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.

Priyanka Bakaya

Commercialization Adviser, US Department of Energy, USA

Priyanka Bakaya is a climate technology commercialization advisor who has been recognized on the Forbes 30 under 30 List, the Fortune 40 Under 40: Ones to Watch List, Conscious Company's Top 30 Social Entrepreneurs List, is a Cartier Women's Initiative Award Laureate, and is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. She is a graduate of MIT Sloan and Stanford University with Honors and has completed Executive Education at Harvard's Kennedy School and Princeton's Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

Bakaya currently serves as an advisor on Technology to Market Commercialization to the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E). She began her career in finance and venture capital, and currently serves on the Impact Committee of the Circular Innovation Fund. She brings extensive experience as a climate tech entrepeneur and coaches founders on the topics of entrepreneurship and sustainability through MIT Bootcamps. She has been invited as a keynote speaker and panelist at dozens of global conferences across six continents; presenting at events such as Fortune Brainstorm Green, Sustainable Brands, Global Entrepreneurship Summit, TEDx, and more.

Jaideep Bansal

Chief Executive Officer, Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE), India

Jaideep Bansal is CEO of GHE Impact Ventures, an award-winning social enterprise that is bringing clean energy technologies and sustainable tourism together for the development of remote communities in India. He is also a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. Under his leadership, GHE has impacted more than 500,000 lives through solar electrification of villages, schools, and health centres across India, while creating meaningful livelihoods through sustainable tourism and creating carbon offset projects through clean cookstoves. GHE has been endorsed and acknowledged by the United Nations, World Economic Forum and World Travel & Tourism Council, and has been featured in documentaries by National Geographic and the BBC. Bansal’s work on sustainable rural development has inspired many at key international forums such as the G20, Davos, SEforAll and the ADB. He has been featured repeatedly at Davos among the top leaders inspiring change in the world. Bansal has served as the Foundation Board Member of the Global Shapers Community. An Asia Foundation Fellow 2020, he is also an adviser to the Government of India on sustainable development for remote communities of India.

Zolzaya Batkhuyag

Co-Founder and Advisor, Women for Change, Mongolia

Zolzaya Batkhuyag is the Co-Founder and Advisor of the Women for Change NGO, Mongolia. Since 2008, she has been an advocate for gender justice and human rights, and leading numerous advocacy projects that have raised public awareness and community-building efforts. Zolzaya has a background in law and holds a BA and MA in Development Studies from The University of Melbourne.

Ms. Zolzaya has fruitful experience as a national trainer on gender equality, women’s empowerment, and youth development. She is active in the media and frequently shares her expertise through public speaking engagements. In 2015, she was selected as the Asian Development Fellow by The Asia Foundation as one of 12 young leaders.

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.

Christoph Baumann

Envoy for Sustainable Finance, State Secretariat for International Finance, Switzerland

Christoph Baumann is Envoy for Sustainable Finance at the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF). In this role, he leads the Swiss government's sustainable finance activities, ranging from negotiations in multilateral bodies (such as the G20) to domestic initiatives. Christoph is a Policy Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He holds an LLM in international law from the University of London, a master's degree in economics from the University of Zurich, and is a CFA charterholder.

Christoph is focused on making global financial flows consistent with a pathway to net-zero carbon emissions and a nature-positive state in his multinational roles as head of delegation of the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group, Co-Chair of the Working Group on Transition Finance of the International Platform on Sustainable Finance, Member of the Stewardship Council of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, as well as Swiss Sherpa of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action. Domestically, Christoph led the mandatory implementation of climate-related reporting standards - based on the TCFD recommendations. Before joining SIF, he worked in executive positions in the private sector, being instrumental in establishing a securities dealer, a digital bank, and a fintech focused on foundations.

Natalia Bayona

Director of the Innovation, Education and Investments Department, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Spain

Jessica Beckerman

Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer, Muso, USA

Jessica Beckerman is a health justice advocate who works to end preventable deaths rooted in poverty by building rapid universal healthcare systems. She is Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Muso, which has given care to 330,000 patients throughout Mali and supports the country’s national community health efforts to deliver health systems impact for 3.4 million of the country's most vulnerable citizens. Muso's work has been featured by The Atlantic, Forbes, The Guardian, BBC World Service and The Financial Times. She is also a practicing Obstetrician-Gynecologist in Oakland, California.

Venetia Bell

Group Chief Sustainability Officer; Head, Strategy, Gulf International Bank (GIB), United Kingdom

Venetia Bell is the Group Chief Sustainability Officer at Gulf International Bank (GIB), and Head of Strategy at GIB Asset Management. Amongst other responsibilities, Venetia leads GIB’s drive to embed sustainability and responsible banking principles in everything it does. In 2021, she was instrumental in the successful close of GIB’s sustainability-linked loan, making GIB the first Bahrain-headquartered bank to close such a facility. She also led an award-winning multi-stakeholder initiative to enhance data and funnel private capital towards humanitarian and resilience projects.

Venetia is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, a fellow of the Forward Institute, faculty for the Competent Boards Programme, and an alumna of the Mentoring Foundation. She is a Chartered Governance Professional, a designated Climate Competent Director, a Certified Investment Fund Director, and the Chair of Trustees of several charities.

Prior to GIB, she had several roles at the Bank of England, and has published a range of policy-focused research. Venetia graduated with an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics, an MA degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge UK, and the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD, France.

Stefany Bello

Senior Vice President of Digital Partnerships, Retail & Commerce, Mastercard, USA

Stefany Bello is a Head of Digital Partnerships and Strategic Alliances in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) at Mastercard. In her role, she is responsible for executing Mastercard's digital strategy with digital giants, marketplaces, streaming services, e-commerce software enablers, social media platforms, gig platforms, ride-sharing, fast fashion, gaming, crypto, and innovative startups. Stefany is responsible for expanding Mastercard's digital footprint, managing relationships with key players, and driving innovation and transformational efforts across digital payments in LAC. Before this role, Stefany led partner engagements with Operating Systems and Social Network players globally and with a broader Product team, launching proximity and remote wallet solutions leveraging the Mastercards tokenization platform. Stefany joined Mastercard in 2009 and has played a key role in driving Mastercard preference, product strategy, co-brand engagements, value-added services, and data insights. Stefany also holds a patent for the Mastercard Aid network, an end-to-end, non-financial service designed to streamline aid distribution even in the absence of telecommunications infrastructure. Stefany holds a B.A. in International Business Management with a double concentration in finance and Latin American Studies from Manhattanville College in N.Y. Additionally, she is fluent in English, Spanish, and Italian and proficient in French.

Fridtjof Berge

Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer, Antler Innovation Pte Ltd, Singapore

Fridtjof Berge is the Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer of Antler, the global venture capital firm backing the world’s most driven founders from day zero. With offices in 28 startup ecosystems across six continents, Antler rethinks how to support and back exceptional people from the earliest stages - regardless of their geography or background. Since 2018, Antler has invested in more than 750 portfolio companies, and it receives more than 100,000 applications annually to its residencies. A Norwegian native based out of Singapore, Fridtjof obtained his MBA from Harvard Business School and started his career in McKinsey & Company, where he focused his work on the retail, consumer goods, financial services and social impact industries. He is a Forbes 30 under 30 honouree.

Khaled Bin Braik

Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, United Arab Emirates

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.

H.H. Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan

President and Chief Executive Officer, UAE Independent Climate Change Accelerators (UICCA), United Arab Emirates

Business leader, social entrepreneur, and published author Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan is Executive Director of the UAE Independent Climate Change Accelerators (UICCA), Founder of the Shamma bint Sultan Sustainability Initiatives social enterprise, Co-Founder of Aurora50 and Founder of Reset MENA. Sheikha Shamma holds a Master of Studies in Sustainability Leadership and a Master of Philosophy in Modern Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Cambridge and a degree in Business Administration from Zayed University. She is a well-respected industry expert on sustainability due to her business and academic endeavors in the field. Sheikha Shamma is Chair of Alliances for Global Sustainability and the Advisory Boards of Yale’s Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Pure Harvest, and Bamboo Capital. She is the Honorary President of the Emirates Green Building Council and a UAE Circular Economy Council member. She was awarded the Inspirational Woman of the Year by the Arab Women’s Awards UAE in 2020 and the Academy of International Business in the Middle East and North Africa (AIBMENA) Windtower Award in 2021. In 2022, Sheikha Shamma was selected as the first woman from the GCC to participate in the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center’s Women Leaders in Energy and Climate Fellowship and serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Multilateral Negotiations (CEMUNE). Sheikha Shamma cites her great-grandfather, the UAE’s founding father, His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, as a source of inspiration and credits his vision as why she places immense importance on sustainability, philanthropy, and female empowerment. Through her actions, Sheikha Shamma aspires to ensure that Sheikh Zayed’s legacy lives on and that his vision continues to create a positive impact globally.