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.

Jamila Abass

Country Director, GiveDirectly, Morocco

Jamila Abass is one of the champions of AgTech revolution in Africa.She is the founder of M-Farm,an app that connects farmers and buyers and makes the supply chain more efficient.This ingenious innovation won different awards including the praise of the US president Barack Obama during his visit to Kenya in June, 2015. Jamila is an internationally recognized techpreneur. She received many accolades including 2015 New African Woman women of the year,Forbes 10 Female Tech Founders to Watch and 20 Young Power Women in Africa,Quartz’s 30 African Innovators as well as 2015 100 most influential Africans. She is also an Aspen New Voices, Poptech, Unreasonable and an Ashoka fellow.She has been a keynote speaker and influencer at AgTech and ICT for development events.

Faisal Abbas

Editor-in-Chief, Arab News, Saudi Arabia

Faisal J. Abbas is the Editor-in-Chief of the Riyadh-based leading Middle East English language daily, Arab News.

Under his leadership, Arab News (established 1975) relaunched with a more global, more digital direction. It has expanded its international presence through a large network of correspondents and a number of regional bureaus across the world.

Prior to joining the newspaper in 2016, Abbas has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Dubai-based English language service of Al Arabiya News Channel.

Abbas is a renowned columnist on Arab-international affairs and has also conducted interviews with a number of world leaders. He appears regularly on international media to comment on regional affairs.

Abbas has previously written for The Huffington Post and worked with both Asharq Al Awsat and Al Hayat pan-Arab dailies, Future Television of Lebanon and the International Resource Journal in London.

He has been the recipient of many media awards, including the Next Century Foundation’s Cutting-Edge Award (2009) for efforts in bridging the communication gap between the West and the Arab World and British Council’s UK alumni “Social Impact” award in Saudi Arabia (2017).

He holds a master’s degree from the University of Westminster and a bachelor degree from the Lebanese American University. He is also a graduate of the Executive Education Program of the Harvard Kennedy School, where he studied Global Leadership and Public Policy.

Abbas is a member of the editorial board of Al Arabiya News Channel, an associate fellow of the Cambridge Union Society and a member of the British Society of Authors.

In 2017, he published his first Arabic book called ‘Arabi/Englizi’ which describes London through Arab eyes.

Minoush Abdel-Meguid

Founder and Managing Director, Mezzan, Egypt

Long-term banker and private equity executive with stints at Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Citibank. Worked on several high-profile transactions. Took part in the reform of the Egyptian Capital Market Authority as the Assistant to the Chairman and head of corporate finance; led major restructuring efforts including the introduction of the region's first takeover code. Former Founding President, Egyptian Young Bankers Association. Helping young bankers network and improve their skill set. Since 2011, has dedicated more time promoting and supporting entrepreneurship especially in less privileged Egyptian cities outside Cairo and with female entrepreneurs by mentoring and participating in business plan competitions and lecturing on various related topics. Has also participated in various efforts linking women together as a basis for narrowing the cultural divide between Eastern and Western cultures. Was among six women taking part in the Australian Arab Women dialogue in Australia in 2013, in addition to other projects.

Muna AbuSulayman

Partner, Transform VC, Saudi Arabia

Muna AbuSulayman, continuously named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World for her work in media, gender, leadership and education and as an iconic Arab media personality and humanitarian. Currently, She is also Social Impact Investor concentrating on using AI for education, media projects for awareness and Charity effectivenesst through Transform VC.

As the head of Directions Consulting and Partner 3S (Saudi Sustainable Solutions), she is focusing her development efforts on unemployment and entrepreneurship in the Arab world. As the former Secretary-General of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, she supported innovation and strategic initiatives to combat poverty, empower women and reframe the Islam-West dialogue. She is also a founding Co-Host of Kalam Nawaem, the Arab world's most popular TV shows.

AbuSulayman was appointed as the first Saudi UNDP Goodwill Ambassador. A Member of the Young Presidents' Organization, a Yale World Fellow and Aspen Institute Middle East Fellow. She also serves on several for profit and non-profit boards.

Moonshot: Making philanthropy and Government financial assistance more impactful.

Ali Adnan Ibrahim

Adviser, Sustainability and Competitiveness, KSA Center of Government, Saudi Arabia

Dr. Ali Ibrahim currently serves as a Sustainability & Competitiveness Advisor at at the KSA Center of Government. He has led work on establishing think tanks focusing on the social sector, urban futures, foresight research and impact. His work centers on strategic environmental and social impacts issues, with a special focus on the role of technology.

In the finance sector, Dr. Ibrahim has held the position of Global Head of Social and Sustainable Finance at a major financial institution. His leadership roles have included Chairmanship of the Sustainable Development Committee at the Bahrain Association of Banks and Co-Chairmanship of the Sustainability Working Group at the global Islamic finance industry body, CIBAFI. Additionally, he was the founding chairman of the Global Islamic and Sustainable FinTech Center at Bahrain Fintech Bay. He has been a member of various industry groups including the Consultative Group of the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets, and the Sustainable Finance Working Group of the Institute of International Finance. He is also part of various communities of the World Economic Forum including the Young Global Leaders, Executive Working Group on Financing, and Social Innovation.

Dr. Ibrahim's academic credentials include a Doctorate in Juridical Sciences (SJD—with distinction) from Georgetown University and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Washington University in St. Louis. He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B. Honours) from International Islamic University, Islamabad. His executive education includes programs at Harvard University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Stanford University, and the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, covering transformational leadership, sustainability, circular economy, and Artificial Intelligence.

Shai Agassi

Executive Chairman, Makalu Optics, Israel

Shai Agassi is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Better Place, a mobility operator focused on one of this century's biggest challenges - building a scalable and sustainable personal transportation system that ends oil dependence. He works directly with government leaders, auto manufacturers, energy companies and others to make his vision of zero-emission electric vehicles powered by renewable energy a reality in countries around the world. This vision was inspired by a profound question posed at the World Economic Forum in 2005, ?How do you make the world a better place by 2020?? Agassi founded Better Place and, in 2007, officially launched the company. In 2008, Israel became the first country, and Renault-Nissan the first carmaker, to embrace the Better Place model of building an open network to enable mass adoption of electric vehicles and delivering transportation as a sustainable service. Soon thereafter, Denmark and Australia followed suit. Recognizing Agassi's visionary leadership with the Better Place model, Time magazine named him one of its ?Heroes of the Environment 2008?.

Malak Jehad Al Akiely

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Golden Wheat for Grain Trading Ltd, Jordan

Malak Al Akiley is Founder and Managing Director of Golden Wheat for Grain Trading, Ltd., represent international Grain Trading companies in Jordan. She is the sole young female owner of such company in the MENA region with over ten years of experience in agricultural commodities trading with focus on food security.she has become the official liaison for worldwide grain international companies

Malak is co-Partner in Golden Kayan for Marketing Consulting Co. for Oil, Energy & Renewable Energy.

Adviser and MENA development Manager for Swiss Co. Cerealia Co. Blockchain platform for Agri-commodities Trading and Financing.

Have been selected as one of the top ten young persons of the world by Junior Chamber International (JCI) in August 2019

Founding Member in FutureTalks, Norway and went to the Arctic Expedition with 100 brilliant people from all sectors and all continents, exploring the Arctic and engaging in the most important discussions of our time which made her the first Jordanian women to cross 80 degrees' north pole.

Founding Member of Jordan Economic Forum, a forum consist of prominent economic figures & parliament members to foster economic growth and moving towards the objectives of sustainable development.

Partner and Business Development consultant on Oil and Aviation investment projects in East Africa.

Have been selected by U.S. Deparment of States, United States of America to participate in the International Visitor Leadership Program, “Entrepreneurship as the Engine of Prosperity and Stability: Women Fostering Economic Security.

She was also the youngest member of both the Public Financial Policies Committee, Economic Committee for Jordan’s Vision 2021 in his Excellency Dr.Talal Abu Ghazaleh Knowledge Forum.

Malak is the Manager and Director of "Women BeeBuzzers" project in Jordan, Women BeeBuzzers, is a project that aims to introduce beekeeping as a secondary and main source of income for women in rural areas in Jordan.

Sarah Al Amiri

Minister of State for Public Education and Future Technology, Government of United Arab Emirates, United Arab Emirates

Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology. Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency.

Nabeel M. Al-Amudi

Chief Executive Officer, Olayan Financing Company, Saudi Arabia

HE Nabeel Al-Amudi is the CEO of the Olayan Financing Company which is one of the largest, family-owned business in the Middle East. Formerly, he was the Minister of Transport for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 2017 to 2019. Prior to that, the was the President and Vice Chairman of the Saudi Port Authority from 2015 to 2017. Before moving into government, HE had a distinguished career at Saudi Aramco in the legal field, as the head of the long-range planning and finally as the President of Saudi Aramco's subsidiary in North America. He is currently the Chairman of Mobily (2nd largest mobile operator in the KSA) and the board of Trustees of the Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University and a board member on the Olayan Saudi Holding Company. He has served and chaired a number of boards including, Saudi Aramco, Hapag-Lloyd, Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Services Company, Saudi Arabian Railway Company, United Arab Shipping Company, Tabadul and Aramco Services Company.

Nabeel has a JD from Harvard Law School and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University. He also completed Stanford Business Executive Program in 2009. He is a member of the NY State Bar.

Abdelmalek Alaoui

Chief Executive Officer, Guepard Group, Morocco

Abdelmalek Alaoui is an Economist, a Best-Selling Author and the Founding CEO of Guepard Group (www.guepardgroup.com ).
During his career, he has served over 100 missions for top African and European clients, including S&P 500 and CAC40 firms as well as Government leaders. M. Alaoui also elaborated several government sectorial strategies.
He is featured regularly in “La Tribune” and “Forbes” as a columnist. The World Economic Forum of Davos named Mr Alaoui one of its Young Global Leader (class of 2015). His latest book “Le Temps du Maroc” (2021), is the Best-Selling Book in Morocco for this Year. His previous Book “Le Temps du Continent” (2017) addressing the issue of Africa’s development, received the Turgot Award for best Economics book of the year on march2018. Mr Alaoui is a graduate from Sciences Po Paris in Political Sciences and holds an MBA from HEC Paris. On an associative level, he is the Chairman of one of Morocco’s leading Liberal Think Tanks, Institut Marocain d’Intelligence Stratégique (www.imis.ma). Since the end of 2020, he is a member of the Strategy Group on Digital of the Africa-EuropeFoundation (https://www.africaeuropefoundation.org/ ).

Nesreen M. Al Barwari

Country Representative, Adviser and Consultant, Friends of Waldorf Education, Iraq

Dr. Nesreen Barwari is Chief Executive Officers of KWS for Education, Learning and Capacity Development, and Founder and President of Breezes of Hope. Barwari was Minister of Municipalities and Public Works in the Government of Iraq from 2003 to 2006, and the only and first woman appointed to a ministerial position in Iraq after the regime change in 2003. Prior, she was Minister of Reconstruction and Development in the Kurdistan Regional Government. Her professional career started in 1991 with UNHCR and continued with several UN agencies from 1991 to 1998. In recognition of her work, the United Nations awarded her a UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour in 2003. The Arab League also honoured her with a distinction in public participation in 2004 as one of the top 10 distinguished women from the Arab world. Barwari earned her undergraduate degree in Architectural Engineering and Urban Planning from Baghdad University. Her graduate studies, in Public Policy and Management, were completed at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. She has a PhD in Political Sciences with focus on Development Planning from Dortmund University.

Sahar Albazar

President of the Forum of Young MPs, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Egypt

Sahar Albazar is an Egyptian Parliament Member and Deputy Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee. She is also the Former President of the Young Parliamentarians, part of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). Prior, Albazar was an Impact Assessment Consultant at the World Bank for Youth Employment Project in Egypt and Social Investment Adviser at British Petroleum Egypt. She is also the Founder of Helwa Ya Balady, an NGO that focuses on developing slum areas and countering poverty in developing countries. Albazar has an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.