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

Yeoh Keong Hann

Executive Director, YTL Power International Berhad, Malaysia

Yeoh Keong Hann is a third-generation Malaysian business leader passionate about the transformative power of combining technology and entrepreneurial spirit, as well as the influence and values of family businesses in building a more inclusive and sustainably-focused society. He is Executive Director of YTL Power International Berhad, one of South-East Asia's largest infrastructure and energy companies, leading the group's operation and setting the vision of its new business and digital venture arms. He led the team that set up Geneco, Singapore's second-largest provider of retail electricity. Yeoh is also a General Partner of the SEA Frontier Fund where he invests in and mentors the next generation of game-changing startups in South-East Asia. He is a member of the Board of Wessex Water in the United Kingdom and of YTL PowerSeraya in Singapore. Yeoh is a graduate of the University of Oxford.

Bolor-Erdene Battsengel

Researcher, United Kingdom

Bolor-Erdene Battsengel is a young dynamic leader with over a decade of proven experience working in international organizations, including the World Bank and UN as well as governments and academia.
As the former founding Vice Minister of Digital Development of Mongolia, she led the country's digital transformation, crafting a comprehensive 5-year plan "Digital Nation" policy. She is globally recognised by successfully leading E-Mongolia project which digitalized over 1,500 government services, help reducing red-tape bureaucracy and corruption. Coming from countryside of Mongolia, she founded Girls Code NGO to empower young women and girls from disadvantaged communities to learn STEM education and coding skills.

She has helped many international corporations on AI policies, strategic engagement, public policy and government relations.

Irina Lachowski

Member of the Board, RenovaBR, Brazil

Irina Bullara is former Chief Executive Officer of RenovaBR, an initiative founded by a group of Brazilian entrepreneurs looking to empower and qualify ordinary citizens that wanted to participate in Brazilian politics. Under her leadership, RenovaBR has transformed itself into one of the main political organizations in the country. Each election thousands of Brazilians subscribe to RenovaBR’s to learn about democracy, leadership, public finance, law and marketing. It has graduated more than 3,000 participants from all parties and ideologies, with RenovaBR students being among the most promising politicians in the country. Prior to starting RenovaBR, Bullara was the woman behind the largest private educational learning system (Anglo).

Ali Mukhtar

Director, Fatima Fertilizer Company Ltd, Pakistan

Ali Mukhtar is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fatima Ventures, a prominent venture capital fund in Pakistan's start-up ecosystem. Under his leadership, Fatima Ventures has launched Pakistan's leading technology fund, Fatima Gobi Ventures, in partnership with Gobi Partners. Mukhtar has invested in leading technology start-ups, contributing to their growth and success. He also serves as a Director at Fatima Group, overseeing group strategy and investments. As an active member of the Pakistani business community, Mukhtar holds advisory roles in organizations supporting entrepreneurs and innovation.

Dominic Wadongo

Chief Risk Officer, Smartcash Payment Service Bank, Nigeria

Dominic Wadongo is the Group Head of Operational Risk at Equity Group Holdings, overseeing operational risk management across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is also in charge of driving the operational risk management in non-banking subsidiaries, which include Equity Investment Bank, Equity Insurance, Equity Group Foundation and Finserve. The scope encompasses driving the integrated operational risk management framework covering operational risk, IT and cyber risk, business continuity management, fraud risk, data privacy and protection, and security. Previously, Wadongo was Acting Chief Risk Officer and Head of Enterprise Risk at the National Bank of Kenya, where he ensured an effective risk management framework covering key risk areas in the company. Before joining National Bank of Kenya, Dominic started his career at Standard Chartered Bank of Kenya (SCBK) in 2007 where he worked for six years. He was the Senior Operational Risk Officer, in Global Shared Services Centre Africa. He graduated from the University of Nairobi with an MBA in 2015. He also has a BSc in Wildlife Management from Moi University. Wadongo is currently pursuing professional certifications in operational risk management (PRMIA) and Certified Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC). He is also a member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP).

Karen Karniol-Tambour

Co-Chief Investment Officer, Bridgewater Associates, USA

Karen Karniol-Tambour is Co-Chief Investment Officer at Bridgewater Associates, responsible for managing the company’s investment process. Karen oversees the systemization of Bridgewater’s research into trading strategies, manages the development of proprietary investment management models, directs the design and implementation of client investment strategies, and publishes timely market understanding to clients and global policy makers via Bridgewater’s Daily Observations. She also co-leads the firm’s Sustainable Investing efforts, overseeing the design of new investment solutions with both financial and sustainability objectives. Karen joined Bridgewater in 2006 after graduating from Princeton University. She serves on the boards of Search for Common Ground and Seeds of Peace. Karen is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, was included in Fortune’s "40 Under 40" most influential leaders in business in 2019, and has been named to Barron's list of "Most Influential Women in US Finance" for three years in a row.

Gazal Kalra

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Clean Energy Ministerial, India

Gazal Kalra Co-founder, Rivigo, India Gazal Kalra is the Co-Founder of Rivigo, a tech-logistics startup disrupting the large and unorganized industry. At Rivigo, driven by a simple idea of bringing each truck driver home and a strong purpose of ‘Making logistics human’, Gazal has led the development of technology and products for truck drivers, thereby creating job opportunities in the hinterland in India. She believes in building scalable and purpose driven businesses that fundamentally improve the quality of experience for the users, while creating social impact. The jury of Business Today chose Gazal as one of the ‘Most powerful women in Business in India’ 2019. She was also named as part of Forbes 40 under 40 India’s brightest young business minds 2019 list. She has been a Fulbright Fellow 2011.

Alberto de Belaunde

Program Adviser, Global Advocacy, OutRight Action International, USA

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.

Amit Paley

Entrepreneur in Residence, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Bosnia and Herzegovina

Amit Paley is the Entrepreneur in Residence at the International Rescue Committee, the global humanitarian organization that provides aid and development in 40 war-affected countries. He previously served as CEO of The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and mental health organization for LGBTQ young people. Under Amit Paley’s leadership, The Trevor Project expanded the number of youth served more than ten-fold, launched a global expansion, and developed innovative technology tools leveraging AI and machine learning that were recognized as one of TIME magazine’s top 100 inventions of the year. Amit was also an Associate Partner at the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where his clients included Fortune 500 companies, governments, and non-profit organizations. Amit Paley started his career as a reporter at The Washington Post covering several high-profile beats, including as a foreign correspondent based in Iraq, where his work was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and a financial investigative journalist.

Amit is a sought-after speaker who has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, and CNN. He has been an adjunct professor at City University of New York and served on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Steering Committee, the Executive Committee of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, the Board of the Center for Public Integrity, and Chair of the Graduate Council of The Harvard Crimson. Amit Paley graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and earned an MBA from Columbia Business School.