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.

Jessica Jackson

Chief Advocacy Officer, Reform Alliance, USA

Jessica Jackson’s quest for justice began in a Georgia courtroom. The high-school dropout held her two-month-old daughter and watched helplessly as her husband was sentenced to six years in prison. In that moment, she decided to turn her shock into a crusade to change the justice system. As a single mother, she graduated college and law school. Today she is a leader in the bipartisan movement to end excessive incarceration. Jessica’s specialty is bringing political rivals together to pass bills considered “impossible.” As the bill’s main advocate, she led the drive to pass 2018’s “First Step Act.” The New York Times called the law “the most substantial justice reform in a generation;” it has already helped free more than 16,000 people. While leading her national initiative, #cut50, Jessica helped ban the shackling of jailed pregnant women in 14 states. Her “Dignity for Incarcerated Women” campaign enlisted formerly incarcerated women and dozens of celebrities to deepen the focus on women’s issues. At the helm of #cut50, Jessica built the biggest national grassroots network for bipartisan reform, #cut50’s Empathy Network. Jessica has led not only on the national level, but was also elected the youngest-ever Mayor of Mill Valley, California where she focused on affordable housing. Today, she now helps lead the REFORM Alliance, an organization where she is continuing her work to end mass incarceration and mass supervision. Jessica continues to take clemency cases as well, working on both the federal and state level to secure a second chance for individuals who have lengthy prison sentences. Jessica turned her hopelessness into hope for millions.

Alice Jacobs

CEO, Convergence Group, USA

Alice Jacobs is Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IntelligentMD, a molecular diagnostics company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that develops and manufactures tests for rapid, precise, clinically impactful detection of infectious diseases. After losing a patient to a healthcare-associated infection during her medical training, Jacobs founded IntelligentMD to leverage discoveries made in life sciences to improve efficiency in healthcare delivery, increase the confidence of clinicians in treatment and reduce the cost of care worldwide. Since founding the company, Jacobs has assembled a team of visionary leaders dedicated to her vision of integrating next generation solutions into current healthcare practices. In 2004, Scientific American named her as one of the top 50 innovators in science and technology. She serves as a Member of the Whitehead Board of Associates. She holds a BSc in Biological Sciences as well as a BA in Art History from Stanford University. Jacobs earned her MD from Harvard Medical School.

Badr Jafar

Chief Executive Officer, Crescent Enterprises, United Arab Emirates

Chief Executive Officer, Crescent Enterprises. President, Crescent Petroleum. Chairman, Pearl Petroleum. Chairman, Gulftainer. Founder, Pearl Initiative.

Member: United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing, UNESCO International Commission on the Futures of Education, UNFCCC COP28 Advisory Committee Member and Special Representative for Business & Philanthropy, Board of Advisors of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Global Advisory Council. Member of Board of Advisors: Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (Sheraa), MIT Legatum Centre for Development and Entrepreneurship, Synergos Arab World Social Innovators, Gaza Sky Geeks. Board member, Endeavor UAE. Ex-Officio Chair, Young Presidents Organisation (YPO) Emirates. Member of Global Advisory Board: Cambridge University Judge Business School, American University of Beirut, American University of Sharjah. Founding Patron: Centre for Strategic Philanthropy at the University of Cambridge, Strategic Philanthropy Initiative at NYU Abu Dhabi. Member of the Advisory Board, Milken Institute for Strategic Philanthropy. World Economic Forum: Young Global Leader (2011), Family Business Community Co-Chair, New Economy and Society Stewardship Board; Digital Economy and New Value Creation Stewardship Board, EDISON Alliance Champion.

Majid Jafar

Chief Executive Officer, Crescent Petroleum, United Arab Emirates

BA and MEng in Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Cambridge University; MA (Hons) in International Studies and Diplomacy, SOAS/University of London; MBA (Hons), Harvard Business School. Chief Executive Officer, Crescent Petroleum. Vice-Chairman, Crescent Group of companies. Managing Director of the Board, Dana Gas. Founder and Chair, Centre for Economic Growth at INSEAD Abu Dhabi; Co-Founder, LouLou Foundation. World Economic Forum: Steward, Global System on Energy; Global Precision Medicine Council; Family Business Community; Young Global Leaders; past founding Chair of Oil & Gas Independents and Middle East and North Africa Regional Business Council. Member of the Board: Queen Rania Foundation; Harvard Medical School; Arab Forum for Environment and Development; Kalimat Foundation; Iraq Energy Institute. Member, International Advisory Board: Atlantic Council; Chatham House; Prince's Trust International. Member: Bretton Woods Committee; IoD Mudara; GCC Board of Directors Institute; Young Presidents’ Organization.

Munizae Jahangir

Anchor and Executive Producer, Aaj TV, Pakistan

Munizae Jahangir is a Documentary Filmmaker and Pakistan's Senior Correspondent for New Delhi Television. She is also an Associate Executive Producer and Special Correspondent for Pakistan's Express News. Jahangir reports on Pakistani political affairs, including the fight against Taliban and Al Qaeda militants, Indo-Pakistan relations, Kashmir and the conflict in Baluchistan. She is Co-Founder of South Asian Women in Media and a Member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Her documentary films and docudramas include Search for Freedom (2003) and Pak: The War Within (2009). Jahangir received a BA in Political Science and English from McGill University in Montreal and an MA in Media Studies from the New School in New York.

Pooja Jain

Managing Director, Luxor Writing Instruments Pvt. Ltd, India

Studies, Lady Shri Ram College; studies in International Business, London School of Economics. With Luxor Writing Instruments, spearheads consumer brands including Luxor, Parker, Waterman and Pilot; currently,Managing Director, Luxor Group. Member: Executive Committee, Young FICCI Ladies Organization; Young Presidents' Organization. Recipient, awards and honors, including: featured in publications as one of the most powerful women in Indian business; Amity Women Achiever Award, Amity University (2010); Dr Sadhna International Empowerment of Women Award (2010).

Lady Mariéme Jamme

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, iamtheCODE, United Kingdom

Lady Mariéme Jamme is an award-winning Technologist, a podcaster, ai and pioneer in system change, a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. In Sept 2017, she won the Innovation Award at the Global Goals Award as a GoalKeeper for her work in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, by supporting globally young women and girls and governments.
A Senegalese-born, French- British businesswoman, with over 20 years of experience. She’s best renowned for her motivational & inspirational Speeches about girl’s education through STEAMD (Science, technology, engineering, mathematics, arts and design) and empowerment of youth living in marginalised communities.

Lady Mariéme’s latest venture includes the launch of iamtheCODE.org, the first African-led global movement to mobilize government, the private sector, and philanthropic foundations to advance STEAMD (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics and Design) Education. Her goal is to empower 1 million young women & girls globally to become coders by 2030 and to align with the UN 2030 Agenda. Lady Mariéme recently got nominated by Apolitical as their World’s 100 most influential people in Digital Government.

A BBC Top 100 Women nominee, she was named twice on the UK Powerlist 2017 and 2018 of Britain’s 100 most influential people of African and African Caribbean Heritage. Often called the diplomat of technology, she was also named twice in 2014 and 2016 as one of the 100 most influential Africans by the African Business Magazine. In 2018, Lady Mariéme became a founding member of the Future Talks Expedition, which gathered 100 global leaders from 42 countries to visit the Arctic (North Pole.) She’s the first Senegalese woman who made it to the Arctic.
Lady Mariéme is on the Board of Directorship of the World Wide Web Foundation (Founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee). Lady Mariéme is the newest Board member of the ITU Generation Connect Visionary Board.

Lady Mariéme is writing her first book.

Bhairavi Jani

Executive Director, SCA Group of Companies, India

Bhairavi is a fourth-generation entrepreneur, developmental enthusiast and an avid philanthropist. She is the Chairperson and Founder of IEF Entrepreneurship Foundation and Executive Director of SCA Group of Companies founded in 1896. SCA Group undertakes activities in supply chain and logistics sector.

Bhairavi has been listed as one of the 30 most Powerful Women in India by the India Today publication. She has been profiled as Stree Shakti (Woman Power) person by CNBC Awaaz and featured as a Young Turk by CNBC TV 18. She has been listed as one of the 10 women exemplars by the Hindustan Times and Business Today Magazine has featured her as the Supply Chain Maven.

Bhairavi is World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader. She is a KBF Fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network of the Aspen Institute and a Responsible Leader of the BMW World Responsible Leaders Forum. She is a Member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the Business Honor Society, USA and is Past National Chairman, CII's Young Indians. She is a trustee of India@75 Foundation, Leap Foundation and Ananta Centre and serves on the Global Advisory Committee of Earth Day Network.

In the past decade Bhairavi has started, acquired, scaled up many ventures, most of them focused on supply chain and logistics. She is a firm believer in entrepreneurial ecosystems that create livelihood opportunities and dedicates a significant amount of her time, expertise and philanthropy for the cause. Bhairavi is a trained classical dancer and is passionate about the Arts. Co-creating sustainable livelihoods for communities in higher Himalayas is a mission close to her heart.

Mmaki Jantjies

Group Executive, Innovation and Transformation, Telkom, South Africa

Mmaki Jantjies is a South African computer scientist and is the Group Executive for Innovation and Transformation at Telkom South Africa, driving strategic growth through R&D and innovation intiatives. She is also an adjunct Associate Professor.

She holds a PhD in Computer Sciences from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. Passionate about digital inclusion, her PHD study focused on developing and scaling multilingual mobile learning systems to support science learning in schools. She has greatly contributed to the advancement of technology for development, having conducted studies on mobile digital systems design and adoption in developing countries in education, health as well as in the small businesses sector. Dr Jantjies was also part of a University of the Western Cape (UWC) team that launched technology programs in augmented and virtual reality, supporting the technology development of AR/VR applications applied across various sectors. Jantjies has served as Department Head of Information Systems at the University of the Western Cape, as well as at the North West University.

She also established a non-profit organization that has trained teachers to infuse technology and data literacy in schools. Jantjies has been a visiting research fellow at the University of Lancaster - Institute of Coding and University of Warwick, and exchange staff at Die Hochschule Neu-Ulm HNU. In 2017 and 2018, she was the South Africa's representative to the W20 in the G20 focusing on digital inclusion of women. She is an NRF South African rated scientists and is also a member of the South Africa Young Academy of Scientists (SAYAS).

Livia Járóka

Member of the European Parliament, European Parliament, Belgium

Master's in Society and Politics, CEU University, UK. Since 2004, Representative for Fidesz, Hungary and Member, European People's Party, European Parliament and European Democrats, European Parliament. Director, Roma Integration, EPP-ED Working Group. Member, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs; EPP-ED Group, Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.

Yasar Jarrar

Professor of Business and Global Society, Hult International Business School, United Arab Emirates

Formerly: Partner, Bain & Company (Public Sector Lead); Partner, PwC (ME Strategy Consulting Leader and Global Education Practice Leader); Executive Dean, Dubai School of Government; Consultant, governments of United Arab Emirates, Dubai, Jordan, Libya; Director, Government Performance Directorate, Prime Ministry of Jordan; Head of Policy and Strategy, Executive Office, Dubai Government. Fellow, John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Visiting Fellow, Centre for Business Performance, Cranfield School of Management, UK; researched and taught strategy, performance management, innovation and policy-making; also Strategy Adviser to the Director-General, Executive Office, Dubai.

Wyclef Jean

Ambassador-at-Large of the Republic of Haiti, USA

Grammy Award-winning songwriter/musician/producer, humanitarian, and Goodwill Ambassador to Haiti. Founding Member, Fugees (formerly Tranzlator Crew). Solo Artist. Started singing at age of three in his father's church. At age 10, moved to the United States. 1997, embarked on solo career. Has recorded with Bono (New Day). 2005, Founder, Yéle Haiti (Yéle means "a cry for freedom"), a grassroots movement inspiring change in Haiti through programmes in education, sports, the arts and environment; community service programmes include food distribution and mobilizing emergency relief. 2008, participated in the Clinton Global Initiative to discuss Haiti. Recipient of Grammy awards for: Killing Me Softly With His Song, Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals; The Score, Best Rap Album; Writing and Producing Supernatural (Carlos Santana), Album of the Year.