Community

The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a community of innovators from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Search current members and alumni by year awarded, sector or region.

Vera Oliveira

Founder and Executive Director, Instituto C - Criança, Cuidado and Cidadão, Brazil

Vera Oliveira is a Brazilian social entrepreneur and Founder and Executive Director of Instituto C – Criança, Cuidado and Cidadão (Child, Care and Citizenship) based in São Paulo. Since its establishment in 2011, the organization has provided support to over 15,000 individuals, with a particular focus on children and adolescents facing social vulnerability. Instituto C guides and assists families through public service networks and social welfare programmes, empowering them to build autonomy and awareness of their rights and responsibilities. The institute's impactful work has earned recognition, including being named one of the 100 Best NGOs in Brazil in the past seven years. Prior to founding Instituto C, Oliveira gained valuable experience in market research at multinational companies such as Nielsen and Ipsos. Her time in this field fuelled her passion for understanding people’s needs and stories.

Claudia Olsson

Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Stellar Capacity, Sweden

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Stellar Capacity, an education company providing digital leadership courses, digital skills trainings and digital skills mapping for organizations and individuals. The company focuses on the impact of new technologies on citizens, businesses, society and global markets. Member of the Industry 2030 high-level industrial roundtable at the European Commission, co-author of the Industry 2030 vision for the European Union. Founder of Swedish for Professionals, a language and cultural training company. Associate Faculty at Singularity University since 2014. Member of the Steering Board of the Software Development Academy. Board Member at Swedes Abroad. Appointed: One of the 40 under 40 European Young Leaders by Friends of Europe; One of Sweden's most impactful women in business; Young Leader of the Year in Sweden, Gifted Citizen, La Ciudad de las Ideas, Mexico; European David Rockefeller Fellowship, Trilateral Commission, One of Sweden's most Creative Minds by Resume. Selected as representative of the European David Rockefeller fellows at the Executive Committee of the Trilateral Commission. Formerly: with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); with ACCESS in India; set up and managed ACCESS Health International, the policy think-tank, Singapore; Board Member at Project Playground, Senior Adviser to the Office of Strategic Analysis, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Member of the World Economic Forum Europe Policy Group. Member of the World Economic Forum Future Council on Values, Ethics and Innovation.

Mohammad Salem Omaid

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, iBnk.ae, United Arab Emirates

Dr. (Prof) Mohammad Salem Omaid has a storied career as a banker. In his career span of over 17 years, Dr. Omaid handled diverse roles having rich & extensive experience in Finance & Accounting, Corporate Accounts, Trade Finance, Corporate Credit Financing, Operational Banking, Investment Banking and Retail Banking. His association with the banking industry & his pioneering contribution towards the reformation of the banking structure is worth mentioning. He has been the pillar of many innovational projects and digitizing the economy. Over the years, Dr. Omaid developed himself as a leader with calculated thinking coupled with business intelligence and a capacity to take decisions which are result oriented. He developed himself as a strategist with excellence in formulating, developing & implementing business plans and policies to ensure attainment of business goals and profitable sell-though.
Presently he is the founder & CEO of a start-up innovation in the UAE which is a B2B embedded digital marketplace platform and disruptive in nature, which will assist in breaking, disrupting, facilitating, widening & creating a new business chapter not only in the UAE but the entire MENA region and other emerging markets. It will also bring-in a transformation into the "brick & mortar" banking concept with the implementation of BaaS and many other innovative transformations into the e-commerce market.
Dr. Omaid’s expertise and knowledge for a sustainable growth earned him several international accreditations. He has been a motivational speaker on many occasions across the globe while attending various felicitation programs.
He is playing a great role in shaping the young minds in the country & globally by way of sponsoring sports, health-drives and education.

Umra Omar

Founder and Executive Director, Safari Doctors, Kenya

Umra Omar received her bachelor’s in neuroscience and psychology at Oberlin in 2006. After receiving a master’s degree and starting a career in Washington, D.C., Omar returned to her native country and during a visit to her childhood community on the islands of the Kenya-Somalia border, she learned about a medical aid project that had been abandoned because of the security concerns. That’s when Omar founded Safari Doctors, an initiative that provides free basic (and potentially life-saving) medical services, youth community health trainings and civic engagement for women. In 2016 Omar was selected as a CNN Hero, and in 2017, she was recognised as the 2017 UN Person of the Year.

Clare O'Neil

Minister for Home Affairs and Cybersecurity, Department for Home Affairs & Cybersecurity of Australia, Australia

O'Neil is the Shadow Minister for Financial Services and Shadow Minister for Justice in Australia's federal parliament. She is a Fulbright Scholar, a Harvard graduate, a published author and former Mayor and Councillor in the City of Greater Dandenong.

Tolu Oni

Clinical Professor of Global Public Health and Sustainable Urban Development, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Tolu Oni is a Public Health Physician Scientist and Urban Epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge, where she is a Professor of Global Public Health and Sustainable Urban Development. She is also Extraordinary Professor and Chair at Innovation Africa, University of Pretoria and an Honorary Associate Professor at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town.

She is Founder & Principal of UrbanBetter | Oni et al (https://urbanbetter.science/), an Africa-led global practice and movement to accelerate solutions that improve health in Africa’s cities by increasing the supply of health from place; and by creating a platform to increase youth-led demand for healthy places. UrbanBetter works in partnership with city governments, civil society and industry actors to design planetary health into urban infrastructure and development projects and policies in Africa and globally to harness urban development for population health and climate resilience.

Born in Lagos, she completed her medical training (and a BSc in International Health) at University College London, postgraduate medical training in the UK (Member of the Royal College of Physicians) and Australia, a Masters degree in Public Health (Epidemiology) at the University of Cape Town, and a research doctorate in Clinical Epidemiology at Imperial College London. She completed Public Health Medical Specialty training in South Africa and is a Fellow of the College of Public Health Medicine of South Africa.

She has published her work in high-impact journals, and has given presentations at international academic (urban health, planetary health, HIV, TB) and non-academic meetings including the United Nations High Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development, New York; and the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting, Davos. She serves on several advisory boards including Future Earth and the African Academy of Science Open Research Platform; and is an editorial board member of Lancet Planetary Health, PLOS Global Public Health, Cities and Health, and the Journal of Urban Health.

Profiled in the Lancet journal in 2016, Science magazine in 2018, and the British Medical Journal in 2019, she is a Fellow of the International Science Council, the African Academy of Sciences, a 2015 Next Einstein Forum Fellow, and a 2019 Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.

Oluseun Onigbinde

Co-Founder and Global Director, Budgit, Inc., Nigeria

Oluseun Onigbinde is the co-founder and Director of BudgIT, a global civic organization that works to intersect civic education with institutional accountability across Africa. In 2011, he launched Nigeria's largest fiscal transparency group, known as BudgIT, which utilizes the value in public data, giving citizens radical insights into how public resources are managed. He led a team that mainstreamed the blend of data and design through infographics, having had a strong background and experience in strategy consulting, product development, data analytics, digital media, data journalism, and the use of social media for "factivism". Over the years, Mr. Onigbinde has utilized his technical knowledge to stimulate the use of data, thereby crafting insights for industry and civic decisions. Through BudgIT, his approach to the use of data has reached over 20 million citizens, cultivating and encouraging their interest in data and its value to communities. Oluseun Onigbinde is a recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship, Future Africa Awards, Quartz Africa 30 Innovators Award, Aspen New Voices Fellowship, Melvin Jones Fellowship, and Stanford Draper Hill Summer Fellowship. As a Knight Innovation Fellow, he also worked with the International Center for Journalists/Gates Foundation on rethinking health journalism in Nigeria. Oluseun has worked on several projects funded by MacArthur Foundation, Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, OXFAM, and Omidyar Network.

Adriana Ortiz

President, National Handcraft Institute (IPA), Paraguay

Adriana Ortiz is a Paraguayan designer and entrepreneur who studied fashion design in Mexico and Spain. She has a degree in Psychology. She started working as an entrepreneur building her own commercial brand of feminine accessories and jewellery integrating craft design with contemporary design. In 2018, she was appointed President of the National Handcraft Institute (IPA). Her work focuses on promoting Paraguayan crafts through contemporary design practices that enable the strengthening of the value chains of artisanal production. This creates opportunities for fairer trade and better incomes for 20,000 artisans, of whom 70% are women. She is also leading the creation of "Safeguard Schools" for the protection of ancestral knowledge, mainly in rural communities. During her mandate, the first Paraguayan Artisan Fund was created to give financial support to civil society organizations working with indigenous communities to promote and develop indigenous crafts. The public policies promoted by IPA allowed for the creation of more than 70 new commercial units to sell Paraguayan crafts in national and international markets with a positive economic impact for many families in the country. Ortiz aims to contribute to a better future for the country and the world.

Juan Carlos Ortiz

President, US Hispanic, Latin America and Spain; Creative Chairman, Americas, DDB Latina, USA

Multiawarded at the Cannes Festival, Ortiz won the first Film Gold Lion at Cannes Festival in
Colombian history with a campaign for the
government program against drugs. Ortiz collects
several awards in advertising competitions all
over the world.
Ortiz was a member of the jury in the Titanium &
Integrated and Outdoors categories at the
prestigious Cannes Festival. This year was
appointed President of the Jury in the Outdoors
category at the Cannes Festival.

John B. Osborn

Director, Ad Net Zero, USA

John Osborn was recently appointed as the Director for Ad Net Zero (ANZ) in the United States in October, 2022. Originally launched in the UK, ANZ has grown to over 100 supporting companies, and now counts over 50 supporters in the US, which officially launched in early February this year. Under John's leadership, ANZ's mission is to leverage the power of its supporters, alongside the ANA, 4As and IAB, to educate, set benchmarks & standards, measure and take action to lower the carbon emissions associated across all advertising-related operations. Prior to ANZ, John was CEO of OMD in the US over five years from 2017 until August of 2022. John's experience also includes 25 years of service at BBDO, where he was President & CEO for 13 consecutive years prior to joining OMD. John has a wealth of non-profit board experience including the Red Cross of Greater New York, Global Dignity, Police Athletic League, AdCouncil, AAF and more.

Eva Otieno

Co-Founder, Filamujuani Foundation, USA

Eva Otieno is a connector between governments and institutional investors to channel much needed capital into Africa. As a strategist, she discusses Africa-focused market opportunities in order to attract financial flows into the region's local currency and hard currency fixed-income securities. Otieno has led roadshows in the region with investors that have combined assets under management of an estimated $50 billion, which is substantial capital that is seeking for robust returns in frontier Africa. Otieno also participates in thought leadership and media events through providing market insights where solutions are deliberated on how to attract capital into the region. In her role, she also engages with policy-makers to discuss solutions in fixed-income markets. Eva also engages with corporate clients where she provides market insights. This information assists the clients in making decisions as to which country to invest in bringing much needed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Taro Otsuka

President, Otsuka Warehouse Co. Ltd, Japan

Taro Otsuka is President of the Otsuka Warehouse, part of the Otsuka Group, which achieved net sales of JPY 1,200 billion in the 2012 fiscal year. Prior, he was the Otsuka Group's Marketing Manager for healthcare, food and beverage products, including the Pocari Sweat drink and Oronamin drink, which are popular in Asia. Otsuka is an adventurer who successfully climbed Mt Kilimanjaro and visited the South Pole.