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.
Meet our members
James Kwame Mensah
James is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, and a fellow at the Penn Institute for Urban Research, University of Pennsylvania, USA. He also served as the Resilient Advisor to the former Mayor of Accra from 2017 to 2020, where he led the city in the development of the Accra Resilient Strategy. One of the initiatives in the Strategy – engaging informal waste collectors in the waste management chain, won the C40 Cities Bloomberg Philanthropies Award in 2019. His research focuses on the development of local economies to improve the quality of life of residents in local and rural communities, and urban informality in its multiple dimensions ― economy, settlements, livelihood, waste, and trade. He has been involved in the development of government policies in Ghana – National Local Economic Development Policy, and National Decentralisation Policy and Strategy. Dr Mensah is a graduate of the National Institute for Development Administration, Thailand, and the University of Ghana.
Khaled Bin Braik
Mr. Khaled Bin Braik is a Partner in PwC’s Government & Public Sector consulting practice in the Middle East with a focus on public sector strategy, organisational transformation and human capital development. He serves as the first homegrown UAE National Consulting Partner at PwC Middle East. With over a decade of consulting experience, Khaled is also the firm’s Nationalisation Leader in the United Arab Emirates and spearheads the award-winning nationalisation program “Watani” to create a sustainable national workforce in the professional services sector. He partners with key government stakeholders and policymakers to drive youth engagement across economic sectors, and increase the employability and participation of nationals in the labour market. Khaled has deep expertise in shaping human capital development strategies and has led diverse large-scale civil service modernisation, institutional effectiveness and upskilling programmes to meet the long-term economic, social, and environmental aspirations of the region. During his tenure at PwC, Khaled has also advised leaders, governments and industry champions on evidence-based and purpose-driven policy reforms, strategic planning, organisational restructuring, governance and transformational leadership. Khaled is a recognised thought leader, public speaker, and author on public sector revitalisation, the future of work and sustainability. He is regularly featured in press such as Emirates News Agency (WAM), Arabian Business and multiple industry conferences, podcasts and webinars. Khaled has been felicitated by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation for his leadership impact across the nation and is a recipient of the “Leader of the Year in the Private Sector” national award. He was selected to participate in the flagship Impactful Leaders Programme, run by the Mohammed bin Rashid Center for Leadership Development, an exclusive leadership development programme for the top-tier of public and private sector national leaders identified to advance the sustainable development of Dubai. Khaled is a graduate in Political Science and Business Administration from Concordia University in Canada and has an MBA from Cardiff University in the UK. He is also certified in strategic foresight, transformative leadership and disruptive innovation with INSEAD, Imperial College, IMD, UC Berkeley, among others.
Esra Eczacıbaşı Coşkun
Esra Eczacibasi Coskun is a Board Member and Digital Transformation Coordinator at Eczacibasi Holding, a diversified industrial conglomerate based in Turkey. The Eczacibasi Group plays a pioneering role in both Turkish industry and society through major initiatives in education, culture and the arts, sports, public policy and scientific research. Esra leads the Group’s digital transformation as well as the design and implementation of sustainability policies across different industries and geographies. The digital transformation projects she has spearheaded have received international recognition and awards from institutions such as Fast Company, IDC, RFID Journal and SAP. A strong advocate for equal opportunity, she is a mentor and advisor to young women who want to pursue a career in technology. She gives regular talks on gender biases, inclusivity in the workplace as well as the future that awaits us in the digital age. Esra is also a member of the Board of Directors at the Istanbul Modern, Turkey's first museum of modern and contemporary art. With a passion for the arts and desire to support culture and arts in Turkey, she established the Genc (Young) Modern, Turkey’s first arts membership program for a young audience. As an affiliate of Istanbul Modern, Genc Modern’s mission is to increase the visibility of talented Turkish artists at the start of their careers and create opportunities for them in the contemporary art world. Esra holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BA in Economics and Art History from Harvard University. She previously worked at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Aakrit Vaish
Aakrit Vaish is the Co-Founder & CEO of Jio Haptik, one of the world's largest AI companies. He founded the company in 2013 as Haptik, which was acquired by Reliance Jio Platforms in 2019 in a $100 million transaction, forming the new entity of Jio Haptik. Aakrit has been a pioneer in the conversational AI space, leading the wave of transforming customer experience digitally. Under his leadership, Haptik has powered more than 200 brands globally, including Whirlpool, HP, Zurich Insurance, Disney+, KFC & more. The platform processes over 4 billion interactions annually and is consistently mentioned as a top industry player by Gartner, Forrester & Everest. Haptik was named a category leader in Bot Platforms by G2 in their Spring 2022 report, based on a rating of 4.5/5.0 by more than 100 customers. Outside of Haptik, Aakrit is an active angel investor in startups in India, having made close to 80 such investments. He is a charter member of the Entrepreneurs Organisation and Co-Chair of H2 India. He serves on the boards of various technology startups, helping them with go-to-market, scaling & team building. Aakrit has been recognized by Entrepreneur 35 Under 35, Forbes 30 Under 30, and Businessworld 40 Under 40. He has a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign.
Anne-Laure Malauzat
Anne-Laure Malauzat is a Partner with Bain & Company in the Middle East. Based in Dubai, she is the firm’s regional Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) officer, and leads Bain’s Social Impact efforts in EMEA. Anne joined the firm in 2011 and, in 2020, became the youngest female Bain partner globally. Anne advises governments, philanthropists, and international organizations (such as UNHCR and Endeavor), focusing on education, economic development, and innovation. She has led the launch of multiple successful youth employment programmes in 5 MENA countries, and the design of the national Early Childhood Development strategy for a GCC country. She also works with private sector leaders in the retail space, supporting them in their growth, digitalization, and customer strategies. In addition, for the last decade she has served as mentor to start-ups and is a frequent speaker on topics related to gender equity, social impact, human capital development, retail, and innovation.
Anne holds an MA from Georgetown University and a dual Bachelor from Mount Holyoke College. She is an inducted member of the Phi Beta Kappa society, and a member of Georgetown’s MENA Board of Advisors.
Alberto de Belaunde
Alberto de Belaunde (he/him) is the Program Adviser - Global Advocacy at OutRight. He is a lawyer with a master's degree in environmental management and postgraduate studies in public policy. He was the second openly gay congressman in the history of Peru. In 2019, he was awarded the Victory Institute Tammy Baldwin Breakthrough Award for his work on behalf of the LGBT+ community. In 2021 he was part of the Yale World Fellowship. He has published two books, one of them about openly LGBTQ+ authorities in Latin America.
Gregory Rockson
Gregory Rockson is the co-founder and CEO of mPharma, a technology-driven, vendor-managed inventory and retail
pharmacy operator with operations across eight countries in Africa. An alumni of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Community and tech pioneer, he was a PPIA Fellow in Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School and a Rotary Scholar at University of Copenhagen.
Mariana Vasconcelos
Mariana Vasconcelos is the Chief Executive Officer of Agrosmart, a technology pioneer alumni of the World Economic Forum and serves as an advisory board member at Thought For Food, Fundação Espaço ECO (BASF) and Instituto Interamericano de Cooperação para a Agricultura (IICA). She is a climate activist and an expert in digital agriculture, considered one of the most influential people in Latin America by Bloomberg Linea. An advocate for gender equality, she was recognized by Globant with a "Women That Build" award in the game-changer category. With a business background and degrees from UNIFEI, LSE and Singularity University, she was also recognized as an Innovator under 35 by MIT Technology Review, Forbes 30 Under 30 Brasil and Fast Company world's 100 Most Creative in Business.
Kamissa Camara
Ambassador Kamissa Camara serves as a Professor of Practice in International Diplomacy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan. In her role, she brings real-world experience to the theoretical underpinnings of international diplomacy studies. Parallel to this, she contributes her expertise as a Senior Africa Advisor at the United States Institute of Peace and as a Non-Resident Scholar at the Middle East Institute.
Ambassador Camara has held strategic roles within the Malian government. She notably served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as Chief of Staff to the President of Mali. These high-profile positions cemented her status as a leading authority on African politics and international relations.
Beyond academia and public service, Ambassador Camara is an influential voice in global media circles and contributes to CNN, Aljazeera and BBC, among others, on African and global politics. Ambassador Camara is finalizing her doctoral studies in political science at the University of Oxford, underscoring her commitment to blending academic rigor with practical diplomacy.