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.

Ida Auken

Member of Parliament, Parliament of Denmark (Folketinget), Denmark

Ida Auken is the former Minister for the Environment in Denmark (2011-2014). She is a Member of the Danish Parliament (2007-) for The Social Democratic Party. Ida Auken held the position of President of the European Environment Council and was Head of the EU Delegation at the Rio+20 conference, where the UN Sustainable Development Goals were agreed. Ida Auken was nominated a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and has also been elected as one of the 40 most promising young leaders in Europe. With her 15 years of experience in the Danish Parliament, Ida Auken has been key in fostering the green transition in Denmark. She was one of the architects of the Danish Climate Law that has one of the world’s most ambitious climate change targets and recently she introduced the paradigm shift in the approach to offshore wind by establishing energy islands. Ida Auken is the author of several books and in May 2022 “Believe it – climate, hope and vigour” was published.

Lois Auta

Founder and Executive Director, Cedar Seed Foundation, Nigeria

BSc in Public Administration, University of Abuja. Over five years of experience advocating for the betterment of persons with disabilities. Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cedar Seed Foundation, Nigeria. President, Disabled Sports Club - Abuja, President, Women on Wheels Multipurpose Cooperative Society. Vice-President, Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni Association, Nigeria Chapter. Assistant National Coordinator, Network of Women with Disabilities. Board Member, Potters Gallery Initiative.

Dionysia-Theodora Avgerinopoulou

Chair, Special Permanent Committee of Environmental Protection, Hellenic Parliament, Greece

Politician, Our Ocean Conference 2024 Coordinator, Member of the Hellenic Parliament and Chair of the Environment Committee of the Hellenic Parliament, Chair of the Mediterranean Parliamentarians on Sustainable Development, Director of the European Institute of Law, Science & Technology, Attorney at Law, specialized in International Environment, Energy, Water and Climate Change Law and Finance.

Gwenaelle Avice Huet

Executive Vice-President, Europe Operations, Schneider Electric, France

Gwenaelle Avice Huet has been Schneider Electric’s Executive Vice President of Europe Operations since September 4, 2023 and serves on its Executive Committee. She is responsible for Schneider Electric’s full business portfolio across Europe Operations, representing the company’s contribution to the development of the EU’s agenda to accelerate Europe’s green and digital transformation.

Gwenaelle joined Schneider Electric in 2021 as Senior-Vice President of Corporate Strategy, before entering the Executive Committee as Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer.

Before joining Schneider Electric, Gwenaelle worked at ENGIE (formerly GDF SUEZ) in various roles, from Senior Vice-President of European and Regulatory affairs, to leading the Renewables energy business. In her last role, she was on the Executive Committee of ENGIE, serving as the Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE North America and in charge of the Global Business Line on Renewable Energies.

Gwenaelle started her career at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the French Atomic Energy Commission on nuclear energy before joining the World Bank in Washington D.C. as a consultant. She also worked for the service of the French Prime Minister within the General Secretary of European affairs with responsibility for energy and competitiveness matters, and as the advisor on energy and climate change for various ministers.

Gwenaelle also serves on the Board of Air France – KLM. She holds a degree in Physics and Chemistry from the Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, a post-graduate diploma in Molecular Chemistry from France’s Ecole Polytechnique and an engineering degree from the Corps des Ponts et Chaussées. She has also been nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. She is based in Europe.

Ronit Avni

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Localized, USA

Ronit Avni is an entrepreneur and Peabody award-winning producer operating at the intersection of tech, media, workforce development, green jobs and social impact. She is founder and CEO of Localized, a career tech platform that connects university students and fresh graduates in emerging markets with industry experts to guide them and employers to hire them. The platform is focused on careers of the future from AI to carbon analysis. The strongest global companies including Google, PayPal, Amazon, Unilever and Cisco and the world’s leading educational institutions across Africa, the Middle East and Latin America use Localized.

Ronit is spearheading a pilot partnership to train and place fresh graduates across MEA in carbon and ESG analyst roles. Her team hosts the largest Green Talent Forum for students and recent graduates worldwide.

Previously, Ronit founded and led the media organization, Just Vision, which creates documentary films, news analysis and public education campaigns. She has won dozens of media prizes including the Puma Creative Impact Award, and her team’s work was featured in nearly every major news outlet and viewed by tens of millions of people on TV, online and in influential settings from TED to the United Nations.

Named a Young Global Leader through the World Economic Forum in 2009, Ronit sits on the jury of the Global Teacher Prize. She recently published a chapter in both the Routledge International Handbook of Diaspora Diplomacy and the IOM’s The Future of Diasporas entitled Using Technology to Channel Diaspora Knowledge Remittances at Scale. Ronit is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s current Global Future Council (GFC) on the Future of Job Creation

Born and raised in Montreal, Ronit began her career at WITNESS.org, which advises activists and technology companies on the ethical and strategic uses of video and digital technology for human rights. She co-edited the book, “Video for Change - A Guide for Advocacy and Activism” with WITNESS and now sits on the WITNESS Advisory Council.

Dilek Ayhan

Special Adviser, BI Norwegian Business School, Norway

CEO of The Conduit Oslo. Former Special Adviser to the President/Management of BI Norwegian Business School (Jan 2018 - Jan 2023). Former State Secretary, Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries (Oct 2013- Jan 2018). As State Secretary she was responsible for international/bilateral relations and trade policy, export financing, industrial research and innovation, the maritime industries including shipping and the travel and tourism industry. She was responsible for the following policy papers:

Industry White Paper (chapters covering RD&I, competence),
Ocean Strategy,
Maritime Strategy,
Bioeconomy Strategy,
The National Entrepreneurship Plan,
Tourism White Paper
and the Export Strategy.

Entrepreneur. Has served on the board of several organizations working with diversity management and intercultural communication.

Dawood Azami

Editor, Multimedia (News and Current Affairs), BBC World Service, United Kingdom

Dr Dawood Azami is an award winning senior journalist and academic with a quarter century of working experience. As a Multi-Media Editor in the BBC World Service (London), he leads a team of journalists in covering international news and current affairs.
Dawood is also an Associate Fellow at The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London, contributing to research and analysis of geopolitical and international security and development issues.
He also served as the BBC World Service Bureau Chief and Editor in Kabul, Afghanistan (2010-2011) where he was responsible for the editorial management of the Bureau and leading a large team of journalists and supporting staff.
He was a Visiting Lecturer/Scholar at the University of Westminster (London) and The Ohio State University (USA) teaching on both BA (Globalization, Power and International Governance) & MA modules (International Politics of Resources) as well as Culture and Politics in the greater Middle East.
Dawood obtained his Ph.D. in the field of Politics and International Relations/Security. His PhD looked at conflict and state (un)building and investigated the impact of drugs on the strength, motivation and ideology of insurgent groups in four countries – Afghanistan (Taliban), Colombia (FARC), Turkey (PKK) and Sri Lanka (LTTE).
He also holds three Master's in various fields including Politics, International Relations, International Security, Science, Law and Diplomacy.
He has won several national and international awards and prizes. In 2009, he won the BBC’s “Global Reith Award for Outstanding Contribution”, the biggest and lifetime achievement award in the BBC. He was selected as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum, Geneva, in 2011. In 2012, he was selected as a Young Leader in Europe under the first pan- European programme of leadership called ’40 under 40’. In 2015, he was given "Journalist of the Mediterranean (Giornalisti del Mediterraneo)" Award in Italy.
He has visited more than 30 countries and participated as a speaker in more than a hundred international conferences/seminars on a wide range of topics including politics, security, international relations, media and governance.
He is also a member of a number of international academic and professional initiatives.
Dawood speaks five languages (Pashto, Dari/Persian, Urdu/Hindi, and English) and has a working knowledge of Arabic and Turkish. He paints and practices calligraphy and writes poems and short stories in three languages.

Fatoumata Ba

Founder and Executive Chair, Janngo Capital, Côte d'Ivoire

Fatoumata BA is a Tech Entrepreneur & VC Investor, Founder & Executive Chair of Janngo Capital and Chairwoman of the Board of Auchan in Africa.
Janngo builds, grows and invests in pan-African ‘tech for good’ champions with proven business models and inclusive social impact. Janngo is Africa's largest gender equal tech fund and is backed by top-tier African & International strategic and financial investors including the European Investment Bank, the Mulliez Family, Clipperton Finance & African HNWI.

At Jumia, the #1 tech unicorn in Africa to be listed on the NYSE, she served as Founder & CEO in Ivory Coast, Managing Director in Nigeria and Member of the Executive committee at Africa level, driving the performance of 130+ operations across Africa, spanning around 10+ verticals in 30+ countries with 3000+ direct jobs, 70000+ indirect jobs and opportunities created for more than 500 000 SMEs across Africa.

She is passionate about leapfrogging development through technology in Africa, in particular when it comes to women's entrepreneurship & empowerment, SMEs growth and formalization as well as tackling health and education issues through medtech and edtech.

Her career and commitment have been rewarded with several distinctions including The World Economic Forum ‘Young Global Leader’, Choiseul 100 Africa ‘Economic Leaders of Tomorrow’, Forbes Africa ‘30 under 30’ and the Aenne Burda Award for visionary leadership, optimism & courage alongside Marissa Mayer, Arianna Huffington and Viviane Reding.

She served on the Board & Investment Committee of Creadev Africa, on the Council of Women in Africa, on the Global Future Council on the New Economic Agenda of the World Economic Forum and currently serves on the Board of SouthBridge Investment Bank

Gina Badenoch

Founder, Capaxia UK, United Kingdom

Gina Badenoch, Founder, Capaxia/OQS
Young Global Leader, United Kingdom
Social entrepreneur and photographer

Gina’s Dream is to reduce inequality, enabling social and economic mobility by building a more inclusive society.
Creating experiences that change mindsets where the greatest prejudices exist between talent, potential and companies.
She has been working with Global organizations to promote a work-inclusive environment that increases inclusive leadership and diversity as an asset.

In 2006, founded Ojos que Sienten, 13 years ago she saw potential where others saw limitation by teaching photography to blind people, offering a tool that allows them to connect with the visual world.
In 2012, founded Capaxia, taking learnings from working with blind people developed a highly successful new approach to lower the impact of our bias designing an inclusive, empathetic and human centered recruitment and development of talent model called: First I hear you then I see you, based on implementing blind interviews, back-to-back, by which recruiting officers can go beyond their own unconscious biases and identify the true potential of future employees for a better match to job roles, better development of their talent and potential within organizations and ultimately promotion to roles that are satisfying to them and benefit their employers. Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum. Ashoka Fellow. World Economic Forum. Ashoka Fellow. Awarded by the Queen of Great Britain a British Empire Medal (BEM) among other recongnisions.

Rodrigo Baggio

President and Founder, RECODE, Brazil

Rodrigo Baggio is the President and Founder of Center for Digital Inclusion (CDI). Previously, Rodrigo founded Informática para Todos, Brazil’s first campaign for donated computers in 1995 and opened the first Information Technology and Citizens Rights School (ITCRS) in Dona Marta, a slum in Rio de Janeiro. In the same year, Rodrigo established CDI, the first non-profit organization to fight the digital divide in Latin America. Rodrigo is recognized as one the 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum, and Time magazine named Rodrigo as one of the leaders of Latin America that will make a difference in the third millennium, selecting him for their Local Heroes campaign. Rodrigo was selected by CNN, Time and Fortune as one of the principal voices in economic development and received a certificate of recognition from the Clinton Global Initiative.

Zubaida Bai

President and Chief Executive Officer, Grameen Foundation, USA

Zubaida Bai is President and CEO of Grameen Foundation, headquartered in Washington, DC.

Bai is a social entrepreneur and women's health advocate with more than 18 years in the social impact space. She is the founder of ayzh®, a social enterprise that designs vital healthcare products to improve the health and happiness of women and girls across their reproductive lives. Prior to joining Grameen Foundation, she was the managing director of social ventures at CARE International.

Bai has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, a Maternal Health Champion by Ashoka, a TED Fellow/ Speaker, and named United Nations SDG 3 Pioneer by the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). She is a Visiting Social Innovator with Harvard University’s Social Innovation Change Initiative (SICI) and a member of the Governing Body at SEMA (Shaping Equitable Market Access) for Reproductive Health.

She holds a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from Colorado State University. She was also conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Claremont Graduate University in 2018 for her ability to work at the intersection of various sectors seamlessly, and to energetically bring her unique insights and fresh perspective to the table.

Angela Baker

Chief Sustainability Officer, Qualcomm, USA

Angela Baker is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Qualcomm where she oversees all corporate responsibility and ESG programming. This includes the company's climate strategy and net-zero emissions by 2040 goal as well as several other ESG 2025 targets. She also manages all social impact programs, including Wireless Reach, a strategic initiative that brings wireless technology to under-served communities globally. Wireless Reach invests in projects that foster entrepreneurship, aid in public safety, enhance the delivery of health care, enrich teaching and learning and improve environmental sustainability. To date, Wireless Reach has partnered with hundreds of organizations on programs in over 40 countries and has reached over 20 million beneficiaries. The team also includes strategic corporate giving around Science, Technology, Engineering and Math programs.

Previously, she served as an advisor to Secretary Hillary Clinton in the Office of Innovation at the United States Department of State, where she worked on foreign policy goals connected to the 21st Century Statecraft agenda through bilateral and multilateral engagement with strategic partners on technology and development issues. Specifically, she was part of a team that designed and implemented “Techcamp” – an ongoing program that connects civil society across the globe with new and emerging technology resources to solve real world challenges and build digital capacity - in over 30 countries.

Prior to working in the Obama Administration, Baker worked for an international advocacy firm in Seattle, WA, where she helped to create nongovernmental organizations focused on helping those in need.

Baker has worked in several countries spanning five continents. She has a Master’s Degree in International Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University and sits on the board of Running Start, an organization that works to bring more young women to politics and leadership roles. She serves on the Advisory Committee on Public Issues for the Ad Council, working on the some of society's most pressing social issues. She has also been named to the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society 2016 Rising Talents Program.