundation. As a recipient of several fellowships for young people such as the Commonwealth, Skoll Leading for Impact, Unleash, and St Gallen Leader of Tomorrow, Global Changemaker etc, he strongly believes in the contribution that young people can make towards the SDGs, with the right enabling environment.

CLARITY MAPENGO

Dr. Clarity Mapengo is a young innovative, charismatic, poetic, and passionate bio-scientist (with a Ph.D. in Food Science) joining hands with the world in the quest to improve the quality of life above/below water and food security, especially in Africa through sustainable, cutting-edge green technology. Clarity is passionate about solving complex problems (impeding sustainable development) and finding new innovative ways to use technology, especially within the agricultural service sector. Clarity believes in leveraging SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production) in building smart cities, reducing hunger & poverty, and embracing the 4th industrial revolution. Clarity’s research interests are towards building resilient food systems, sustainable packaging, and agricultural innovation/ entrepreneurship.  While she is an innovation enthusiast, in her spare time, she does creative writing and spoken word poetry centered on empowering & entertaining people.

SYLVIA LIWEWE

Sylvia Liwewe is an experienced officer with a background in Development Studies and demonstrated history of driving Sustainable Development Goals whose work has centered on community development in urban and rural areas. A result-orientated self-starter with over 6 years experience in the public civil system focusing on gender advocacy, community mobilization, and social behavioral change communication in line with harmful customs and traditions, water sanitation and hygiene, and nutrition. Well vested in program implementation, skills training, and promotion of education and empowerment of girls.

FAHAD SHAHBAZ

Fahad Shahbaz is the President of the Youth General Assembly. In 2014, began his undergraduate career at Government College University before moving to the University of Punjab. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree, he got a master’s degree from the School of Communication Studies, Punjab University. As a successful debater, he has been able to national declamatory contests and has been an extravagant orator in both parliamentary debates and model united nations and is considered to be a great mentor for the young candidates in the debating circuit.

 

Fahad has worked with the government on different platforms which are designed for the betterment of youth. Being a true advocate of the Rule of Law, he successfully initiated the YGA Legal Forum which guarantees equal access to justice for all without discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, religion, etc. Furthermore, Mr. Fahad has the honor to represent Pakistan in several National and International summits such as Arab International Youth Conference UAE, B2B Networking Conference Turkey, St. Petersburg International Economic Forum Russia, and Sheikh Zayed International Peace Conference UAE. He is a reflection of a true leader whose objective is to empower youth. He strictly believes that the empowerment of youth can serve as a tool to make Pakistan progressive.

GAKII MUGENDI

Gakii Mugendi is the founder of Iburu Coffee, a social enterprise based in Kenya and Norway. She holds an M. Sc. in Tropical Ecology and Natural Resource Management (Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway), B.Sc. in Food Science and Technology (Egerton University, Kenya), and a postgraduate certificate in International Development Studies (University of Oslo, Norway). These have equipped her with a solid understanding of critical ecological and social processes involved in natural resource management at local and global scales. Beyond that, she has participated in entrepreneurial programs and engaged in research. She celebrates innovation and believes in capitalizing on both collective and individual learning.

EDRISS MANNEH

Edriss Manneh is a highly competent IT professional with a proven track record in networking, managing databases, Cyber security, formulation of policy for cybercrime, tech for innovation development strategist and Drone Pilot. He has strong technical skills as well as excellent interpersonal skills, enabling him to interact with a wide range of clients. He is eager to be challenged to grow and further improve his IT skills. His greatest passion in life is using his technical know-how to benefit other people and organisations.

In 2014 to 2015, he worked with the World Bank Group as an IT support staff for urban-rural socio-development attached to the Gambia National Disaster Management Agency under the office of The Vice President.

From 2015 to date, he has been working with The Gambia National Disaster Management Agency Under office of the Vice President as a senior IT and GIS officer and at the same time pursuing a master’s program in Information and Communication Engineering at Tianjin University in mainland China.

ULRICH MEYER-HOLLINGS

Ulrich is an experienced strategic innovation, human-centered design, corporate venturing and organisational strategy specialist with a proven track record of new venture design & commercialisation across multiple industries, NGOs and geographies.
Having worked at the intersections of Corporate, NGO and Management Consulting contexts, he is familiar with creating enabling spaces for disruptive innovation, design and new business development within diverse settings. Coupled with his experience as a Founder, he is a hands-on, entrepreneurial, pioneering and agile innovation & design advisor with practical exposure to both established and emerging markets. Ulrich has the ability to energize and galvanize cross-disciplinary teams to create truly ground-breaking outcomes. He is also a thought leader and public speaker with a passion for people-centric innovation.

MARY MUNYOKI

Mary Munyoki is a product engineer and engineering manager with a passion for engineering, technology and innovation for development.

Ms. Munyoki ,an UNLEASH innovation Lab talent and Ambassador, and serves as a lead facilitator and judge at UNLEASH guiding cross-functional teams in collaborating on a diverse pool of solutions targeting to achieve Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) across different countries, regions and socio economic backgrounds across the globe.

Ms. Munyoki was featured on BBC Focus on Africa program and further featured under German G20 presidency publication as an eSkills4Girls ambassador tackling opportunities for women and girls in the digital economy addressing their barriers in accessing ICT and bridging the gender digital divide.

PHINITH CHANTHALANGSY

Philosopher by training, Phinith Chanthalangsy is Unit Head of the Social and Human Sciences Sector, in the UNESCO ROSA Office in Harare (Zimbabwe). His fields of specialization are Comparative Philosophy, Ethics, and Cultural Studies. He joined UNESCO Headquarters in Paris (France) in 2007 under the Philosophy, Democracy and Human Security Programme. From 2012 to 2019, he was appointed as Programme Specialist in the UNESCO Office for the Maghreb region in Rabat (Morocco), in charge of Youth Civic Participation and Citizenship and Human Rights Education, Gender, Social Inclusion, Philosophy, Ethics, and Intercultural Dialogue. Prior to joining UNESCO, he worked as a Research Fellow at the Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient and the National Library in Vientiane, Laos.

GULAN GAWDAN

Gulan Gawdan is the Director of the Library at The American University of Kurdistan(AUK). She experienced executive assistant and manager of protocol at AUK with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Strong education professional with a Bachelor’s degree focused in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Duhok. Gulan’s passions extend beyond academia and she considers herself a dynamic individual who enjoys a variety of pursuits. She has a tremendous record of community involvement, encapsulated by her roles as a community volunteer with Tearfund, Unleash Innovation Lab (UIL) Talent in 2018, UIL Evaluator and Ambassador of Diversity for Iraq in 2019. And her roles at AUK. She is also a member of the Planning and Evaluation Committee for AUK Accreditation by Commission on Institutions of Higher Education in the United States. She fosters and supports participation, leadership, and empowerment opportunities for young Kurds & Iraqis. Gulan’s research interests include quality education in ICT fields and STEM jobs. She is an advocate for the United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDGs). 

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