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.

Enass Abo-Hamed MBE

Chief Executive Officer, H2GO Power Ltd., United Kingdom

Dr. Enass Abo-Hamed MBE is the Co-founder and CEO at H2GO power ltd; an award winning spin-out company from the University of Cambridge developing energy storage technologies. She completed her PhD at Cambridge University, where she also was a postdoctoral fellow and elected Cambridge University Energy Champion. Currently she is also a member of the Advisory Board at BeyondNetZero's General Atlantic Growth Fund, a Board Trustee at the Royal Academy of Engineering, a member of the external advisory board at Airbus (STAR) and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

She has 15 years of business and research experience in technology, sustainability, hydrogen production & storage, renewable energy and energy storage. Enass is passionate about climate entrepreneurship and clean energy technology policy. She often gives keynote speeches at international forums and participates in high impact roundtable discussions on clean energy, energy security and resilience for women entrepreneurship in tech. Enass won few recognition awards for her commitments to build and use technologies as a tool to combat climate change, such as being honoured in the King's New Year's honours list 2023, the visionary of the year award by MIT Tech Review Innovators Under 35 Europe, MIT Tech Review Innovators Under 35 EU, the best energy start-up award at the Global Hello Tomorrow Summit among others.Dr. Enass Abo-Hamed MBE is the Co-founder and CEO at H2GO power ltd; an award winning spin-out company from the University of Cambridge developing energy storage technologies. She completed her PhD at Cambridge University, where she also was a postdoctoral fellow and elected Cambridge University Energy Champion. Currently she is also a member of the Advisory Board at BeyondNetZero's General Atlantic Growth Fund, a Board Trustee at the Royal Academy of Engineering, a member of the external advisory board at Airbus (STAR) and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. She has 15 years of business and research experience in technology, sustainability, hydrogen production & storage, renewable energy and energy storage. Enass is passionate about climate entrepreneurship and clean energy technology policy. She often gives keynote speeches at international forums and participates in high impact roundtable discussions on clean energy, energy security and resilience for women entrepreneurship in tech. Enass won few recognition awards for her commitments to build and use technologies as a tool to combat climate change, such as being honoured in the King's New Year's honours list 2023, the visionary of the year award by MIT Tech Review Innovators Under 35 Europe, MIT Tech Review Innovators Under 35 EU, the best energy start-up award at the Global Hello Tomorrow Summit among others.

Niklas Adalberth

Founder and Executive Chairman, Norrsken Foundation, Sweden

Niklas Adalberth, the unicorn entrepreneur behind payment start-up Klarna, donated $125 million to found the Norrsken Foundation, a tech-for-good ecosystem for social impact entrepreneurs daring to tackle societies biggest challenges. Norrsken currently houses 125+ companies in Europe's largest impact hub in Stockholm and is opening up Africas largest hub for entrepreneurs in Kigali Rwanda. Norrsken Foundation have also launched different impact funds in Europe and Africa.

Anulika Ajufo

Venture Partner, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Sagana, United Kingdom

A vibrant and inspirational leader in Finance and Philanthropy with extensive experience in investments in both public and private sector markets from some of the world's largest Financial Institutions- Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Carlyle Group and Soros Fund. For over a decade, Anulika has developed extensive experience globally, notably in the fields of private equity and venture capital investing. She believes in the ability to drive change at scale through socially and environmentally oriented business having led inclusive investment portfolios across EMEA with sectoral focus across financial inclusion, renewables, healthcare, education and widening access to other basic services for marginalised populations. Her philanthropic work with young people in the United Kingdom over the past 15 years has also gained widespread recognition. As an advocate for economic justice and social mobility, she currently Chairs the Board of University of East London- London's most diverse and inclusive university by race and socioeconomic status. She is also the Founder of the Sequoia Platform- a social mobility engine for ethnic minority and disadvantaged youth in the United Kingdom, geared towards creating educational and employment opportunities in the United Kingdom. Anulika has an MEng in Medical Engineering from Queen Mary University of London and an MSc in Law and Finance from the University of Oxford.

Erica Alessandri

Member of the Board, Technogym, Italy

In 2016, after pursuing several international work and volunteering experiences, Erica joined the family business, Technogym, world leader brand in equipment and digital solutions for fitness, wellness and sport. That year, she was appointed Member of the Board when the company went public. In this position, she has been active in the design and implementation of ESG policies and other initiatives around sustainability. Moreover, after her MBA at INSEAD, Erica started leading a new and innovative project to bring a personalized wellness experience directly to consumers anywhere, anytime through a new app integrated with Technogym’s ecosystem. Alongside her focus on business, Erica also serves on the board of the “Wellness Foundation”, the family’s non-profit body, whose mission is to promote the Wellness lifestyle as an opportunity for all stakeholders: governments, companies and citizens. Erica has been involved in the development of the second phase of the “Wellness Valley”, a social project aimed at building in Romagna, their local community, the first Wellness District in the world by engaging over 200 stakeholders to leverage Wellness as a lever for sustainable economic development. In March 2020, Forbes Italy featured Erica on the cover page of their 30 Under 30 issue for her commitment in bringing forward the family’s legacy around promoting the Wellness philosophy.

Katharina Amann

Chief Executive Officer of Volkswagen Autoversicherung, Allianz, Germany

Katharina Amann is an Allianz executive with more than 11 years of general management experience in top-tier strategy consulting, product management and digital business development, specializing in insurance and mobility and their beneficial impact on society. She leads the German Automotive Business of Allianz and is CEO of Allianz subsidiary Volkswagen Autoversicherung AG. Amann has managed P&Ls of up to €400 million and large teams comprising more than 150 members. She strives for societal impact, focusing on a safe and sustainable future of mobility as her core ambition. By connecting the insurance and mobility industry, she creates innovation that not only serves customer needs but also increases safety and sustainability on the road. Amann introduced the first insurance tariff reflecting ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) in the German market.

Yalda Aoukar

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Bracket Capital, United Kingdom

Yalda Aoukar is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Bracket Capital, a leading private markets investor based in Los Angeles, which she co-launched in 2017. Bracket Capital pursues a value-driven strategy in growth and late-stage technology companies via primary and secondary transactions. Aoukar is also President of Bracket Foundation, the philanthropic venture arm of Bracket Capital. She is a fierce advocate of technology for social good, particularly as it relates to solving the world’s most pressing challenges. Since inception, Bracket Foundation has been striving to make the internet safer for children by combating online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Aoukar is a champion of women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship in venture capital and other financial sectors where women are traditionally underrepresented. She sits on the board of the UN’s A.I. for Safer Children initiative, which she helped to establish, as well as the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Accelerator. Aoukar holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a degree in Economics from the American University of Beirut.

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

Executive Director, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Spain

Natalia Bayona, current Executive Director of UN Tourism and the first person under 40 to reach this position, was distinguished as one of the 10 most influential Colombians residing in Spain and one of the most influential in Latin-America (Bloomberg). Natalia is also member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) network, and one of the 100 world leaders in innovation according to COTEC.

With an Executive MBA from the IE Business School, and a degree in International Relations from Universidad Externado de Colombia, Natalia Bayona was recognized with the Eisenhower Fellowship for her leadership and commitment to fostering a more prosperous and fairer world through her work in the tourism sector.

After an extensive career working for Colombia´s public sector, Natalia Bayona was Vice President of Spain Startup-South Summit; she then joined UN Tourism in 2018 and created the Innovation, Education, and Investment Department, where the Organization has undertaken ground-breaking initiatives that include more than 10 global entrepreneurship competitions, numerous national challenges, and over 20 innovation and technology forums.

These efforts have fostered the first Global Innovation Network comprising more than 10,000 start-ups from 100 countries, entrepreneurs, companies, public institutions, educational institutions, accelerators, and investors; this dynamic ecosystem has facilitated the acquisition of over US$214 million (as per Jan 2024) in financing for disruptive companies. Hence, the delivery of important technological results for the tourism industry

Furthermore, Natalia has been instrumental in establishing the first UN Tourism Online Academy to enhance opportunities in education for the tourism industry, boasting students from more than 150 countries and offering courses with scholarships available to students worldwide in partnership with some of the best universities in the world such as Les Roches, HSLU (Lucerne University of Applied Schiences and Arts), Basque Culinary Center, IE University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, or Sharjah University among others. In addition, she enjoys sharing her knowledge as lecturer in different universities including Harvard, Cornell and MIT,

Following her aspiration of generating investment opportunities for tourism, Natalia created the first Official UN Tourism Investment Guideline; she has worked alongside more than 50 countries on the construction of their Tourism Investment Strategies (including Dominican Republic, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Chile among others) generating a concrete outlook that reflects their potential for international investors and the opportunities for diversification.

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.

Sinéad Burke

Chief Executive Officer, Tilting The Lens, Ireland

Sinéad Burke is a Disabled educator, advocate and author who champions accessibility, equity and social justice to build a better world for everyone. In 2020, she founded the accessibility consultancy Tilting the Lens on the three pillars of education, advocacy and design. Advising major global brands including Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Netflix, Pinterest and Starbucks, Tilting the Lens guides clients in their move from awareness to action by creating more accessible practices, policies, products and services, places and promotions.
Sinéad serves on Gucci's Global Equity Board, ITV’s Cultural Advisory Council, the Irish President’s Council of State and Ireland’s Future of Media Commission. She is also part of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders, as well as the European Young Leaders. As a passionate writer, podcast host and public speaker, Sinéad facilitates honest conversations about identity, disability and accessibility. Her work has been featured and recognised by Vogue, The Financial Times, Fast Company, WWD, Vanity Fair, The Business of Fashion, and many more. In 2017, she delivered a powerful TED Talk on ‘Why design should include everyone.’ Her children’s book, ‘Break the Mould,’ is a primer on how to take your place in the world – with lessons for all. It won the ‘An Post Irish Book Award’ in 2020.

Matthew Caruana Galizia

Director, Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, Malta

Advances the causes of transparency, anti-corruption, freedom of speech and access to information. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose work on the Panama Papers uncovered the hidden infrastructure and global scale of offshore tax havens.