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.

Wemimo Abbey

Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Esusu, USA

Wemimo Abbey grew up in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria. Struggling to secure a loan without a credit score, his mother borrowed money from a predatory lender at an exorbitant 400% interest rate. These challenges inspired Abbey and his Co-Founder, Samir, to launch Esusu. Esusu’s platform empowers renters to build credit through rent payments, offers property management analytics and provides rental assistance for financial stability. Recently valued at $1 billion in a $130 million Series B fundraising round. Abbey currently serves on the SEC Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee and Fannie Mae Affordable Housing Advisory Council, is a Commissioner and Executive Member on the Board of The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and is Co-Chair of The Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA) Director Circle. Before Esusu, Abbey founded Clean Water for Everyone, delivering affordable clean water access to over 250,000 people in six countries. He also founded a data analytics company, which was acquired in 2014. In his early career, Abbey was a mergers and acquisitions consultant at PwC, working on deals valued at over $50 billion, and gaining experience with Accenture and Goldman Sachs. He was named to the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 list, TIME100 NEXT List in 2023 and awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year nationally. In 2021 and 2022, Goldman Sachs recognized him as one of the “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs”. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota with a BSc in Business Management and earned an MPA from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Joud Abdel Majeid

Senior Managing Director; Global Head, Investment Stewardship, BlackRock, USA

Joud Abdel Majeid, Senior Managing Director, is the Global Head of Investment Stewardship for BlackRock and a member of the firm’s Global Executive Committee. She is responsible for leading the stewardship team and all its activities as it engages with companies to promote effective governance and create long-term value for clients.

Prior to stewardship, Ms. Abdel Majeid was Deputy Chief Financial Officer for BlackRock where she led the Investor Relations, Corporate Development, Financial Planning and Analysis, and Management Information Initiatives functions within BlackRock’s Finance Department.

She previously served as Chief of Staff to the CEO and was responsible for oversight of the Executive Office of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and oversaw engagements with clients, policymakers, public officials, and BlackRock’s Board of Directors.

Ms. Abdel Majeid joined BlackRock in September 2017 as Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock Solutions, which delivers the firm’s Aladdin technology. In this role, she was responsible for the commercial strategy and day-to-day operations of the business.

Minoush Abdel-Meguid

Founder and Managing Director, Mezzan, Egypt

Long-term banker and private equity executive with stints at Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Citibank. Worked on several high-profile transactions. Took part in the reform of the Egyptian Capital Market Authority as the Assistant to the Chairman and head of corporate finance; led major restructuring efforts including the introduction of the region's first takeover code. Former Founding President, Egyptian Young Bankers Association. Helping young bankers network and improve their skill set. Since 2011, has dedicated more time promoting and supporting entrepreneurship especially in less privileged Egyptian cities outside Cairo and with female entrepreneurs by mentoring and participating in business plan competitions and lecturing on various related topics. Has also participated in various efforts linking women together as a basis for narrowing the cultural divide between Eastern and Western cultures. Was among six women taking part in the Australian Arab Women dialogue in Australia in 2013, in addition to other projects.

Hafsat Abiola

President and Chief Executive Officer, Women in Africa Initiative, France

Hafsat Abiola-Costello is the President/CEO of Women in Africa Initiative, a platform connecting leading and high potential women in Africa to facilitate their increased individual success and collective impact. A leader in Nigeria's pro-democracy movement, she served as a member of state cabinet in Nigeria industrial state from 2011-2019. She is also the Founder and President of the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND), an NGO that promotes the development of women as initiators of change by offering leadership training and raising awareness about harmful social issues such as violence against women. A prolific writer and speaker, Abiola-Costello holds an A.B. (Hons) in Economics from Harvard University and a Master's in International Development from Tsinghua University. She sits on several boards and is one of fifty councillors of the World Future Council. Abiola-Costello is the recipient of several national and international awards and the subject of the award winning documentary, The Supreme Price.

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.

Tony Abrahams

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Access Innovation Media Pty Ltd, Australia

Since 2003, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ai-Media, founded in Australia in and now operating globally. A leader in live transcription for TV since inception, Ai-Media pioneered live captioning on social media, including a partnership with Facebook in 2017. Ai technology is also used to improve teaching practices, and outcomes for students with autism. LLB and BCom (Hons), University of New South Wales; MBA and MPhil in Economics, Rhodes Scholar.

Muna AbuSulayman

Partner, Transform VC, Saudi Arabia

Muna AbuSulayman, continuously named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World for her work in media, gender, leadership and education and as an iconic Arab media personality and humanitarian. Currently, She is also Social Impact Investor concentrating on using AI for education, media projects for awareness and Charity effectivenesst through Transform VC.

As the head of Directions Consulting and Partner 3S (Saudi Sustainable Solutions), she is focusing her development efforts on unemployment and entrepreneurship in the Arab world. As the former Secretary-General of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, she supported innovation and strategic initiatives to combat poverty, empower women and reframe the Islam-West dialogue. She is also a founding Co-Host of Kalam Nawaem, the Arab world's most popular TV shows.

AbuSulayman was appointed as the first Saudi UNDP Goodwill Ambassador. A Member of the Young Presidents' Organization, a Yale World Fellow and Aspen Institute Middle East Fellow. She also serves on several for profit and non-profit boards.

Moonshot: Making philanthropy and Government financial assistance more impactful.

Anu Acharya

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, mapmygenome.in, India

Ms. Anu Acharya is the CEO of Mapmygenome India, a Genomics company whose vision is “To touch 100 million lives using genomics”. In 2013, she introduced the concept of improved healthcare through personal genomics in India. Ever since, she has successfully pioneered the company through growing product lines, expanding affiliate network, and a Pre-Series A round of funding. Under her able leadership, the company has won several awards and honors: ET Startup Awards 2015 – Women Ahead​, Nasscom Emerge 50 – League of 10​, Emerging Company of the Year 2015 – Govt. of Karnataka, SMART CEO ​List of Top 50 Startups, VCCircle Innovative Healthcare Startup 2015​, and more. She is a Distinguished Alumna from IIT Kharagpur.
From 2000 until April 2013, Ms. Anu Acharya was the CEO of Ocimum Biosolutions, a global
genomics outsourcing partner for discovery, development and diagnostics, a company that began as a pure Bioinformatics company. Since co-founding the company in 2000, she has led the company through three strategic international acquisitions, two capital raises for equity investments and launch of several innovative products, solutions and services through its proprietary platform called RaaS (Research as a Service).
Prior to founding Ocimum Biosolutions, Ms. Acharya has had rich experience in the Telecom, IT and entrepreneurship arenas. She worked for a start-up in the telecommunications space called Mantiss Information and a consulting firm called SEI Information where she helped create a social networking site for entrepreneurs. Her experience is backed by education at premier institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, India (IIT) and University of Illinois where she has two Postgraduate degrees in Physics and MIS.

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.

Priya Agarwal Hebbar

Non-Executive Director, Vedanta, India

Priya Agarwal Hebbar is Chairperson of Hindustan Zinc, India’s largest and the world's second-largest integrated zinc producer. She is also Non-Executive Director at Vedanta, a leading natural resources conglomerate. She is passionate about the environment and sustainability and has been playing an instrumental role in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) transformation at Vedanta. She steers best-in-class people practices across the group.

Shai Agassi

Executive Chairman, Makalu Optics, Israel

Shai Agassi is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Better Place, a mobility operator focused on one of this century's biggest challenges - building a scalable and sustainable personal transportation system that ends oil dependence. He works directly with government leaders, auto manufacturers, energy companies and others to make his vision of zero-emission electric vehicles powered by renewable energy a reality in countries around the world. This vision was inspired by a profound question posed at the World Economic Forum in 2005, ?How do you make the world a better place by 2020?? Agassi founded Better Place and, in 2007, officially launched the company. In 2008, Israel became the first country, and Renault-Nissan the first carmaker, to embrace the Better Place model of building an open network to enable mass adoption of electric vehicles and delivering transportation as a sustainable service. Soon thereafter, Denmark and Australia followed suit. Recognizing Agassi's visionary leadership with the Better Place model, Time magazine named him one of its ?Heroes of the Environment 2008?.

Roshan Ahmad

Global Head of Sovereign Advisory, JPMorgan Chase & Co., USA

Roshan Ahmad heads JPMorgan’s Global Sovereign Advisory Group offering strategic and broad-based expertise to governments, focusing on sovereign ratings, public debt and fiscal policy optimization, market communication, multilateral discussions and environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations. Her team has advised more than 35 sovereigns across developed and emerging markets, together covering over 25% of global GDP across Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Ahmad has been at JPMorgan for over 15 years and is passionate about promoting women's representation in finance. She is actively involved in diversity and inclusiveness initiatives. She serves as a sub-committee member for JPMorgan's Women on the Move initiative, and is a board member of NMIC, a non-profit based in New York City catering to immigrant under-served communities. She also serves on the Board of JPMorgan Pakistan.