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.

Muriel Thabile Ngwato

Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Newzroom Afrika, South Africa

Thabile Ngwato is a dynamic entrepreneur and leader in broadcasting and technology. Her journey reflects a commitment to innovation, diversity and shaping the future of broadcasting and content distribution in South Africa and across the continent. Ngwato has a background in both radio and television. She honed her vision during her tenure at the South African Public Broadcaster. Entrepreneurial Ventures. She is Co-Founder of Rapid Innovation, a connected services agency specializing in innovative broadcasting and content distribution strategies. Ngwato co-founded Newzroom Afrika (channel 405), the first Black and youngest woman to own commercial TV channels in Africa, broadcasting to 52 African countries. In addition to Newzroom Afrika, she co-founded two other channels: Movie Room (channel 113) and Play Room (channel 300). She founded Bluestream Technologies, a broadcast satellite business, in 2021, making it the only 100% black and woman-owned uplink business in South Africa. Ngwato has actively contributed to transforming the media and broadcasting landscape in South Africa and Africa at large. She has navigated predominantly male-led sectors, showcasing her leadership and entrepreneurship. Ngwato serves on the boards of Rapid Innovation Investments and the Ngwato Nkosi Group, further showcasing her involvement in business and strategic decision-making. Her founding of Bluestream Technologies (a broadcast satellite business) in 2021 solidifies her as one of the most influential players in South Africa’s broadcast and ICT sectors. Ngwato's journey highlights her dedication to breaking barriers, fostering innovation and contributing to the advancement of the broadcasting and technology sectors in Africa. Her numerous awards underscore the impact of her work and the recognition she has garnered in the industry. They include: GLAMOUR Magazine Woman of the Year Award in 2018; Charlotte Mannya-Maxeke Institute Woman of Firsts Award in 2019 for being the first and youngest woman to own a commercial television news channel in Africa; Global African Award for Excellence in Media in 2021.

Avital Saskia Niño de Rivera Cover

Co-Founder and Spokeswoman, Reinserta -Un Mexico A.C-, Mexico

Saskia is a Mexican-American national. She has a Master’s in Human Rights and Fundamental Principles and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She is the President of the non-profit organization Reinserta, which she founded when she was 24 years old, in order to fight for a safer Mexico through its penitentiary system. Previously, she worked at the National Anti-Kidnap Coordination of the Mexican Secretariat of Government. In 2015, she led the creation of the “maternity in prison” section of the Criminal Execution Law, and was invited to create and work for the Social Responsibility Agenda 2015-2016. In 2014, Saskia participated in a number of workshops for the Mexican criminal system reform. Saskia was selected as a Mexican leader of the women’ s first generation of Raising Talent Women’ s Forum and as one of the 3,000 Ashoka Fellows. She was nominated for the Nelson Mandela – Graça Machel Innovation Awards 2016 and was named “Next Generation Leader” by Time Magazine. She was awarded with the UBS Visionaries 2016 prize, is recognized by Global Shapers and Women’ s Forum Rising Talent México, and is a Vital Voices Ambassador as of 2016. She received an American School Foundation Leadership award in 2006, was named an Ashoka Fellow in 2015, was named a Next Generation Leaders by TIME Magazine in 2015, and was selected by FORBES Magazine in 2016 as one of the TOP 100 powerful women. Saskia was selected as a 2019 Global Leadership Award Honoree and a VVLead Ambassador. Saskia works within the prisons and the country’s most dangerous neighborhoods in order to change the extremely rough environments that funnel Mexicans into crime.

Wawira Njiru

Founder and Executive Director, Food for Education, Kenya

Wawira is the founder of Food for Education an organisation that is feeding Africa’s future through innovative, cutting-edge technology. Food for Education has created a sustainable model of efficiently providing locally sourced, high quality, nutritious meals to public primary school children. Their scalable, efficient model is creating the first sustainable path to solve the child nutrition crisis for 500 million African children. She is a Ford Foundation Global Fellow, the youngest recipient of the University of South Australia’s alumni award 2017, a 2018 Rainer Arnhold Fellow, a recipient of the Builders of Africa Award 2018 and one of 2018’s Top 40 under 40 women in Kenya. She is also the first recipient of the Global Citizen Youth Leadership Prize 2018 presented by Cisco.

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

Minister of Information, Ministry of Information and Media Relations of Ghana, Ghana

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah is Minister of Information and Member of Parliament. He is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana, and serves on the Finance and Constitutional Committees of Parliament.

Daniel Noboa Azín

President of Ecuador, Office of the President of Ecuador, Ecuador

Daniel Noboa, the youngest President in the republican history of Ecuador.
The President of the Republic, Daniel Noboa Azín, assumes the leadership of the National Government at the age of 35. He is the youngest president of republican Ecuador and of contemporary Latin America.
He studied Business Administration at New York University's Stern School of Business and has three international master's degrees: Business Administration at the Kellogg School of Management, Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School, and Governance and Political Communication at George Washington University.
His professional experience began at the age of 18 with the creation of several companies, including DNA Entertainment Group, a real estate and logistics company dedicated to event organization. He also worked at Noboa Corporation, becoming the youngest Shipping Director in the company's history.
He was a legislator in the National Assembly. In his first candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic, he was elected on 15 October 2023 with 52.1% of the votes. Ecuadorians elected him to lead a democratic proposal that favors consensus and will concentrate its efforts on protecting dollarisation, reducing unemployment, boosting competitiveness, economic growth, and citizen security.
has context menu

Faraja Nyalandu

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Shule Direct, Tanzania

Faraja Nyalandu is an award-winning social entrepreneur, committed to promoting systemic change in digital learning in primary and secondary education in Africa. She founded Shule Direct in 2013, a social enterprise that digitises national curriculums and leverages technology and innovative teaching approaches to improve learning outcomes for all children and youth.

Yoichi Ochiai

Associate Professor, University of Tsukuba, Japan

Yoichi Ochiai is an award-winning digital media artist, a recognized scholar, entrepreneur and media influencer. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, specializing in media art, human computer interactions and its application, and Head of the Digital Nature Laboratory. He is also Founder of Pixie Dust Technologies, a technology company developing digital fabrication through artificial intelligence-based solutions. Ochiai has received numerous awards for his work, including the 2015 World Technology Award, 2016 Prix Ars Electronica, European Union STARTS Prize, Laval Virtual Award and many others. He is the author of "The Century of Enchantment (Planets)" and "Survival Strategy of Super AI Era”. He has also given many lectures in Japan and abroad and at symposiums such as TEDxTokyo and at SEMICON Japan. Ochiai received his PhD in Applied Computer Science from the University of Tokyo.

Head of Research Development Center for Digital Nature, University of Tsukuba
Associate Professor, University of Tsukuba
Visiting Professor, Osaka University of Arts
Visiting Professor, Kyoto City University of Arts
Visiting Professor, Kanazawa College of Art
Visiting Professor, Digital Hollywood University
Principal Investigator of JST CREST xDiversity
Osaka, Kansai, Japan Expo2025 Site Theme Producer
Board Member of VR Consortium
Board Member of Mitoh Foundation
Board Member of xDiversity
General, Intellectual Property Strategy, Cabinet Office, Expert Committee Member
Digital Reform-Related Legislation Working Group, Committee Member
Cabinet Office "Moonshot" Research and Development Program Visionary Conference Member and Moonshot Ambassador
Cabinet Secretariat's Conference on Building a Social Security System for All Generations, Committee Member
Economic and Industrial Policy New Axis at the Industrial Structure Council, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Committee Member
World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders 2022 Members
Digital Agency, Digital Day Review Committee Member
Committee Member of the Cultural Affairs Council
Pixie Dust Technologies.Inc CEO

Angela Oduor Lungati

Executive Director, Ushahidi, Kenya

Angela Oduor Lungati is a seasoned technologist, community builder and advocate of open-source software, driven by a profound commitment to leveraging technology for marginalized communities. With over a decade of experience in software development, global community engagement and non-profit organizational management, Lungati is Executive Director of Ushahidi, a leading Africa-led, non-profit technology company. Under her leadership, Ushahidi has undergone a strategic transformation, breaking down barriers to access and enhancing the platform's utilization, notably in the global COVID-19 response across 140 countries. Lungati’s influence extends to her role on the Board of Directors for Creative Commons and the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. She is also Co-Founder of AkiraChix, a non-profit organization dedicated to nurturing generations of women using technology to drive innovations and solutions for Africa. She is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Data Equity. Lungati’s multifaceted expertise and impactful initiatives position her as a trailblazer in the intersection of technology, community development and social impact.

Chinny Ogunro

Chief Operating Officer, The Africa Center, USA

Dr. Chinny Ogunro is the Chief Operating Officer of The Africa Center, a New York based non-profit that seeks to serve as a hub for the exchange of ideas around culture, business, and policy related to the continent, and in the spirit of collaboration and engagement with individuals and institutions who share the Center’s values. The mission of the organisation is guided by a leadership team that includes Board Co-Chairs Chelsea Clinton and Hadeel Ibrahim, and Board President Halima Aliko Dangote.

Previously, she was the Chief Executive Officer of WellSpring Health, an Africa-focused integrated care consortium backed by DAI, committed to delivering quality, affordable healthcare at scale. Chinny is a co-founder of Africa Health Holdings (AHH), a healthcare investment and operations company in which she raised over $13M in investor funding. AHH was born out of her doctoral research and her first company, CarePoint Hospitals and Clinics.

Chinny also currently serves as Director of Health Research at the Center for the Study of the Economies of Africa, where her research has explored innovative business models for health care delivery in growth economies, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. She was also a Senior Director at BroadReach Group, responsible for technology implementation and operational excellence. She is the founder of Company Is You, a professional development edtech firm that prepares individuals and companies for the future of work.

Her work in healthcare operations has delivered high-quality, low-cost healthcare to over 40,000 patients across West Africa and India. Her research has received over $700,000 in direct support from organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank.

Chinny is an advisory board member at Growth Capital—the investment arm of CCHub, a Steering Committee member of the Africa Leadership Academy’s Health Network, serves on the leadership committee of MIT Solve, and is frequently a guest lecturer at top international business schools. She has previously worked at Morgan Stanley, Veralon Partners, and provided long-term consultancy for the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health, the U.N. Special Envoy for Malaria, as well as multiple other development and partner organizations.

Chinny holds a Ph.D in Health Management (Technology and Operations Management, Strategy) from the Harvard Business School, a M.A. in Health Administration from Cornell University, and Bachelors degrees from Stanford University.

Fredros Okumu

Director, Science, Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), Tanzania

Fredros Okumu is the Director of Science at Ifakara Health Insitute (IHI). Fredros' work has attracted numerous awards and recognition, including the 2009 American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Young Investigator Award; 2014 Al Jazeera Lifelines Health Hero; 2016 Foreign Policy Global Thinker; and 2018 Quartz Africa Innovator. He is an important voice at the intersection of public health and the environment in Africa.

Oluwatosin Olaseinde

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Money Africa, Nigeria

Oluwatosin Olaseinde is a chartered accountant, specializing in accounting, audit, financial management and taxation. As Founder and CEO of Money Africa, she has cultivated a thriving edtech platform with a community exceeding 200,000, championing financial literacy and investment through technology. Olaseinde is also the visionary behind Ladda, a smart financial buddy simplifying saving and investing for those pursuing their financial goals. Her accomplishments, such as being a Washington Mandela Fellow, a LinkedIn Top Voice in Finance and Economy 2020, and a finalist for The Future Awards, underscore her impact. Notable media appearances on TEDx, BBC UK, Al Jazeera, and CNN position Olaseinde as a leading figure propelling the financial literacy movement in Africa. Her unwavering dedication and influential contributions have rightfully earned her a coveted place among the Top 50 African Business Heroes.

Sultan Olayan

Director, Olayan Group, Saudi Arabia

Sultan Olayan joined the Middle East and North Africa private equity team of Olayan (OFC) in 2019 as an Associate Director. He was at Olayan Saudi Holdings Company (OSHCO) since late 2017 as a member of the management team. Before joining Olayan Group, Olayan worked at the private equity arm of Abu Dhabi-based Waha Capital. Olayan is a member of the Olayan Family Council as well as a member of the Steering Committee for the Suliman S. Olayan Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Olayan Group. He is also a member of various boards, including Iliad Partners, Education for Employment, Saudi Craft Company, Ba’a Foundation and Aurbis Capital. Olayan began his career at Credit Suisse's Investment Bank in Hong Kong as a Research Analyst. He holds a BA (Hons) in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Northeastern University. He speaks Arabic, English, German and French.