G100: Group of 100 Global Women Leaders
H.E. Rosalía Arteaga Serrano
She is the Former President of Ecuador and the first woman to have held the positions of President and Vice President of the Republic of Ecuador.
A lawyer, a Juris Doctor, a graduate of journalism and postgraduate of anthropology, she is currently the Executive President of FIDAL Foundation, a member of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Board of Directors of the Library of Alexandria in Egypt, an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Doctors of Europe and chair of the board of directors of the Panamazonia of Manaus—Brazil.
She has published 14 books of essays, poetic prose, poetry, short stories, children’s and youth literature. She has influential opinion spaces in audiovisual media.
Above all, a dear Soul Sister who is ever available for advice, guidance and mentoring, with a most positive outlook and deeply generous spirit of caring and sharing.
Dr. Maya Morsy
She is the President of Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW), she’s holds the national award of one of the 100 most influential women in Egypt. Prior to this presidential role, Dr. Morsy served as UNDP’s Gender Regional Advisor, and Head of the Egypt Country Office United Nations Fund for Women, as also Country Director of UNIFEM.
Dr. Morsy has over 24 years’ experience with National, Regional and International organizations, through her work in the National Council for Women, the United Nations Agencies, USAID, Academia, and Private Sector. Her work experience has strengthened the strategic partnership with the League of Arab States, European Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, African Union, Union for the Mediterranean, Government Organizations, Civil Society, Academia and Private Sector.
She managed and led more than 50 programs and widely authored more than 45 training manuals, books, articles, research and policy papers. With a Ph.D. in Public Policy, her areas of a focus are: Public Policies, Public Administration, Social and Economic Policies.
H.E. Ouided Bouchamaoui
She had awarded Nobel Peace Laureate 2015, Tunisia is a Businesswoman and Past President of UTICA (Tunisian Industry Confederation) as the first woman elected to this role.
Ouided Bouchamaoui is the co-laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize 2015 as member of the National Dialogue Quartet, where she played a historic and legendary role in helping her country navigate through a great time of crisis during the Arab spring and move Tunisia to a more transparent and collaborative society with democratic processes, constitutional framework and transparent elections.
Ms. Bouchamaoui is also Member of the Oslo Business for Peace Award Committee since January 2016. Ms. Bouchamaoui describes the open secret of her success as the ability to build win-win partnerships and relationships even among opponents.
She is an exemplar of the creative and constructive force of women’s leadership to nurture dialogue, bring harmony and build peace.
H.E Violeta Bulc
She is Former Deputy Prime Minister of Slovenia, and EU Commissioner for Transport. As Deputy Prime Minister of Slovenia, she held ministerial responsibility for development, strategic projects and cohesion.
As EU Commissioner, she placed priority on digitalization, decarbonization, innovation, people focus and global collaboration in transport. Excellency Bulc is an academic, author, innovator, systems architect and entrepreneur. She is the founder and advocate for the unique concept of Ecocivilisation imbued with a vision of Earth as an eco zone of our galaxy and transparent, participatory engagement of all stakeholders in society and economy.
She has held senior positions in the telecoms industry, including Telekom Slovenia and Telemach. Former owner and Chief Executive Officer, Vibacom, she is engaged in work on sustainable and innovative business solutions.
Above all, a dear Soul Sister who leads with courage, foresight and wisdom and seamlessly serves all with the generous sharing of her phenomenal experience, exposure, energy and optimism.
Prof. Dr. Lizbeth Goodman
She is Chair of Creative Technology Innovation and Professor of Inclusive Design for Education, College of Engineering & Architecture, University College Dublin where she also directs the Inclusive Design Research Centre of Ireland, in partnership with SMARTlab that developed the award-winning practice-based PhD Programme along with the associated MAGIC Multimedia and Games Innovation Centre and Gamelab, which Lizbeth designed with industry collaborators. Prior to joining UCD, Lizbeth was Director of Research for Futurelab – Lord David Puttnam’s think tank for the future of education, and served in that capacity on the Prime Ministers SHINE Panel.
Chair of the Royal Irish Academy’s Social Sciences Committee in 2012 and Athena Swan lead for Engineering & Architecture, Lizbeth and her teams specialise in developing ground-up technology solutions with and for people of all levels of cognitive and physical ability.
In the knowledge transfer domain, she founded the MAGIC (Multimedia and Games Innovation Centre) in East London in 2005.
Alex Okoroji
She is a Nigerian Actress and creative powerhouse navigating the world of Art, Media and Entertainment for almost two decades as an Artiste and Creative Businesswoman. She is the Founder & President of The BRAG Media Group, a creative communications company and owns several platforms including – The BRAG Media Company, BRAG! Magazine, The BRAG Club, The BRAG Radio Network, The BRAG Shop and The BRAG Media Foundation.
Listed among the Most Influential Women in the World by Richtopia, in their Top 250 Power list’ as one of only 5 Nigerians on the list (alongside Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Oby Ezekwesili, Abike Dabiri, Amina J. Mohammed).
Alex Okoroji has been featured and mentioned in over 250 Media Platforms around the World like Huffington Post, The Guardian, CNN, The Telegraph, Mogul, The Sun, The New York Journal, Fox, ABC, NBC, Market Watch. She was the first African Woman to be featured in the Women Rock Project in 2016.
Beena Unnikrishnan
She is an Artpreneur, high profiled professional, artist and serial entrepreneur in India. Beena brings extensive experience of 28 years of diversified multi-functional arts and industries. An ardent believer in economic empowerment and financial independence of all artists, craftspeople and rural artisans, her successful career is testimony to the synergies that can be unleashed between art and mart.
She envisions fostering a culturally vibrant nation through accredited growth of Art and bringing financial freedom to all artists. She has curated her drive into a robust national campaign supported by art veterans and industry stalwarts and launched none other than by Union Cabinet Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari.
Under the aegis of his Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, this project for economically independent artists will develop Art & Craft based industries across the rural – urban artistic clusters, creating 1000 women-owned enterprises. Training and support programmes will be conducted in 700 districts of India to create a million entrepreneurial opportunities for women artists by Dec 2022.
Yasmina Azhari
She is a Forbes listed businesswoman and a pioneer. Yasmina was selected 4 times by Forbes as one of the 50 most powerful Arab Business Women and was chosen among the most 100 powerful women in the Arab World by the Arabian Business 3 times.
Based in the UAE, she hails from Syria where she was founder of Mira Trading, a company managing malls and supermarkets, as also Vice President of a premier shipping agency representing Maersk Shipping Line and leading it to a prosperous business, notably in a field traditionally dominated by men.
Due to the civil war in Syria, she left the country in 2012 and came to UAE where she established Al Yam International Commercial Brokers 2014 and has a strong network of 40000 parties around the world following up opportunities through her company in Dubai.
With her relentless will, drive, and entrepreneurial charisma, she took the business to greater heights.
Dr. Anita Davis DeFoe
She is an African-American leadership and social entrepreneurship consultant from the US Virgin Islands, fostering over two decades of social entrepreneurship and capacity building for the Youth in the Caribbean, Africa with a global outlook and outreach.
She holds a Ph.D. in Organization Behavior and Leadership Development from the University of North Carolina and Antioch University, and Social Entrepreneurship coursework from the Copenhagen School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business.
A National Career Development Association Accredited Career Services Mentor, Anita has created and crafted unique programs for leadership, expeditionary learning, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Agriculture, Mathematics (STEAM), entrepreneurship, employability and training skills that have served youth from ages five to 24, assisting a great diversity of people across genders and generations to discover their innate greatness and unique strengths.
Michelle Ferrari
She is CEO of Great Culture to Innovate®️ in Mexico, a global firm promoting and developing innovative cultures and Partner of Great Place to Work which she led as CEO for two decades.
She works across many multinationals and Fortune 500 companies such as Manpower, UBER, Baxter Pharmaceutical, Edenred, Newell Rubbermaid, USANA, KPMG. She is credited with building the pioneering unique certification program which is now benchmarked by corporates all over Mexico, making it the only golden standard for measuring workplace culture.
Michelle chairs several boards of AmCham, Young President Organization (YPO) as a member of this community and the Global Leadership Council of Great Place to Work. Her work has impacted hundreds of companies with multi thousand employees reaching more than 1 million people touched with this methodology, which has turned the way leaders think of human capital and Human Resources, and the impact it has in their business and social responsibility and employer branding.
Carolina García
She is a women’s football evangelist and leader in the Soccer industry with more than 20 years of management experience especially with organising funding and sponsorships for women’s soccer, becoming the first woman in Argentina dedicated to a business that was earlier the sole reserve of men. A passionate soccer lover and an active seeker of challenges, she was a senior executive in a mining company and then one day soccer knocked on her door along with the world of sales.
A prestigious newspaper put as the headline in their editorial on her: The Woman who best sells soccer in Argentina. In 2008 she was summoned by the Pachuca Club of Mexico, due to her expertise and way of relating to the main players in the industry, to take charge of the Communication of the Club’s History during the landing in Argentina.
Creator with the Foundation of Social Defense (FUDESO) of the First Forum of Development for Sports Equity (FID) supported by private companies and institutions like Buenos Aires Sports, Sports and Recreation of La Plata, etc, Argentina.
Karen Duys
She is a highly experienced senior advisor to governments and social organizations who has worked for governments at local, regional and international levels for over 30 years. She has been committed to concrete cooperation between governments (municipalities, ministries), institutions and small and medium-sized companies between the Netherlands, Europe and the rest of the world. She has greatly contributed to building Netherlands – India exchange.
During her work with the municipality of The Hague for more than 15 years, Karen put the cooperation with India on the Dutch agenda, resulting in many delegations led by the Mayor of Hague to Bangalore resulting in many MOUs with the State government of Karnataka in the areas of care, economy, water and infrastructure. For 10 years Karen also serves as senior advisor to the Mayor of Rotterdam and aldermen of various municipalities.
She also led the implementation of the noted Healthcare and Participation Act at the department of Health and Welfare of the City of the Hague, Netherlands, as well as at the Care.
Dr. Anita Caprice Powell
She is a Poet, Calligrapher and Wordsmith who embodies Oneness and Wisdom with her poised calm and composure that breathes balance and bliss. A poet and writer well before her teenage years, she speaks with Oracle-like energy that paints with her beautiful, powerful spoken performances the vision and imagination of our greater selves, igniting in her audiences the desire to enrich their own lives and that of others by embracing our universal oneness and the shared thought among cultures that there is no distance, no separateness between the Universe and us. Love and kindness connect us all.
No matter what culture, continent, creed we come from, she pours her creative gifts of movement, music, meditation and motivation into creating an alchemy of experience that moves and transforms.
She draws wisdom from all cultures and all parts of the world to bring home the message of Trust, Faith, Connectedness, Interdependence and our Oneness, providing a lease of life to those tormented with loneliness and alienation.
Lakshmy Shankar
She is CEO & Founder Kaizen consult, a full-service Consulting Firm with a focus on Family Business Advisory, Diversity & Inclusion, Coaching and Training, Educational Services, Counselling, and a valued support for Women Economic Forum (WEF) events in Chennai and Bangalore.
Formerly she was Head of Elizabeth Arden (A Unilever Company with WJ Towell Partnership in Oman) for Sales, Marketing, Business Development and Export to GCC Countries. She also led Business Development at Al Omaneya Advertising, Ministry of Information, Government of the Sultanate of Oman. With cross-disciplinary Majors and Masters in Psychology, Sociology and Economics, she comes from a scholarly family lineage: her paternal great grandfather was a Vedic Scholar and a revered Guru.
Lakshmy is also an advisor to Chiguru Balavikasa Samasthe an NGO engaged in abolition and Rehabilitation of child Labour from the silk twisting industry of Magadi district near Bangalore, Karnataka. Passionate and purpose-driven, she embodies the infinite resourcefulness of her name – Lakshmy – which verily means wealth in every sense.
Mar Introini
She is a Barrister, Blogger and Political Analyst. An Italian citizen with a legal background as a former Public Attorney specialized in Minors Offenders as National Secretary position nominated by the Executive Board of the National Presidency with approval from the House of Representatives.
With a strong sense of independent thinking and constant learning and cross-cultural experience of living in different cities, as Montevideo, London, Brussels, Geneva, Malaga, Madrid, she brings an inclusive perspective around multiculturalism.
She’s passionate about developing a reshaped model of globalization with a holistic approach toward building resilience and sustainability around societal vulnerabilities, which should be over and above political perspectives – as she learned in her work with a Political Party for 10 years.
As a leader with global goals, she is focused on building an innovative structure for the youth and open platform of engagement based on authentic connection and ethical leadership.
Mireille Toulekima
She is a senior Energy professional, Petroleum Engineer and Women Empowerment advocate. Mireille is the Managing Director of the Perth Australia-based energy company MT Energy Resources Ltd. Her experience spans 4 continents as she worked on billion dollar projects for multinational, international and government companies across Australia, Africa, Asia and Europe in a range of technical and leadership roles for more than 20 years.
She founded STEM Queens in Uganda and Australia in 2018 and 2020, respectively, with the objective to reach out and sponsor African and Indigenous Australian girls and women to embrace STEM and increase women’s participation in STEM sectors.
STEM Queens has for objective to empower at least one million women and girls in STEM by 2025. She has published three books of which: “Local Content Key Enabler for Oil and Gas projects in Emerging Markets: Investing, Developing and Providing Oversight in Countries of Operation” which is now a reference book in universities and organisations across Europe and Africa.
Madi Sharma
She is founder, Madi Group, a group of private companies and NGOs that started from a home kitchen and grew to two factories and ten companies. A member of The European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels representing the Employer’s Group and she was previously appointed to European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani’s Advisory Board for Industry & Enterprise.
The strength of a nation lies in its women is the mantra for Madi’s NGO, the Women’s Economic & Social Think Tank (WESTT) which works on advocacy and policy development for parity, equity and for the empowerment of women and girls across the world. In May 2018, Madi was listed as one of the Apolitical’s 100 World Most Influential People in Gender Policy.
Madi is a recognised international speaker on entrepreneurship, trade policy, empowerment, leadership, valuing human capital, diversity, gender balance and corporate social responsibility. She is the author of a book, Madi No Excuses! and is a freelance journalist.
Sharon Cittone
She is one of Forbes’ most powerful women shaping the future of food. A visionary entrepreneur, she also sits on the Advisory Board of the World Food Programme in Italy, is a Mentor for both Rockstart Agrifood and the FoodTech Accelerator, and is often invited to speak and write on the topic of Food Innovation.
Sharon understood early on that her passion for healthy food was part of a much larger picture, and that challenges like climate change, food insecurity, waste, water conservation, and soil regeneration were intimately related and ripe for disruption. Using her extensive experience in communications and business, Sharon has been at the forefront of building and growing the global food and agtech ecosystem for the better part of a decade.
Her work with start-ups, corporations, investors, policymakers, institutions, and youth landed her the coveted Forbes title. Cittone believes in connecting the dots, creating opportunities for others, and facilitating the collaboration that will lead to systemic change within the food system.
Annabella Nassetti
She is an international luxury interior and product designer born and educated in Italy and living in London since 1997. She has worked on projects across the world and achieved a world-class reputation in delivering unique interiors for private clients and property developers for some of the most notable addresses in the UK and abroad viz.
in the EU, California, Switzerland, and Indonesia – including that of Chalerm Yoovidhya, founder of the Red Bull energy drink; Sir Patrick Head, co-founder and former Engineering Director of the Williams Martini Formula One team; Patrick Crowley, Hollywood film producer of Bourne Ultimatum and Jurassic World; Pranav Trivedi Head of Skadden UK; Celebrity Chef, Judy Joo; and Sanaz Zaimi, CEO, Bank of America Europe.
Annabella’s international background influences the way she sees things, as she understands and appreciates different cultures and their icons. Her design studio, A Living Concept, is a noted architecture atelier that specializes in transforming luxury properties in the UK and abroad.
Bodil Valero
She is a former Member, Swedish Parliament, and European Parliament from 2014 until 2019. She is a member of the Green Party, part of the European Green Party. At the EU Parliament, she served as the green coordinator in the Security and Defence Committee, and was also responsible for migration and foreign affairs, and later of global justice issues such as climate, peace, aid, trade, arms exports and more.
She is committed to finding open, decent and humane policies as solutions to issues of economic migration including refugees, human rights and especially rights of minorities.
She aspires to reduce the risks of conflict, fight against poverty, and encourage fair trade and climate justice. Part of her past lies in Catalonia, where she started one of the very first ecological, organic crop farms high up in the mountains.
Bodil normally divides her time between Sweden and Catalonia where she also runs a sustainable hotel with the farm and is involved in an environmental organization with her husband.
Merlee Cruz-Jayme
She is one of the most influential women in the advertising industry. She is the Global President of dentsu mcgarrybowen and the “Chairmom” of Dentsu Jayme Syfu. She is the Jury President this year for Cannes Lions 2021 and is Cannes Lions’ 2nd ever Jury President from the Philippines. She is also the Dentsu Diversity Equity & Inclusion Head for Asia Pacific.
The 2019 Drum Global Ranking announced the top 100 Chief Creative Officers in the world, and there were only 8 women in the list – including our inspiring sister Merlee Jayme.
She has been recognized as The Creative of the Year by Campaign Asia and the CEO of the year by the International Association of Business Communicators. Her major awards include a Cannes Lion Grand Prix for Mobile, Grand CLIO, LIAA, The One Show and D&AD pencils. Beyond awards, she has led her agency to win key accounts: Coca-Cola, Nestle, and Shell fuels. Merlee is a sought-after international speaker and an opinion leader.
Yanire Braña
She is the Founder and President, MET Community, MET is committed to Mentoring, Entrepreneurship, Technology, as a non-profit organization that supports and promotes women entrepreneurship around the globe. Yanire has extensive experience – over 20 years – in change management, training, mentoring and innovation. Her former employers include the Work Bank Group, Inter-American Development Bank, Banco Popular, Accenture, and Booz Allen. Yanire says, “When I joined the financial sector, I felt that professional women were at a disadvantage in the workplace.
Yanire holds a Law degree from the University of Deusto, Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of the Basque Country, and an MBA with concentration in eBusiness from IE Business School. Ms. Brana is currently a PhD candidate at Complutense University of Madrid.
Yanire has recently received a certification in Business Sustainability Management from the University of Cambridge. In addition, she holds certifications in Strategy from London Business School, Innovation Strategies from Harvard Business School, and Change Leadership from Georgetown University.
Dr. Petra Kuenkel
She is the Executive Director, Collective Leadership Institute Executive Committee, International Club of Rome, Germany and South Africa. Petra Kuenkel is transformation psychologist and change management expert, and has been actively engaged in advancing the International Club of Rome for the past 6 years.
She is a thought leader and practitioner in fostering collective action for transformations to a world of human wellbeing and planetary health. With a unique combination of academic rigor and implementation experience she has an in-depth understanding of pathways to stewarding transformative change and understands barriers for change, such as the interconnectedness between the climate crisis and the current dominant economic system.
As the founder of the Collective Leadership Institute, an internationally active NGO, building transformation literacy and collaboration competency for transformative change, she has an in-depth knowledge of challenges in implementing global and local transformations.
Prof. Dr. Barbara Baarsma
She is the CEO of Rabo Carbon Bank at Rabobank and a noted Dutch Economist. She says, “As a banker I feel like I’m a servant of the real economy. With the Rabo Carbon Bank we are realizing a new business model for the bank with which we can accelerate the movement toward a climate-neutral economy and stimulate a future-proof food system.
This is an excellent opportunity for our cooperative bank. We are active throughout the food value chain. Not only do we have a global network in Food & Agri sectors, we also serve the major players in the market who want to address their CO2 emissions.
We will work together with them to reduce their emissions and offer them validated CO2 storage capabilities with the Carbon Bank. Before March 2021, she was CEO of Rabobank Amsterdam, taking up the post on 1 January 2019.
From 2016 to 2019 she was the Director of Knowledge Development at Rabobank where she headed RaboResearch.
Sonia Bashir Kabir
She is the Founder of SBK Tech Ventures, a licensed Venture Capital Fund and the Founder of SBK Foundation, a not for profit which empowers rural communities with technology in Bangladesh.
She was earlier Managing Director of Microsoft for Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal Bhutan & Laos, where she also won the highly prestigious Founders award given by Bill Gates. Educated & Trained in Silicon Valley, Sonia lived for 20 years in the Valley and worked for Fortune 500 companies Sun Microsystems & Oracle, in addition to working with Microsoft and Dell.
Sonia is also currently serving as Vice Chair & Governing Council Member of United Nations Technology Bank appointed by the UN Secretary General; Board Member of UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Education and Peace; Dell CXO Advisory Board member for Asia Pacific & Japan; Steering committee member, International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA); BRAC University Bangladesh, board member; Banglalink, a Telecommunications company owned by VEON; IPDC, a Non Banking Financial Institution (NBFI) and Shakti Foundation for disadvantaged women, a Micro Finance Institution (MFI).
Cindy Warner
She is a technology leader, with two stints at IBM, and a decade at FEDEX, Cindy has spent her entire career applying leading technologies to solve operational challenges in global enterprises. A trusted advisor to past “C- level executives” at GE, Microsoft, HP, Time Warner Cable, Northern Trust, Delphi, Dupont, and over 40 other Global 1000 clients, her most recent challenge was transforming service and support at NetApp to enable this leading storage vendor to move to the cloud.
She helped develop cloud advisory services for Salesforce and PwC, and leads tech for sales, service, support and operations within Global 1000 organizations, the largest of which contributed over $2B in annual revenue and led global business transformation and software integration practices with over 2000 team members. Currently, she is a global leader in Amazon Web Services, helping customers leverage the cloud to transform their business.
She is highly skilled in developing, commercializing and monetizing Cloud Computing and Web 2.0 solutions including SaaS and PaaS technologies, direct line P&L management performing both strategic and tactical roles and in using both process and technology as levers to transform business units within organizations.
Dr. Sanja Popovic Pantic
She is Leading innovation in SME sector and female entrepreneurship. She is the President of the biggest national association of female entrepreneurs in Serbia running since 1998. During that time, nearly 200 projects have been realized in strengthening female entrepreneurial initiatives, projects, start up and established companies. She obtained PhD in female entrepreneurship in 2013. at the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
She has been chairing Woman’s Entrepreneurship Group within the EU funded project Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) since May 2015. She is the author of two books based on the research of female entrepreneurship in Serbia viz.: “From vulnerable to sustainable group” – how to overcome poverty among women through self-employment in 2007 , “Sustainability of female businesses”, which was published in 2010. She has been engaged also as UN Women expert in their project “Advancing women’s economic and social rights in Serbia.”
Currently, she is engaged as the Sustainability expert by Executive Agency for SMEs (EASME) which is the appointment within the EEN’s new expert group on sustainability support to SMEs.
Danela Arsovska
She is the President of the Macedonian Chambers of Commerce, the union of national chambers of commerce, promoting economic cooperation on national and international level based on the principles of free trade and fair competition.
She is Consul of Hungary carrying out representative duties locally as well as providing a global support mission to Hungary’s diplomatic, cultural and economic action. On the national level, Arsovska is Representative in the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia National Council for European Integration since 2016. She is also Member of the Public Private Partnership Council in the Government of the Republic of Macedonia.
Arsovska obtained a bachelor’s degree in Law and has an Executive MBA, while her executive education is from the University of Oxford and University of Sheffield. She holds a range of academic and consulting positions on national and international level and lectures on development topics at universities and conferences.
Anat Bernstein-Reich
She is a dynamic entrepreneur, she is the CEO and Co-Founder of the GATE, BDO Israel-India, an investment Banking and advisory firm operating on the axis of Israel, India, Sri Lanka, and emerging markets. Anat is a columnist at The Marker, and is also a frequent speaker on “doing business in India”.
She served as a consultant to The World Bank in Washington for various economic development projects, co-founded 2 start-up companies in the USA, and worked with technology incubators to promote strategic partnerships for JV technology companies within Silicon Valley. Anat holds a LL.B. degree from the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University, is a member of the Israeli Bar Association, and holds an MBA (with distinction) in Finance from the University of San Francisco.
Anat also serves as the Chairperson of Israel-India & Nepal Chamber of Commerce, and is the President of TiE Israel. She has helped more than 100 startups to scale in sectors like technology, agriculture, real estate, edtech, clean tech, deep tech, etc.
Gwendolyn Myers
She was recognized as Time Magazine 2019: Top Eight Young Reformers Across the Globe Shaping the World and 2019-Top Seven-African Women Breaking Barriers in Peacebuilding in Africa. She’s the Founder & Executive Director (2008-Present) of a non-profit, youth-led peacebuilding organization; Messengers of Peace- Liberia Inc (MOP-Liberia Inc), managing over 1500 Young Volunteer Peace Messengers.
Her non-profit; Messengers of Peace-Liberia Inc. (MOP) became the first recipient of H. E. President George Manneh Weah National Peace Prize Award 2018 in celebration of the 15 years of unbroken peace in Liberia since the Accra Peace Accord 18th August.
Gwendolyn delivered the first ever-official address to the UN Peacebuilding Commission on behalf of the United Network of Young Peace builders (UNOY) on youth as equal partners in peace and security issues, New York on 23rd Nov, 2015 advocating for scr#2250 on Youth, Peace and Security adopted Dec 9, 2015 by the UN Security Council.
María Reneé Centellas Guevara
She is a Bolivian Pharmaceutical Biochemist and CEO of the most important pharmaceutical company in Bolivia—Laboratorios Bagó de Bolivia S.A. Also, she is a MSc in Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Management, graduated in: Logistics, Equitable Management, Finances, Negotiation at Harvard, Senior Management program at INCAE, academic training that led her professional career through different areas, from the operational to the managerial, due to the continuous updates in the areas of her performance.
Since she was in the last year of university, more than 25 years ago, she was working at Laboratorios Bagó de Bolivia S.A., where she joined as a Quality Control Analyst, assuming the positions of Head of Quality Control, Production Manager to current positions CEO and Technical Director. Because she has a strong passion to share knowledge, she was a Pharmacology Professor in Biochemistry and Pharmacy career at Universidad Mayor de San Andrés. In 2017, as a representative of the company.
Aijan Chynybaeva
She was graduated from American University in Central Asia in 1999 with a Bachelor in Business Administration. She has serving on the board of AUCA since 2012. A businesswoman with great entrepreneurial zeal, she is the owner of the Talisman resort and other businesses. She has over 15 years of business experience, and has worked for several international firms over her career. A natural leader, Aijan is passionate about community leadership. From 2016 to 2020, she was Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Norway in the Kyrgyz Republic.
From 2017 to 2020, she was President of the Consuls Club of the Kyrgyz Republic. In 2018, she was Ambassador of Woman Expo Kazakhstan. In 2020/21, she was Vice Mayor of Bishkek for Social Development. She was President of the Rotary Club Bishkek in2015-2016. From 2016 to 2019, she was President of the Public Association of Women of Kyrgyzstan “Kurak”. She is Member of the Council of the Association of Social Entrepreneurship, mentor at the ASP school.
She is the initiator of the movement “Taza Issyk-Kul”. (Clean Lake), the Founder of the Eco-Demi Public Fund.
Marijela Margeta-Hašimbegović
She is an accomplished leader in cultural management, performing arts & politics, she is first woman Director of National Theatre of Sarajevo in 100 years of its existence. With an architecture degree and extensive set designing experience, she’s credited for bringing audiences back to the theatre.
With an indomitable will matched by a graceful essence, she says in an interview, “I consciously ‘entered the fire,’ I knew what to expect, but I also knew that nothing could defeat hard work, love and sacrifice.’ Since 1993, she began working in Theatre and film for sets and costume design. Artistic works during Siege of Sarajevo were a tool to survive, showing human power with hope and enthusiasm, using words, images, symbols, culture, theatre.
Actively leading in the cultural spaces, she has been involved for over two decades in the organization of various important cultural events in the region, including the Sarajevo International Winter Festival and festival Mess.
Saadia Lakehal
She is the President & Founder, Global Women in Manufacturing summit and AgTech Summit, and CEO &Founder, Emperia Industries Connect Inc. Canada. A Microbiologist by training, coming from a family of entrepreneurs in the industrial sector, she has to her credit, a wide range of specializations in the fields of: the chemical industry, the forest industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the cosmetic industry, the agricultural industry and the food industry, the health sector and the sports environment.
This rich repertoire of intersectionality in industries has prepared her in a unique way as a global visionary and business woman with strong experiences in manufacturing and industrial networking across a variety of sectors at the intersection of the worlds of manufacturing, industry, creativity, environment, agriculture, innovation, technology, research and sciences.
She richly contributes to the development and creation of the manufacturing and agriculture industry of the future, which aims to be intelligent, visionary and connected to the current socio-economic, human, environmental and technological challenges to create a better, balanced world.
Simona Cattaneo
She is a luxury leader who since 2015 has served in Coty, initially as Chief Marketing Officier and since 2020 as President of Luxury Brands Division where she played a key role in building the foundations of its growth. Graduated from Bocconi University in Italy, she has a significant track record in luxury beauty and cosmetics and has held several senior positions at L’Oréal, Christian Dior Parfums, and Burberry.
At Coty, Simona led the luxury division’s transformation after the merger with P&G Beauty and directed the Luxury teams in their efforts to reinforce growth in fragrances, as well as accelerating and diversifying Coty’s skincare and make-up categories such as Gucci Make-up. She also integrated Burberry, Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner’s beauty businesses to Coty portfolio and established recognized icons in the fragrance world with Marc Jacob Perfect, Gucci Bloom, and Boss Bottled.
At the same time, she focused on product development, creative strategies and communicating key business drivers in Coty’s categories, along with building the company’s women leadership initiatives with mentoring support.
Kanika Hasrat
She is the First woman Area Director in India at The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), popularly known as the Taj Group, that manages a portfolio of over 200 hotels, resorts, jungle safaris, palaces, spas and in-flight catering services. It is best known for its iconic Taj brand of Luxury hotels. Kanika in her role as Area Director is responsible for the operation and success of 9 hotels in the North and Central Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh where she with a team of 1600 associates leads lush hotel properties like the spa-resort Taj Rishikesh, The Taj Corbett, the legendary Taj Mahal Lucknow, and the historical Heritage and Palaces properties of Taj Nadesar Palace Varanasi and Usha Kiran Palace Gwalior, as well as the brand new Taj Lakeview Bhopal where she is based as GM.
With over 27 years of hospitality experience, Kanika has worked with some of the best brands in hospitality – namely IHCL, Oberoi Hotels and Resorts and Marriott International in India and internationally.
A noted name in the South East Asia hospitality circuit, with passionate people-building skills.
Dr. Sirikul ‘Nui’ Laukaikul
She is a brand strategist and sustainability advisor, Founder, The BrandBeing, and Country Director, SB (Sustainable Brands), Thailand. After working for global corporations for nearly 20 years, Nui established her own consulting firm, the Brandbeing Consultancy.
The mission of her firm is to be a small but competent strategic advisor to Thai clients who truly believe in sustainable branding and systematic methodology. Her approach to develop brand strategy is based upon the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy:
A Mindset to Advance Your Brands. With a background ranging from creative to management to professional training plus her own unique combination of creative flair and strategic thinking, Nui is a “one-of-a-kind” consultant who can provide strategic and holistic recommendations that are sensible and practical for each client’s issues. Her strengths are Brand Strategy Development, Branded CSR, and Brand-led Business Planning. She is the author of Build Brand and Sufficiency Branding, Sustainable Brand pocket books.
Confidence Staveley
She Listed as the Top 50 Women in Cybersecurity in Africa 2020, she is a Cybersecurity Awareness Evangelist, Cybersecurity Professional, Youtuber, Ethical Hacker, Information Technology Expert, Author and Entrepreneur with a deep understanding of technology and cyber security fused with great communication skills; enabling her to communicate cyber security best practices in a relatable and engaging way with no jargon, to audiences of all types.
Little wonder she has been nicknamed “The Relatable CyberSecurity Queen”. She contributes to social responsibility through CyberSafe Foundation; its flagship initiative #NoGoFallMaga, is combating digital fraud perpetrated through social engineering, by delivering simple, relatable cybersecurity education across Nigeria and beyond. The work her organization does has saved Nigerians huge amounts in financial losses from cybercrimes.
Here’s a summary of some of her achievements and work: Raised over $200,000 in grant funding for various cybersecurity related projects. Won the Young CISO of the Year award.
Dorota Zimnoch
She is a FinTech thought leader listed among the Global Top 50 Women in Tech and ranked #19 in PwC Power Global 100 and Women in Finance 100, Dorota (Dori) is an international digital transformation and innovation leader who reinvents and relaunches businesses for digital age to create sustainable value for Individuals, communities, and businesses.
Currently, at Volvo Group she leads a digital transformation engagement strategy, enabling company’s value creation at scale. Previously contributed to creating market winning digital value propositions at Citi, AIG, MetLife, Zing Business Consulting and as the Supervisory Board Member and the Chairman of the Innovation Committee at the Santander Consumer Bank Polska, Dori is also an investor, mentor, co-founder and strategic advisor to several ventures.
Recognized as a global fintech and insurtech influencer she is a member of Tech London Advocates, FemTech Leaders, and InsTech London, Blockchain Ladies, Women in Tech. She graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics, Corvinus University in Budapest and the Warsaw University.
Anja Carron
She is an original thinker and compassionate global citizen, Anja founded Theia International in 2018. 2019 she was nominated by the ZEIT Foundation for the Marion Doenhoff Prize for International Understanding and Reconciliation and awarded as one of the Top 100 Leaders of Global Education (Dubai). Theia International is UNESCO (BNE) partner. The global education program for students is selected as one of the most innovative programs in Germany.
Anja works and empowers at the interface between capital market, non-profit and social-entrepreneurship, health care and new technologies, innovation, and tradition, ecology, and sustainability. Anja designed THEIA to identify, inspire and enable young talents by sending them out into uncharted territories of new ideas and insane potential.
Anja understands the circular economy as a transition on its own. Therefore, she focuses the programs and projects on the development of a global mindset in a human-centered and earth-saving manner.
