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.

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Meet our members

Moath Alnaeem

Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Alpha Capital, Saudi Arabia

Moath has co-founded Alpha Capital and built a profound organization, which has been a well-respected entity both locally and regionally, evidenced by the recognition received in 2021 from Forbes as it became among the 30 most prominent asset managers in the Middle East. Before Alpha Capital, Moath worked in Saudi Aramco and was entrusted by Saudi Aramcos Senior Management to be part of a carefully selected solid team to manage several asset classes of Saudi Aramcos USD multi-billion Global Pension Plans. Throughout the journey of Alpha Capital, Moath attracted top-tier investment professionals, delivered top-quartile public equity performance consistently, successfully exited from the first private equity investment at an impressive return and advised on the fundraising and structuring of the first Saudi digital bank that the Council of Ministers has licensed. Moath has demonstrated strong leadership skills while serving on various government and non-government boards and committees.

Faisal Alibrahim

Minister of Economy and Planning, Ministry of Economy and Planning of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia

Faisal F. Alibrahim is the Minister of Economy and Planning of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Alibrahim is also the Supervisor of the Secretariat of the Council of Economic and Development
Affairs (CEDA) and a member of the council. His Excellency also chairs the Board of Directors of
the General Authority for Statistics.

Alibrahim is a member of several governmental committees such as the Finance Committee, the
Strategic Management Committee, the CEDA Standing Committee, the Supreme National
Investment Council, the Supreme National Council for Industry, the Supreme Transportation and
Logistics Committee, the Large Companies Investment Committee, the National Incentives
Committee, the Privatization Program Committee, the Financial Sector Development Program
Committee, and the National Transformation Program Committee. HE also serves on several
boards including the Public Investment Fund, National Development Fund, the Royal Commission
for Riyadh City, the General Organization for Social Insurance, the Local Content and Government
Procurement Authority, the National Center for Performance Management, and the Cultural
Development Fund. His Excellency served as secretary/second secretary of the Aramco IPO
Committees. He was also chairman of the Executive Committee and member of the Supervisory
Committee for the Kingdom’s participation in EXPO 2020 Dubai which has received multiple
awards and recognitions.

Previously, Alibrahim served as Vice Minister of Economy and Planning and prior to that held key
positions at Saudi Aramco including head of mergers and acquisitions, project manager of King
Salman International Complex for Maritime Services and Industries, project manager for the Vela-
Bahri merger, the largest transaction in Saudi at that time, and Vice President of Aramco
Development Company.

Alibrahim holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, a bachelor’s degree in economics, a bachelor’s degree in accounting, and a Minor in
Management Information Systems from the Pennsylvania State University. HE is a World Economic
Forum Young Global Leader and member of the UCLA Health International Advisory Board.

Elham AlQasim

Chief Strategy and Technology Officer, Majid Al Futtaim Holding, United Arab Emirates

Elham Al Qasim serves as Digital14’s Chief Executive Officer, steering the organisation’s strategic direction, and leading over 1,000 staff in their purpose-driven work to deliver trust in digital so that clients can innovate and fulfil their potential. Prior to joining Digital14, Elham enjoyed a global career with executive roles in investment and asset management. More recently, Elham served as CEO of Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and Executive Director of the Ghadan 21 programme at the Abu Dhabi Executive Office where she led the strategic planning for the government’s three-year, AED 50 billion investment programme aimed at accelerating Abu Dhabi’s economy. Prior to this, Elham was a Director of Mubadala Investment Company, focusing on Mubadala’s Technology and Industry portfolio. Her responsibilities included building investment/entry strategy, business development, value creation, and post-acquisition asset management in sectors including Metals & Mining, Semiconductors, and Technology. During this time, Elham also served on the executive leadership team of Emirates Global Aluminium and delivered a two year post merger integration program. Elham has served on a number of boards and is currently a Board Member of Amanat Holdings, AlAin Farms, and Phoenic Group. Elham’s international career includes JPMorgan Investment Bank, where she was part of the Global Diversified Industrials Team based in London handling M&A transactions in chemicals, metals and mining, and infrastructure. Elham holds an MSc from the School of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Business from the American University in Dubai. In April 2010, Elham became the first Arab woman to ski to the North Pole.

Uche Pedro

Founder, BellaNaija, Nigeria

Uche Pedro is a Nigerian entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of BellaNaija, a media tech brand known for entertainment and lifestyle content. Under her leadership, BellaNaijas social footprint has grown through its collective brands - BellaNaija.com, BellaNaija Weddings and BellaNaija Style - to be the largest on the African continent with more than 200 million impressions each month. In March 2019, Uche was honoured with the Forbes Woman Africa New Media Award for her innovative impact on media in Africa.
Uche is passionate about progress of youth in Nigeria and across Africa. Uche holds a Bachelors degree – Honours Business Administration (HBA) from the Ivey Business School at Western University in Canada where she graduated with distinction.

Mark Boris Andrijanič

Vice President, Kumo.AI, USA

Mark Boris is Vice President at Kumo.AI, a Sequoia-backed deep learning venture based in California. He also serves on the Governing Board at the EIT, the EU's innovation agency. In 2021 and 2022 he was Slovenia's first-ever Minister of Digital Transformation. During Slovenia's EU presidency, he led negotiations between the Member States on Digital Services Act and digital files in the EU. In 2022, he received the Ukraine Peace Price from President Zelenskyy for his contribution to Ukraine's digital resilience. From 2016 to 2021, he headed Uber's public policy and government relations efforts in Central and Eastern Europe. Mark Boris received a master's in public policy from the University of Oxford and a law degree from the University of Ljubljana.

Nasreen Ali Mohamed

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Afrikapu Ltd, Kenya

Nasreen is a social tech-preneur passionate about technology and inclusion of low income households especially women and girls. She founded Afrikapu to give disadvantaged women and youth a voice through business growth and help them be ambassadors of advocacy issues affecting their communities.

Her zeal to alleviate poverty and give marginalized women a getaway to life-changing opportunities, led Nasreen to start Afrikapu to introduce real, tangible impact into the Global Handicraft industry and uplift the lives of underrepresented women and girls throughout Africa’s conservancies and informal sectors, a sector that makes up to 80% of Africa’s economy.

With presence in Kenya and United Kingdom, Afrikapu offers artisans a holistic integrated approach by providing them with handcrafting skills training, access to credit to start independent income generating activities, provide global market linkages for their eco-friendly handmade products, and an e-wallets gratuity system to further grow their savings and effectively invest in their life goals such as purchase of property, children's education, business expansion / diversification.

Afrikapu leverages blockchain technology to provide transparency in the process and a more personal artisan to consumer connection.

Nasreen’s work has been recognized globally, earning her multiple awards alongside leaders from reputable organizations and platforms whose members have gone on to become Nobel Prize recipients, heads of state, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and Grammy Award winners.

Nasreen holds a Master of Science Degree from University of York, UK, an Executive Leadership certificate from Dartmouth College, USA , a Bachelors (Hons) Degree in Business Management from University of Sunderland, UK, an Advanced Diploma in Business and Law from Edith Cowan University, Australia.

Claire Cormier Thielke

Asia CIO, ProLogis, USA

Claire Cormier Thielke is Asia CIO for ProLogis. Formerly, she was Country Head of Hines Greater China, one of the country’s largest international real estate developers; she formerly served as Chief Operating Officer of Investment Management for Hines, overseeing new product development and global fund operations for the firm's 39 investment vehicles active across 24 geographies. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Zillow Group, the world's largest online real estate marketplace, and is a member of the Aspen Institute’s Society of Fellows. Ms. Cormier Thielke earned her undergraduate degree in Urban Planning, MA in Construction Management and a Degree of Engineer from Stanford University. She is member of Stanford University’s adjunct faculty, teaching on the intersection of technology, institutional investment and real assets. She has also written numerous scholarly contributions on green building, city planning, adaptive reuse and urban revitalization.

Shahril Hamdan

Managing Director, Watchtower Advisory, Malaysia

With a background in Economics, Shahril has developed a multi sector profile in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

He climbed the political ladder in Malaysia, and was until late 2022 the Head of Communications for Malaysia’s oldest political party. In a career in public life spanning 10 years, he had also served in government as the Economic Director in the Prime Ministers Office (2021-2022).

But Shahril was not a career politician, and has had stints as
• A management consultant with McKinsey serving clients across Southeast Asia (2011-2014)
• A CEO managing the mid-sized Malaysian energy services company Destini Oil with footprint in Southeast Asia and the Middle East (2014-2018)
• A private markets advisor currently, as founder of Watchtower Advisory, alongside a role as Senior Advisor at GP Bullhound, a global tech advisory and investment fund. (2023 - present)
• A communicator as co-host of Malaysia’s current top current issues podcast Keluar Sekejap (2023-present)
• A geopolitical analyst on Southeast Asian affairs as a Visiting Fellow at Singapore’s Rajaratnam School of International Studies (2023)

Since January 2023, Shahril has stepped out of politics, but continues to leverage the varied insights and roles he developed in the past decade to deliver impact via Watchtower and beyond. He actively seeks opportunities to engender cross-cultural and cross-border understanding crucial to meet the global challenges of the moment and capitalise on collaboration opportunities, especially given Southeast Asia’s strategic position in the context of de-risking, multipolarity and Great Power Competition.

Shahril holds a BA in Economics from the University of Manchester (2008) and an MSc in Race, Ethnicity and Postcolonial Studies, LSE (2011) where he also won the Hobhouse Memorial Prize for graduating top of his class that year.

Amal Enan

Chief Investment Officer, American University in Cairo, Egypt

Amal Enan is the Chief Investment Officer at the American University in Cairo and Partner at 500 Global. She places her expertise to invest at the forefront of technology and global sustainability across asset classes. With a commitment to intergenerational equity and inclusion, Enan applies herself as a catalyst for allocating capital to invest in growth and climate sustainability.