Who we are

The Young Global Leaders ® Community is an accelerator for a dynamic community of exceptional people with the vision, courage, and influence to drive positive change in the world.

Our growing membership of more than 1,400 members and alumni of 120 nationalities includes civic and business innovators, entrepreneurs, technology pioneers, educators, activists, artists, journalists, and more.

Aligned with the World Economic Forum’s mission, we seek to drive public-private co-operation in the global public interest. We are united by the belief that today’s pressing problems present an opportunity to build a better future across sectors and boundaries.

Learn more

Meet our members

Zheng Jinxing

Division Head, Professor, Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, People's Republic of China

Zheng Jinxing is a professor and Head of Department at Institute of Plasma Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he has devised better ways to model the use of powerful superconducting magnets for controlling plasma at extreme temperatures, which is a major advance for fusion-based energy. He has presided over China’s National Key R&D Programme, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and other projects. He involves in the research work of China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) project, which is the world’s largest fusion experiment project-International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), The Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments (FLARE) in USA and Nuclotron-based Ion Collider Facility (NICA) in Russia and so on. He also served as Vice-Chairman of the Tooling Branch of the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Member of the Electrical Theory and New Technology Committee of the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering, and The Transnational Committee (TNC) Member of IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Science Society. Zheng has won various awards in technology innovation (such as MIT TR35 Global 2021) and has published more than 60 SCI/EI papers and authorized more than 30 invention patents.

Stacey Tank

Chief Corporate Affairs and Transformation Officer, HEINEKEN, Netherlands

In addition to being the first woman and youngest executive to hold her position, Stacey Tank serves five non-profit boards, including those focused on environmental impact and the arts.

Jesús "Chuy" Cepeda

Founder, OS City, Mexico

Jesús “Chuy” Cepeda uses decentralized identity to build better digital experiences in Latin America. He earned his PhD in Artificial Intelligence in 2012 and foresaw the immense power that AI would hold within a decade. Recognizing the risks to identity fraud, compromised credentials, personal privacy and democracies, since 2017 he started implementing DLT-based projects in Latin American governments, exploring the transformative potential of decentralization and serving it into the urgent need to upgrade our institutions. After the pandemic, he has delved into the world-changing capabilities of decentralized digital identity and govtech, confident that this combination can become a foundational gateway to digital trust, economic growth and strengthened democracies. Chuy is widely recognized as one of the Agile 50, the most influential individuals driving government revolution. Additionally, he has been featured as an Ethereum Foundation Fellow for his active contributions to onboarding the next billion into the web3, and he has been honored as a WEF Young Global Leader.

Natashya Gutierrez

President, Rappler.com, Philippines

Experienced multimedia journalist with a demonstrated history of working in the online media industry. Skilled in digital reporting, breaking news, editing, management, investigative journalism, and content strategy.

As a leader and editor, Natashya built two newsrooms in Asia-Pacific: the Indonesia bureau of multi-award winning newsroom Rappler, and the Asia-Pacific digital news operations for Vice News. Under her watch, the Vice APAC team won several awards for their reporting on human rights in the region.

As a journalist and correspondent, she is trained in text, video, and social media. Natashya is particularly knowledgeable on Southeast Asia, and has lived and worked in Manila, Jakarta, Singapore and Sydney in the last decade. Her work is largely focused on covering women's rights, politics, democracies and disinformation.

Sudarshan Venu

Managing Director, TVS Motor Company, India

Sudarshan Venu is the MD of TVS Motor Company. He is also the MD of TVS Holdings Ltd, the holding Company, and Chairman of TVS Credit, the group's financial services arm. He is an automotive enthusiast and grew up amidst the roar of the engines of India's oldest factory racing team. Over the last few years, Mr. Venu has been charting the future of one of India's leading two-wheeler manufacturers, making it the most awarded two-wheeler company. He now plans to transform the Company into a top global mobility player. Under his leadership, TVS acquired U.K.'s iconic motorcycle brand Norton Motorcycles and has set up a completely new manufacturing facility in the U.K. Mr. Venu also strongly believes in staying ahead of the emerging trends: electrification and personal mobility are two big areas of focus. He is looking to build a strategic personal e-mobility ecosystem by scaling unique brands. He led TVS to acquire the European e-bike brand EGO Movement and Switzerland's largest e-bike company, Swiss E-Mobility Group. With the vision of enriching the life of every Indian, he is also leading the change at TVS Credit Services. He holds a Graduate Degree with Honors in Management and Technology from the University of Pennsylvania. He also obtained a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the School of Engineering and, a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School & an M.Sc. in International Tech from the University of Warwick in the U.K.

Ali Akhai

Chairman, Martin Dow, Pakistan

As an initiative-driven leader, Ali believes in the significance of diverse business, technological innovation, and talent, ready to lead impact with a desire to improve human well-being. He is recognized as the face of the Martin Dow Group and has received praise for his in-depth knowledge of numerous facets of the pharmaceutical industry.

After completing his Bachelor of Science business graduate degree (BSc) from Brunel University in the UK, he proceeded to further his education with a double Master's degree. He holds a Master of Science in Global Business from the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom and a Master of Science in International Business Development & Consulting from Novancia Business School in France.

He joined the Martin Dow Group of Companies in 2016 after completing a structured orientation program in Marketing, Finance, Business Development, Human Resources, and Regulatory Affairs. In 2017, he assumed the role of Business Development Lead, launching eight new products. By October 2018, he succeeded his father to be the next Chairman of the Martin Dow Group.

Ali is playing an essential role in shaping the future of the Martin Dow Group, carrying on his father's vision by guiding the group's foray into further diversification through successful strategic acquisitions and flexible technologies.

Besides dedicating his time to grow the business, Ali is deeply involved in Philanthropic endeavors, he has taken on roles in 3 leading Healthcare institutions. He is the Core Committee Member of the Shaukat Khanum Karachi Project, a Member of the Fund-Raising Committee at The Indus Hospital & Health Network (IHHN) and a Trustee at the Memon Health & Education Foundation supporting and ensuring free quality healthcare service.

With his impeccable leadership, he is now expanding the Martin Dow Group’s worldwide partnerships, talent development, and industry influence.

Elisha London

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Prospira Global, United Kingdom

Elisha London is an entrepreneur and global mental health advocate. She is an advisor to leading global companies, brands, and influential individuals on mental health and regularly speaks and writes on the global mental health crisis and the role of the private sector.

She established Prospira Global in 2021 to respond to the growing business demand for strategic advisory and support on mental health strategies, in particular for businesses needing custom support to meet this demand across borders.

Across her career Elisha has established a number of national and global initiatives, and worked for organisations including the UK Department for International Development, PWC, the Overseas Development Institute and The World Bank. She was the founding UK Director of the Global Poverty Project (now “Global Citizen”), and following her own personal experience of mental ill health she was appointed as Campaign Director for the Head Together Campaign, spearheaded by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

In 2017 Elisha drew upon her experience to understand the huge gap that exists in addressing mental health around the world and brought together the team to establish United for Global Mental Health. She was UnitedGMH’s first CEO until 2021 and now supports the organisation as Founder and Advisor to the Board.

She holds an MBA from TRIUM (NYU New York, LSE London, HEC Paris), and an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics.

Elisha Co-Chaired the Global Futures Council on Neuro technologies in 2019 has been a regular member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Mental Health. In 2020 she was honoured for her leadership in 2020 when she was appointed as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

Kabir Sehgal

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Tiger Turn Productions, USA

Kabir Sehgal is a Multi-Grammy & Multi-Emmy Award winning Artist/Producer/Composer/DJ.

He is the Founder & CEO of Tiger Turn, a multimedia company & record label that makes music and film.

He is also a New York Times & Wall Street Journal bestselling author of 19 books such as “Coined” and “Carry On.” He is a CNBC, HBR, and Fortune contributor.

Sehgal is a US Navy veteran and reserve officer.

Previously, he was a vice president at J.P. Morgan and First Data.

He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the London School of Economics.

Abdigani Diriye

Dr. Abdigani Diriye is a technology leader and entrepreneur who is having an impact in the AI and Fintech fields. Dr. Abdigani is the co-founder of Odola. A neobank serving migrants. He has held positions in industry and academia at Amazon, IBM Research, Microsoft Research, and Carnegie Mellon University where he led the development and deployment of machine learning-based systems and voice technologies to millions of people in the Middle East and Africa. Dr. Abdigani has commercialized various technologies and published over 50 papers and patents and holds a Ph.D. in computer science from University College London and an Executive MBA from INSEAD.

In acknowledgement to his contribution to innovation, Dr. Abdigani is a recipient of a TED Fellowship, Next Einstein Forum Fellowship, and NSF Fellowship and has been selected by MIT Technology Review, Quartz, and Institut Choiseul as one of the leading innovators and global leaders. Dr. Abdigani contributes to the research community and sits on the program committee of several Special Interest Groups and conferences including SIGIR, CHIIR, RecSys, and the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.