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.

Aron Schwarzkopf

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Kushki, USA

Mr. Aron Schwarzkopf is a distinguished Ecuadorian-American serial entrepreneur with a remarkable track record in the fintech industry. He currently holds the position of Co-Founder and CEO at Kushki, a fintech company pioneering digital payment solutions across Latin America. Before his role at Kushki, he served as the Founder and CEO of Leaf, a financial technology company that was eventually acquired by Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: GPN).

In recognition of his contributions to the global business landscape, Mr. Schwarzkopf was elected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He actively engages in mentorship roles at Techstars, New York, and MIT Angels, demonstrating his commitment to fostering the growth of emerging talent in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Raised in Quito, Ecuador, he currently resides in Miami, Florida, with his wife and daughters. Mr. Schwarzkopf's diverse educational journey includes stints at Singularity University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Babson College.

Kabir Sehgal

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Tiger Turn Productions, USA

Kabir Sehgal is a 15x Grammy Award Winning Artist/Producer/DJ.

He is the CEO of Tiger Turn, a multimedia company & record label that makes music and film.

He is also a New York Times & Wall Street Journal bestselling author of 18 books such as “Coined” and “Carry On.” He is a CNBC, HBR, and Fortune contributor.

Sehgal is a US Navy veteran and reserve officer.

Previously, he was a vice president at J.P. Morgan and First Data.

He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the London School of Economics.

Shani Senbetta

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Kidame Mart, Ethiopia

Shani Senbetta is founder and CEO of the for-profit social enterprise Kidame Mart, Ethiopia's largest last-mile distribution network, empowering rural female micro-entrepreneurs to earn incomes by selling high impact goods door-to-door in their communities. Shani is also director of Zeleman Communications, Advertising and Production, the largest communications and advertising company in Ethiopia with over 140 full-time employees. Shani has a BA from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, an MBA from Harvard University and was a Fulbright Scholar. She is passionate about addressing social problems with innovative private-sector solutions.

Emily Serazin

Managing Director and Partner, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), USA

Emily Serazin is a Managing Director and Partner at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Emily is a core member of BCG’s Health Care and Social Impact practices. Within health care, Emily’s focus is on vaccines and global health across the value chain. She also has expertise in digital health and in the formation and optimization of public-private partnerships. Examples of Emily's experience in the commercial health care sector include developing growth and product launch strategies for players in the global vaccines market, leading due diligences, and supporting post-merger integrations. In the realm of global public health, Emily has worked across leading global health institutions such as Gavi, UNICEF, WHO, and the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation to define investment strategies, coordinate multi-stakeholder efforts, prioritize portfolios, and identify key levers to drive uptake in low- and middle-income countries. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Emily has worked extensively with public, private and social sector actors to accelerate the development and deployment of Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics.

Nathan Shabot

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, LIP Ventures, Mexico

Nathan Shabot is an accomplished entrepreneur with a diverse range of professional achievements. With a background in civil engineering and finance, his entrepreneurial journey began in 2010. Since then he has founded or collaborated in the establishment of 13 companies in various sectors, such as venture capital, innovation and technology, construction and engineering, arts, culture, education and ethics. Shabot is Co-founder and Managing Partner of LIP Ventures Boutique, which provides specialized venture capital and business development services to multi-regional technology start-ups. LIP aims to leapfrog Mexico and Latin America’s access to leading technology and innovation projects, accelerating adoption and generating a positive impact. One of Shabot’s social entrepreneurship endeavours is LUAN, a platform to spread globally the value of art in human development. LUAN’s philosophy is that art, creativity and culture are the best ways to ignite change. Shabot’s passion for music and commitment to social impact led him to serve on the Executive Committee of the Orchestra of the Americas Group and to organize concerts to support young musicians.

Bhavin Shah

Partner; Head, Middle East and North Africa, Forensic Risk Alliance Ltd, United Arab Emirates

I am a senior consulting professional and a trusted advisor to Boards of Directors, CXOs, Governments, and Regulators. I have served clients across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, America, and Europe.

My key areas of expertise are strategy development, business set-ups, transformations, M&A, restructuring, turnarounds, digital, complex regulatory matters, financial crime, public finance, and economic policies. I also have strong experience with financial performance improvement projects, balance sheet recapitalizations, Investor support, and cross-jurisdictional distress cases.

I mentor several Digital/FinTech start-ups in the region and have expertise in investing in venture, private and public markets. I hold an MBA and a Chemical Engineering degree and am an alumnus of Harvard Business School.

Shen Peng

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Shuidi Company, People's Republic of China

In 2016, Shen Peng founded Waterdrop, a leading technology platform dedicated to insurance and healthcare service with a positive social impact. He pioneered the business model of "Medical fundraising + Health insurance + Healthcare Services", helping 2.4 million families to raise 48 billion RMB medical funding, and providing high-quality and inclusive insurance services to 110 million users. Waterdrop Company is successively winner of "Advanced Company in Covid 19 Response" by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and "Advanced Organization of Beijing Poverty Alleviation Cooperation" by the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Beijing Municipal People's Government.

He’s a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience and expertise in the technology and internet sectors in China. Prior, he co-founded Meituan Waimai and served as business head of it. Listed on “2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia”, “2021 Fortune 40 Under 40 China”. Winner of “40 people in 40 years for China's insurance “Special tribute Award. Winner of “Advanced individual in Covid 19 response”by the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Democratic National Construction Committee. Winner of “Advanced individual in Poverty Alleviation” by the Democratic National Construction Association. Winner of “ACES 2021 Young Entrepreneur of the Year”. Member of the "Young Entrepreneur Committee” of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. Visiting professor of Business School of China University of Political Science and Law. Winner of "2021 Outstanding Contribution Award" from the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University.

Yichen Shen

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Lightelligence, People's Republic of China

Shen Yichen is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lightelligence, the world's first and leading optical computing company. Before founding Lightelligence, he was a scientist and engineer by training. He received his PhD in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BSc in in Mathematics and Physics from Johns Hopkins University. During his doctoral period, he filed 10 US patents and published more than 35 peer-reviewed journal papers in Science, Nature Photonics, ICML and other top journals. In 2017, Yichen published a cover article on Nature Photonics, which for the first time proposed a theory to use light to perform AI algorithms. With this breakthrough, he was included on MIT Technology Review’s list of 35 Technology Innovators Under 35.

Naif Sheshah

Assistant Deputy Governor for Planning and Development; Chief Digital Officer, Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), Saudi Arabia

Naif Sheshah, serves as the Assistant Deputy Governor for Planning and Development & Chief Digital Officer at the Communications, Space & Technology Commission (CST), In addition to his role as the Chief Transformational Office at the Saudi Space Commission. He also has a wealth of corporate strategy experience and a reputation for developing and implementing complex technology business process solutions in demanding environments. Prior to his current role, Naif was the General Manager of Planning and Development & Acting General Manager of Postal and Logistics Services. Particular highlights of his time at the CST include spearheading the formulation of the organizational strategy for the year 2019-2023, playing a prominent role to develop the Saudi ICT sector strategy, and leading a team that was twice awarded the EFQM’s certificate of Institutional Commitment to Excellence. A strategic thinker who combines extensive corporate experience, an entrepreneurial spirit, and unique academic insight, Naif’s career has crosscuts with multiple sectors such as healthcare, education, aviation, telecommunications, and petrochemicals industries, where in due time he has demonstrated a strong track record helping to steer forward-thinking businesses through periods of significant growth, change, and improvement. Naif Sheshah is a graduate of INSEAD’s Management Acceleration Program and holds a master’s degree in Business Process Management from the Queensland University of Technology, in addition to a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology. He sits on the board at the National Information Technology Academy, and for several years acted as ambassador for ADAA, the Kingdom’s center of excellence for performance measurement.

Sally Shin

Co-Founder, Raive, USA

Sally Shin is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Raive. Raive is building state of the art multimedia foundation AI models to enable multimedia AI to reach the masses, and solve the fundamental IP problems impeding the widespread adoption of AI by the multimedia industries. Before Raive, she was the Chief Strategy Officer at UnitedMasters. She spent over 10 years in media working at CNBC and Bloomberg. She launched CNBC's first tech show, Squawk Alley and was the youngest ever bureau chief leading the San Francisco office for the network. She is also a scout for Kleiner Perkins.

Shi Zhe

Chief Digital Officer, Foxconn Technology Group (Hon Hai Precision), People's Republic of China

Zhe Shi is Chief Digital Officer at Foxconn Technology Group where he spearheads internal digital transformation and smart manufacturing initiatives. Prior to his role at Foxconn, he co-founded CyberInsight Tech Beijing. With a wealth of experience in both research and industry, he has collaborated with global leaders in transportation, renewable energy, automotive and more, developing intelligent solutions to address challenges. He has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, specializing in Prognostics and Health Management.

Izkia Siches

Izkia Siches Pastén, MD, is a graduate of the Universidad de Chile Medical School and trained in internal medicine at the same university. She works in the Infectious Diseases Unit of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Santiago de Chile since 2018, one of the most reputed Infectious Diseases units in Chile. She is also a member of the board of directors of the NGO "Médicos Sin Marca" which seeks to promote evidence-based clinical practice, free from pharmaceutical influences. In 2017, after a superlative performance as a student union representative, she assumed the Chilean College of Physicians' presidency, being the first woman in this position and recently reelected in 2020 for a second period. Nowadays, after the social outbreak in Chile in October 2019, she leads the most valued institution for the Chilean population in a convoluted country. Notably, she and the Human Rights department of the Chilean College of Physicians have denounced the use of kinetic impact projectiles by the police, which resulted in severe ocular trauma and permanent disability to thousands of Chileans during the social outbreak. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has been advised by a reputed group of experts from different disciplines, being the voice of evidence-based recommendations and interventions that connect with common sense and most disadvantaged populations. Siches has been the counterweight of a government with one of the highest mortality and contagion rates. Today, she still works in the pandemic response and argues for health rights in her country's new constitution, about to be written in April 2021.