Biography

A leader in the social business movement, Saskia co-founded Yunus Social Business (YSB) together with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus.

Together with the World Economic Forum she co-initiated the COVID Alliance for social entrepreneurs. Saskia was appointed to the EU Commission’s expert group on social business and has advised on Ban Ki-Moon’s UN MDG Advocacy Group as well as Richard Branson’s B-team. She has lectured at several universities and events, including the World Economic Forum and the Clinton Global Initiative. Prior to YSB, Saskia was the Co-CEO of the Grameen Creative Lab and a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in Munich and New York.

[She is ranked amongst the Top 100 women in Social Enterprise by Euclid Network and has been awarded the Vordenker Award 2020 by BCG and Handelsblatt, the BOLD Woman Award 2020 by Veuve Clicquot, Capital’s Young Elite 2017, 2018 and is a member of Young Presidents Organisation.

Biography

James Chau is an international broadcaster and Host of The China Current. He has earned a special reputation for his interviews with leaders in politics, science, and health, including Nobel Peace Prize laureates Kofi Annan, Muhammad Yunus, and Jimmy Carter. He hosts The China Current, a digital platform with interviews, videos, and podcasts that explore the relationship between humanity and our shared global future. In 2016, he was appointed World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goals and Health. He formerly served as UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador.

Biography

Dr. Abdul Hannan Chowdhury is the current Dean and Professor of School of Business and Economics (SBE) at North South University (NSU). Earlier, he served as the Vice Chancellor of Primeasia University and the Pro Vice Chancellor of Eastern University from 2014 to 2017.. He has 32 years of teaching and research experience with various reputed institutions in Bangladesh, Canada, and the United States of America. He is conducting research in the areas of Quantitative Analysis, Business Statistics, Statistical Quality Control, Total Quality Management, Operations Management and Social Business.

He led a project with HEC, France to train faculty members of NSU on Social Business (2010-14).Dr. Chowdhury has more recently added the area of Social Business academia, researches, practices to his expertise and he has extensive experiences of working directly with the Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus in promoting the idea of Social Business globally.

Biography

Cam Donaldson is Yunus Chair and Distinguished Professor of Health Economics at Glasgow Caledonian University, where, until April 2021, he was Pro Vice Chancellor Research. From 2010-16, Cam was founding director of GCU’s Yunus Centre for Social Business & Health. Cam held the Health Foundation Chair in Health Economics at Newcastle University (2002-10), the Svare Chair at University of Calgary (1998-2002) and, prior to that, a professorship in the University of Aberdeen’s Health Economics Research Unit. Cam’s work has been recognised through senior investigatorships from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the UK’s National Institute for Health Research. Since 2013, he has acted as Chair of the Scientific Committee of the annual Social Business Academia Conference and has been a key player in helping to build the network of Yunus Social Business Centres.  

Biography

Christina is the co-founder of Yunus Environment Hub. She serves as co-chair of GIZ’s PREVENT Waste Alliance and is a Responsible Leader of the BMW Foundation World Responsible Leaders network. In 2016, she co-founded “Circular Economy Rhein Main” and “The Plastic Lab”, a creative laboratory to keep plastics out of nature.  In 2019, she co-founded “Colombia Circular”. She is an Advisory Board member of Grameen Creative Lab. She worked as an assistant to the Executive Director of Yunus Centre in Bangladesh with training in micro-finance. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science & International Economics from Otto-Friedrich University Bamberg.

Biography

Andrea Jung is the President and CEO of Grameen America. She is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Avon Products, Inc., where she served as CEO from 1999 to 2012, and as Chairman from 2001 through 2012. Throughout her career, Ms. Jung ranked consistently among the top leaders on lists including Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business," Forbes’ "Most Powerful Women in the World," and the Financial Times' "Top Women in World Business." Ms. Jung is a graduate of Princeton University. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc., Unilever, Rockefeller Capital Management and Wayfair Inc. She previously served on the boards of General Electric and Daimler AG.

Biography

Yoan Noguier is the Co-founder and Director of the Yunus Sports Hub. Formerly Procurement Manager for Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Yoan met Prof Yunus at the beginning of 2017 while advocating about the potential social outcome of sporting events. After a first successful collaboration resulting in the signature of an agreement with Paris 2024, the Yunus Sports Hub was created. Yoan grew up in the south of France, speaks 4 languages and played rugby at the french federal level. Yunus Sports Hub is the global social business network creating local solutions in and through sport.

Biography

As a purpose contributor, visionary and an entrepreneur, Hans is creating the change he longs to see – campaigning for social inclusion, against poverty, pollution and the useless waste of resources. Both as an inspirational speaker and as a social business practitioner, incubating social businesses around the world.


At the age of twenty he embarked on a journey that took him from India to Afghanistan and finally led him to Iraq. His deep interest for the arts and culture led him to the studies of classical south-Indian music during his time in India. Back in Germany he founded within a few years a creative circle and worked furthermore as a cultural manager, organizing many different theater and cultural events.
In 2007, he became the creative advisor of Nobel Peace Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus and has since then helped him spread the idea of „Social Business“.


In 2009, together with Prof. Yunus, he founded the "Grameen Creative Lab" of which he is today the CEO and since 2010 he is the Creative Director of the Yunus Centre in Bangladesh.

Biography

Biography

Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus is the father of both Social Business and Microcredit, the founder of Grameen Bank, and more than 50 other companies in Bangladesh. For his constant innovation and enterprise, Fortune Magazine named Professor Yunus in March 2012 as “one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time.” In 2006, Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is the recipient of 61 honorary degrees from universities across 24 countries. He has received 136 awards from 33 countries, including state honors from 10 countries. He is one of only seven individuals who received the Nobel Peace Prize, the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the United States Congressional Gold Medal. He has appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, Newsweek, and Forbes Magazine.

Biography

Marina Silva is a Brazilian environmentalist, professor, and politician. She holds a bachelor’s degree in History and specialization certificate in Psychopedagogy and Psychoanalytic Theory. Marina was given honorary doctorates by the Federal University of Bahia and by the Chinese Academy of Forestry. In nearly 30 years of public service, she is recognized all over the world for her defense of the environment, traditional communities, and sustainable development based on socio-environmental justice. She earned dozens of national and international honors and awards.

She was elected to City Council, State Congress, and Federal Senate with record numbers of votes, and served as Minister of the Environment. As Minister, she led the creation of the Amazon Deforestation Combat Plan, reducing deforestation rates by 80% and protecting more than 250,000 square kilometers of wild lands. She ran as a presidential candidate in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 elections. Marina is a founder of the Rede Sustentabilidade party and an adjunct professor at Fundação Dom Cabral.

Biography

Vicente Fox Quesada was born on July 2, 1942. He grew up at Rancho San Cristobal in Guanajuato, a communal land, where the only difference between him and his childhood friends were the opportunities he had. He always remembers from his childhood that one of the harms that can be avoided in our country is poverty.

He studied Business Administration at the Universidad Iberoamericana, and later he received a Top Management Diploma from the Harvard Business School.

In 1964 he joined the Coca-Cola Company in Mexico and started from the bottom; through his perseverance he became President of the company for Mexico and Latin America.

He served as President of Mexico from 2000 to 2006. He was the first candidate from an opposition party to be elected president.

Nowadays, he is actively involved on encouraging leadership and creating opportunities for the less favored people through his organization named Centro Fox.

Biography

Pamela has been Vice-Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University since 2006.   Awarded a CBE from the Queen for services to education and public health in 2012, Pamela is a former Trustee of the British Council and was a Founding Board Member of the RFK UK Human Rights. She is a Founding Board Member of the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing in Dhaka and on the Global Advisory Council for the African Leadership University. Amongst these roles, she was elected a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of Royal College of Physicians of London and a Fellow of Scotland’s National Academy, the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She is a Professor of Public Health, former Pro Vice-Chancellor at University of Nottingham and has written on HIV/AIDS, health and inequalities focusing on the potential of social action for health.

Biography

Benedicte Faivre-Tavignot is Associate Professor of Strategy (education track faculty).

She is co-founder and Executive Director of the S&O Institute (Society & Organizations Institute), aiming at developing at HEC a new way of thinking about the role of business in society, be it through teaching or research.

She co-founded the HEC Chair “Social Business / Enterprise and Poverty” (2008) and the Master in Sustainable Development (2003).

She is board member of several foundations and associations: Air Liquide Foundation, Schneider Electric Foundation, Bouygues Immobilier Foundation, Association Vivre Les Mureaux, She is board member of a media company, and president of the board’s CSR committee.
She is a member of the Scientific Committee of Standard&Poors Sustainable Finance, and also of the ESG club of IFA (‘Institut Français des administrateurs’).

Her research focus is on reverse innovation; she’s studying the processes through which social businesses and Base of the Pyramid business models can be a lever for innovation and strategic renewal.

She received her PhD in Management Sciences in 2012 (University Lyon 3).
She worked before 15 years in the consulting industry, in Eurequip Consulting Group, and in Philips as a controller.
She graduated from HEC (1988).

Biography

Leonhard has 12 years of social business and tech4good work experience in more than 20 countries. He has incubated, grown, and consulted start-ups and established organizations around the globe. As the Founder of Studio Nima he mplements and promotes social innovations with the private, philanthropic, academic and the public sector. He is also the Co-Founder of N3XTCODER with a focus on tech4good solutions. He is Educational Advisor to the Yunus Sports Hub and Venture Building Advisor to the Yunus Environment Hub, two organizations founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus.

Leonhard regularly acts as an expert and mentor in various incubation and acceleration programs, including the International Olympic Committee’s Athlete 365 Business Accelerator, the IOC Young Leaders program, BMW Foundation’s RESPOND Accelerator, and Siemens Stiftung’s Empowering People. Network. He has conceptualized and facilitated workshops in 25 countries with a broad range of topics incl. foresight methodologies, digitalization, etc.,

He also works as a moderator at international conferences, such as the Global Social Business Summit, the rad°hub, the Social Innovation Summit. Previously, he was an Adjunct Professor at the Master of Social  Entrepreneurship at Hult International Business School in San Francisco and London. Leonhard worked as Head of Academia at The Grameen Creative Lab founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus

Biography

April Tam Smith is a Managing Director at a large investment firm on the Equity Derivatives team. In her life outside of the office, April spends time in Haiti and South Africa serving at various nonprofits  and social businesses. She strongly believes in giving people a hand up over a hand out. This led her to opening P.S. Kitchen, a social enterprise in NYC that uses 100 percent of its net profit to fund justice work while hiring those in need of a second chance. April received her bachelors in Engineering at MIT and her MBA at Columbia Business School. She has been featured in ABC, CBS news,  Christianity today and highlighted in 50 outstanding Asian Americans in business.

Biography

Graduated in Business Administration and Master in Business from the SDA Bocconi University in Milan, Ana Maria has 20 years of experience in the social sector. She is co-founder of Somos Todas Marias the institutional director of Vencer o Câncer Institute, counselor of Childhood Brasil, member of the Foundations and Impact Institutes group (FIIMP1) and co-founder of the Public Policies Committee of the Mulheres do Brasil Group. Ana took part in an immersion program at the companies founded by Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh in 2018.

Biography

Graduated in Business Administration and Accounting. 17 years working in multinational consulting companies (Big4s), as a partner in the M&A area. First executive director of the Mulheres do Brasil Group. Currently living in Hong Kong, Marina is the co-founder of Somos Todas Marias, a mentor for the Ashoka Globalize program and a counselor of Think Twice Brasil. Marina participated in an immersion program in the companies founded by Professor Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh in 2018 and was invited by him to be an ambassador for the 3ZERO Club in Brazil, where young people create their impact projects with the support of mentors and connection with an international network.

Biography

Dr. Nisha Pandey has worked in various interdisciplinary research projects in several Institute of International repute like Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur.
She has authored two books titled as Social Entrepreneurship, Empowering Women Through Entrepreneurship, and has edited two books titled as ‘Building Model of Change: Achieving Sustainability through Social Entrepreneurship’ and Creative Entrepreneurship: A Sustainable Approach for Economic Growth. She was awarded projects from ICSSR and Ministry of Rural Education MGNCRE and World Bank. She has published papers in national and international Journal in the area of Social Entrepreneurship, Development Economics, and Sustainable Development. She has presented her work in the world most recognized and respected meeting, ‘Academy of Management’ in Chicago, and Topical Group on Energy Research and Applications, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA.

Biography

Shazeeb M Khairul Islam is an Obama Scholar and the founder of YY Ventures, a social business company that incubates and invests in social businesses fighting poverty, unemployment, and carbon emission. YY Ventures has supported 60+ social entrepreneurs since 2016 who have impacted the lives of more than 150,633 people and created 1300+ jobs.

He is also a co-founder at Impact Hub Dhaka, part of the global Impact Hub Network mobilizing a vibrant community of entrepreneurs in Dhaka through inspiring space, meaningful content, and a diverse network to create a Bangladesh where everyone thrives. Shazeeb is also the CEO at 3Z Global Centre, a one-stop help centre for all 3ZERO Clubs, Circles, 3Z Support organisations, and YSBCs, and facilitates networking among all Clubs and associated organisations.

Shazeeb is a member of the Board of Trustees at Grameen Trust, a non-profit and non-government organization founded in 1989 by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus that supports, promotes and implements poverty-focused microfinance, and social business and other programs around the world.

Shazeeb has working experience with YGAP, Give2Asia and the Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and has studied at the University of Dhaka and Columbia University in the City of New York.

Biography

Paola Samoggia graduated in piano and achieved the Post Graduate Master Course “COMPOSER” in the Opera Academy Verona. She attended the High Composition Master Course in the Royal Philharmonic Academy of Bologna.

Paola collaborates with several producer for ads, documentaries and short films, and she also composes on commission for major contemporary art galleries and music institutions. She is facing artistic projects about social issues since 2010. She composed the music for the Multimedia Chamber Opera "27 DOLLARI" (inspired by “Banker to the Poor”, the first book of M. Yunus, Nobel Peace Laureate Professor) and for the Ballet "NO CRASH"(music, dance and architecture about deaths at work)

Biography

Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and UN Messenger of Peace, is a world-renowned ethologist and activist inspiring greater understanding and action on behalf of the natural world.

 
Dr. Goodall is known for groundbreaking studies of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, which forever changed our understanding of our relationship to the rest of the animal kingdom. This transformative research continues today as the longest running wild chimpanzee study in the world. Jane’s work builds on scientific innovations, growing a lifetime of advocacy including trailblazing efforts through her international organization the Jane Goodall Institute which advances community-led conservation, animal welfare, science, and youth empowerment through JGI’s Roots & Shoots program.


Today, Jane continues to connect with worldwide audiences, despite the challenges of the pandemic, through ‘Virtual Jane’ including remote lectures, recordings, and her podcast, the “Jane Goodall Hopecast.” In 2021, Jane was the recipient of the Templeton Prize, and her newest book, “The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times,” was published. Jane is a global icon spreading hope and turning it into meaningful positive impact to create a better world for people, other animals, and the planet we share.

Biography

National positions
- Member, Council of State, Advisory Body to the President of the Republic of TIMORLeste (2012-)
- Member, National Council on Maritime Boundary Delimitation (2016 - )
- President of the Republic (2007 - 2012)
- Prime Minister, Minister of Defence (2006-2007)
- Senior Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (2002-2006)
- Cabinet Member, United Nations Transition y for East Timor - UNTAET (2000-2002)
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Information, in the first Govt proclaimed in December 1975 following Timor-Leste's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, International Spokesperson of the Resistance (1975-1999)

International positions, past, current
- President, World Movement for Democracy, HQ Washington, elected July 2020;
- Chair, Scientific Council, of the think-tank TIGER – Transformation, Integration and Globalization Economic Research (www.tiger.edu.pl), Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland, January (2021-2030);
- Board Member, World Leadership Alliance, Madrid (2012 - );
- Member, Global Leadership Foundation, London, UK.
- Member, High Level Board on Mediation, with UN Secretary-General (2017-2019);
- External Advisor to the President of the UN General Assembly, (2017-2018);
- Commissioner, Global Commission on Drug Policy, Geneva, (2017 - ).
- Chair, High Level Independent Panel on UN Peace Operations, appointed by the UN
Secretary-General (November 2014 - 2015), UNHQ, NY;
- Co-Chair, Independent Commission on Multilateralism, (2014-2016), International Peace Institute, NY;
- Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Integrated Peace Building Mission in Guinea-Bissau (West Africa) (Jan 2013- June 2014)

Academic
- Member Honorary Advisory Council of the Institute for Global Law and Policy at Harvard University, 2012 - ;
- Diploma, Executive Program, Leaders in Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (1998);
- Senior Associate Member, International Relations, St. Antony's College, University of Oxford (1987);
- Master of Arts in Peace Studies, Antioch University, Ohio, USA (1984);
- Advanced Diploma, Public Relations, Centro Internacional de Marketing (1970-1974);
- Completed courses in Public International Law in The Hague Academy of International Law, and in International Human Rights Law in The International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg (1983);
- Doctor Honoris Causa from Universities in Australia, Japan, Korea, Thailand, The Philipinnes, Brazil, Portugal, USA;
- Founding President, Diplomacy and Human Rights Program, Law Faculty, University of New South Wales, Sydney, since 1990;
- Visiting Professor, University of New South Wales, Sydney, since 1996;
- Distinguished Visiting Professor, Victoria University, Melbourne, since 2007;
- Visiting Professor Ewa Women International University, Seoul, 2007-2012.

Major awards
- Nobel Peace Prize (1996)
- Companion of the Order of Australia (2015)
- Ordem de Timor-Leste (2012)
- Ordem Dom Boaventura (2006)
- Ordem De Liberdade, Portugal, (1998)
- Ordem Dom Infante, Portugal (2011)
- Orders from Brazil, Cuba, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde

Books and other writings
- Words Of Hope, Speeches, Essays, Longueville Media, Sydney (2018)
- Where the Sun on Rising Sees First, co-authored with Raquel Belli, LIDEL, Lisbon (2014);
- The Lost World of Timor-Leste, LIDEL Lisbon (2017), with Patricia Vickers-Rich, and Peter Tussler;
- FUNU: The Unfinished Saga of East Timor, Red Sea Press, Trenton, NJ, USA, 1987;
- Timor-Leste: Amanha em Dili, Dom Quixote, Lisbon, 1994;
- A Matter of Principle: Humanitarian Arguments for War in Iraq, Thomas Cushman (Editor) with Christopher Hitchens, José Ramos-Horta and others. (2005) University of California
Press;
Written on international affairs for the International Herald Tribune, New York Times, Wall
Street Journal, Wall Street International Magazine, Huffington Post, The Daily Beast,
Newsweek, The Hill, etc

Biography

Baroness Valerie AMOS, Master of University College Oxford, former UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Baroness Valerie Amos served in the British Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development and Leader of the House of Lords (2003-2007)

Baroness Amos’ career has spanned local and national government in the UK as well as global leadership in her role as Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs at the United Nations. Baroness Amos also served as UK High Commissioner to Australia and between 1994 and 1998 worked extensively in South Africa.

Throughout her career, Baroness Amos has consistently sustained an interest in, and commitment to, issues of equality and social justice and is patron of the Amos Bursary, a charity she founded with her sister Colleen Amos.  The charity is focused on ensuring that Britain’s talented young people of African and Caribbean heritage have the opportunity to excel in education and employment.

Photo Credit : ©University College Oxford/ Jonathan Self

Biography

Shirin Ebadi was born on June 22, 1947 in the city of Hamadan in Iran. Her father, Professor Mohammad Ali Ebadi, was a law teacher and a human rights defender. His book, Business Law, was later edited and updated by his daughter. When Shirin was only one year old, her family moved to Tehran where she  completed her education. In 1965, she entered law school and graduated three years later. She was hired as a judge in 1969 after an internship and progressed rapidly. In 1975 she became the head of Branch 26 of the Tehran City Court; at which time she was the first woman and the youngest judge to hold this position. Shirin got married in 1975 and has two daughters named Negar and Narges. In 1979, immediately after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, all female judges were fired because revolutionaries at the time believed that judging and sentencing was forbidden to women. She became an employee of the same court that she had previously presided over. So, she decided to retire early.

In 1992, She established a private law firm to handle human rights cases. She is the lawyer for many controversial political and human rights cases in Iran, including the cases of Zahra Kazemi (a journalist who was killed in Evin prison), Parvaneh and Dariush Forouhar (known political activists killed by the security forces), and Ezzat Ebrahimnejad (who was killed in the dormitory of the University of Tehran in 1999), and Zahra Bani Yaghoub (a young doctor who was killed in custody). She also represented the case of seven Baha'i leaders in Iran. All these activities led to her arrest and imprisonment on charges of spreading lies against the Islamic Republic in 1999. She spent 25 days in solitary confinement. She was later sentenced to one and a half years in prison and banned for five years working as a lawyer.

Dr. Ebadi won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize. Part of the money was allocated to establish the office of the Defenders of Human Rights Center and to support the families of political prisoners. The center became a leading human rights organization, which was subsequently recognized by the French National Human Rights Organization in 2003. In 2008, the center's offices were closed by the security forces and its building confiscated.

Dr. Ebadi left Iran shortly before the presidential election in June 2009 to attend a conference in Spain. She did not return to Iran due to severe restrictions imposed on human rights activists in Iran after the arrest of her colleagues and the killings of people. She continued her activities in forced exile. The Iranian government, dissatisfied with her actions, filed a case against her in the Revolutionary Court. Under the pretext of unpaid taxes, the government confiscated her property, including the office of the Defenders of Human Rights Center. In addition, to force Dr. Ebadi to remain silent, her sister and her husband were arrested by security forces but released a few months later due to popular opposition. However, both were banned from leaving Iran for several years after their releas

Biography

Soprano Monica Yunus is the Co-Founder of Sing for Hope. Ms. Yunus has performed with the world’s leading opera companies, including The Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, The Zouk Festival, and in recitals in Spain, Guatemala, and her native Bangladesh. She has been named a 2016 Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, honored with a 21st Century Leaders Award, as “New Yorker of the Week” by NY1, and named one of the “Top 50 Americans in Philanthropy” by Town & Country. A leading voice in the “artist as citizen” discussion, she has performed and spoken at the Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit, Skoll World Forum, Aspen Ideas Festival, and the United Nations. The daughter of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Ms. Yunus is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

Biography

Marina Mahathir is a newspaper columnist and activist. She led an HIV/AIDS NGO for 12 years, served on the board of Sisters in Islam for six years and currently the chairs the board of Musawah, the global movement for justice and equality in the Muslim family. Marina has also produced TV programmes, feature films and a documentary and founded Zafigo.com, a website for women and travel. Currently, she also hosts Hello Zafigo, an online chat show, and a podcast on books called Busy Reading Books. Penguin Random House SEA will publish her memoir in November 2021.

Biography

Foundation for Yunus Social Business Taiwan-CEO
 Unistaate Intl. Trading Enterprises Inc. – President
 Master Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd.
       -Chairperson
Chinese Association for Corporate Transformation      
 Innovation and Advancement-Vice Chairperson
 CICD, term3, Session 29-Chairperson
 Winner of the 11th Golden Summit Award of Outstanding Manager
 Winner of A Hundred Outstanding Businesswomen of Four  Regions  across the Strait, 2012
Winner of the 11th Asia-Pacific International Honesty Enterprise
       -Keris Award

Biography

Dr. Suraj Kumar is SDG Lead and International Partnerships Advisor to Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Bhubaneswar and Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Development at the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA). His book on Social Development and SDGs in South Asia has been published in September 2019 by Routledge UK. He occasionally writes columns for The Telegraph

Biography

A cardiac surgeon of repute and a successful entrepreneur, Dr Shetty is a highly respected luminary for his ingenious ideas for reforms in healthcare sector. His visionary leadership to make quality healthcare affordable for all has drawn global recognition.

Narayana Hrudayalaya has been an interesting case study for the likes of Harvard Business School and The Wall Street Journal. In association with Government of Karnataka, Dr. Shetty pioneered Yeshaswini, a very inexpensive micro health insurance scheme benefitting more than 3.4 million rural poor.

Dr. Shetty is the current Chairman, Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He has also served as a Member, Board of Governors of Medical Council of India and Representative of President of India in the Board of Governors of Indira Gandhi National Open University.

A strong advocate of technology for efficient healthcare delivery, Dr.Shetty takes deep interest in creating and developing software products and applications to achieve time and cost efficiency while minimizing clinical errors in healthcare delivery.

Dr. Shetty also has a US Patent registered as inventor Dr.Shetty is the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, The Economist Innovation Award, Financial Times Arcelor Mittal ‘Boldness in Business’ Award, Nikkei Asia Prize for Economic and Business Innovation. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from University of Minnesota and IIT Madras.


Dr Shetty is the Founder and Chairman at Narayana Hrudayalaya Group of Hospitals. The group now has 47 healthcare facilities with close to 7,000 beds.

Biography

Abida Sultana is the co-founder of Onnosheba, a diner & a food caterer which serves nutritious & healthy food at an affordable price to menial workers in urban area of Chittagong, Bangladesh.  She is also a director of Chittagong Social Business Center & looks after the project proposals from new entrepreneurs & their implementations.

On completion of her Post graduation in Marine Sciences she engaged herself in the family run business in Aqua-Culture. She also worked in primary and high School as a Science coordinator and teacher for seven years.

In 2014 she started Onnosheba as a pilot project to serve nutritious packaged food & snacks at an affordable price for some primary schools and low-income working adults in the vision to change the unhealthy traditional street food culture. The project which started with the investment of her personal savings of approximate BDT 50,000 and engaged only five menial workers made turnover of about BDT 10000000 in the year 2021 with 26 workers.

Onnosheba creates viable alternatives for traditionally ill-served individuals. Because it remains profitable despite keeping profit margins low, Onnosheba is the living proof that it is possible to create sustainable businesses targeting lower income groups.

Biography

María Antonia Santos is the project Director at Fundación Compaz, an organization that works to build peace in Colombia and the world. She has a bachelor degree in Cognitive Neuroscience and a Master's degree in social and cultural psychology.

For more than eight years, she has been a consultant for various organizations in matters of investigation, cognitive and psychological analyses, innovation and market research, amongst others. Currently, in Compaz she works with local communities and leaders from all around Colombia, contributing to their organizations' development to build sustainable peace development in the territories most affected by conflict.

Biography

Gabriela Ramos is the Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO, where she oversees the institution's contributions to building inclusive societies. Her mandate includes tackling economic inequalities of income and opportunity, and promoting social inclusion and gender equality. She also oversees the youth support agenda, promotion of values through sport, fight against racism and discrimination, and ethics of science, including of neurotechnology and the internet of things.

Previously, Gabriela Ramos worked as Cabinet Director and Sherpa for G20/G7APEC at the OECD, contributing to increasing the OECD's global impact and leading key initiatives such as "Inclusive Growth", "New Approaches to Economic Challenges", "Climate Change and Growth", the gender strategy and work on well-being and children. At the G20, she contributed to the international reform of tax systems; the adoption of the gender quota (to reduce the labour gap) and the establishment of the W20; and the adoption of the principles of artificial intelligence, among others.

Biography

Paul currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of the Global Esports Federation.

Following graduate and post-graduate studies in Economics, Business and International Affairs, Paul worked for various global organizations including more than 20 years in the Olympic movement – more than 12 Olympic Games and an extended tenure at the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland - and as Vice President at World Expo 2020 Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Paul has worked with business leaders and global political leadership, including directly with Sovereigns, Heads of State and Government as well as Government Ministers and Cabinet Secretaries with multiple portfolios.

He contributes to academia as an Associate Professor in International Relations at Rome and New York.

Biography

Marian, a BA in Contemporary History by Complutense University, with a MA in Publishing by West London University and Executive MBA by IE, has extensive experience in business development gained through senior positions in leading companies such as Enerco Renovables or Cubierta Solar. She has extensive international experience, having worked and lived in more than 18 different countries, mainly in Western Europe, Latin-American and Africa. She specializes in pursuing and executing new business ideas to foster economic growth and creating tangible value to clients.

Marian has excellent contacts with Spanish institutions, being a Member of the Board of the Association for the Defense of the Values of the Spanish Transition, a powerful lobby made of collaborators of the ex-president of Spain, Adolfo Suárez.

Fluent in Spanish and English, with working knowledge of French and Portuguese.

Biography

Pauline Msungu is a 25 year old lady from Kenya. She is a bachelors degree holder in Commerce (purchasing and supplies chain management). She plays football in the Kenyan Women Premier league and she is also a youth ambassador for the Bundesliga Youth Ambassadors’ project in Kenya; a flagship youth leadership initiative, offering young leaders from Kenya opportunities to learn, grow and create a positive social impact in their communities through football. Pauline is passionate about football and gender equity. She believes that sport is a powerful tool to create positive social impact especially among young people. Her values are respect, honesty and integrity. Her ideal world is an inclusive world where human rights are protected regardless of age, gender and sexual orientation.

Biography

Clément began his career in the humanitarian field. His first experiences in Mongolia with nomadic herders and in Lebanon where he organized a workshop on the theme of harm reduction, reinforced his desire to have a positive impact.

It was then that a serious back injury forced him to change his path somewhat. Convinced of the power of entrepreneurship, he participated in the launch of Jumia in Central Africa, then launched a coworking space in Côte d'Ivoire and accompanied young Ivorians on the path to entrepreneurship.

Now working at the Yunus Sports Hub, Clément wants to facilitate the emergence of entrepreneurial ecosystems by relying on the universal power of sports.

Biography

An environmental activist, author and filmmaker, Lily's book and accompanying podcast, Who Cares Wins, explore the myriad of environmental solutions from tech-utopia to indigenous wisdom. She has directed multiple short films on topics including the refugee crisis, living off-grid and an exploration into Amazonian wild rubber. Lily is Patron of the Environmental Justice Foundation and has worked with The World Land Trust & WWF. She was honoured at the German Sustainability Awards 2021 for her ongoing dedication to climate and human rights activism. She is currently an advisor for the UNECE.

Biography

Member, International olympic Committee (IOC) since 2013.
President: National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) since 2017.
UN World Food Programme (WFP) Goodwill Ambassador against Hunger since 2005.
United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Champion (2011-2015)
Chairman: Kenya Academy of Sports (KAS) Board/Council - A State Sports Agency

Member-
1. New York Road Runners Advisory Council
2. Hall of Fame Inductee- Bupa Great North Run (UK)- 2013 & New York Road Runners (USA)
3. XVII Premio International Fair Play Award, Rome, Italy- 2013

Sports Career:
1. Former World marathon Record Holder (2004 in Berlin)- Time 2 hrs 4 min (First man to run a marathon under 2 hrs 5 min)
2. Two-time Olympic Silver medallist, 10,000m (Atlanta 1996 & Sidney 2000 Olympic games)
3. Five-time straight World Cross Country Champion (1995-99)
4. Winner: New York City Marathon (2005); Lake Biwa, Japan Marathon 2009.

Awards/ Honours
1. University of the Western Cape, South Africa (2010)- Faculty of Community and Health Sciences (Doctor Philosophie Honoris Causa)
2. Dcotrate (Honorary) Degree- Moi University, Kenya
3. Honorary Bachelor's Degree- Bloomfield University, NJ, USA.

Bibliography:
Paul Tergat- Running to the Limit, published in 2005 by Oxford Meyer & MeyerSport (UK) Ltd.

Community Initiatives
Founder
1. The Paul Tergat Foundation
2. The Sports Personality of the Year Award (SOYA Awards), Kenya

Biography

SUSAN E. GIBSON is the author of How to be an Amazing Volunteer Overseas: Rules of the Road, Stories from the Field from Amazon. Susan has worked and volunteered for NGOs in 70 countries for more than 35 years. In 1992, she got her microfinance training at Grameen Bank. From 1992-2001, Susan was a consultant providing technical support in microfinance to NGOs, UN agencies and donor governments. In 2001, she moved to London and shifted to serving on NGO boards including Thomson Reuters Foundation, International Rescue Committee UK and the Carter Center UK. She now resides in Washington, DC.

Biography

Vanessa is co-founder and CEO, Seed Global Health, Associate Director of Partnerships and Global Initiatives at Mass General Global Health, and Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School. Seed Global Health is a non-profit that focuses on the power of investing in health and the health workforce for social well-being, economic growth, and equity which transforms countries. Through a partnership with governments and in-country academic institutions, under Vanessa’s tenure, Seed has helped train more than 17,000 doctors, nurses, and midwives and has impacted hundreds of thousands of lives. She is also the director of the Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Vanessa is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Social Entrepreneur.

Biography

Thomas Bach is a German lawyer, former Olympic fencer and Olympic gold medalist, serving as the ninth and current president of the International Olympic Committee since 10 September 2013. He is also a former member of the German Olympic Sports Confederation executive board. Bach is the first ever Olympic champion to be elected President of the IOC.

Biography

Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, producer, director, and activist. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Apart from his film career, Whitaker is also known for his humanitarian work and activism. In 2011, he was inducted as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, later receiving a promotion to Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation, and serves as the CEO of Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI), a non-profit outreach program.

Biography

Moin Chowdhury pursued his MBA from Bayes Business School, City University, London, UK. Post MBA, he worked as a Principal Consultant for Frost & Sullivan, in its London office. He has 32 years of professional experience in various sectors including development sector.

Notable ones are that Moin was appointed as the Director of Finance for the Maxwell Stamp Plc- UK and worked for Department for International Development (DFID) projects for 05 years. Besides this, Moin has managed two more DFID funded projects in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh.

Moin joined Grameen Kalyan in November 2018. He believes in the ideology of ‘Equal Health Care for All’ and embraces this as a charter in the everyday work.  

Biography

Professor Kamarulzaman trained as an Infectious Diseases physician in Melbourne Australia and was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya between 2011-2019. She is also presently an Adjunct Associate Professor at Yale University.

Professor Kamarulzaman has played a leading role in the response to the HIV epidemic nationally and globally. She directs the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA) at Universiti Malaya and is a founding member of TREAT Asia a regional network of HIV research centres. Her research focuses on the prevention and treatment of HIV in key populations especially people who use drugs, prisoners and MSM. She is presently Chair of the Malaysian AIDS Foundation, a trust that raises funds for HIV related programs in Malaysia. At the international level, she was a Co-Chair of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee on HIV, and has partcpatined in numerous committees for UNAIDS, WHO and UNODC. She is also presently the President of the International AIDS Society the largest independent association of HIV professional.

Professor Kamarulzaman also played an active and key role in the national response to COVID-19. She chaired the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre COVID-19 Task Force and was a member of the national and two state advisory committees. She is currently a member of Malaysia’s National Recovery Committee.

Her achievements have been recognised through several national and international awards including a Doctor of Laws from her alma mater, Monash University for her contributions to medicine and as a health advocate

Biography

David worked during 18 years in business finance at Danone in various positions (Accounting team manager, Operations controller, Sales & Marketing controller, Regional finance manager, Business Unit finance director) at various level of the organization (country, region, holding), and with all the geographies.

He acquired knowledge and experience in financial processes and accounting, performance animation, business planning and monitoring.

Since 18 months, he joined Danone Communities team as Finance Director, where he passionately leverages his experience in finance to support social businesses in their scale-up phase and in their roadmap to financial sustainability.

Biography

Sharifah Sofia serves as a trustee of the Albukhary Foundation and currently works in the private sector, with a focus on corporate finance and strategy. Sharifah Sofia currently Chairs the Scholarship Committee at the Albukhary International University, where she also serves as a member of the University’s Board of Governors. She is a Founding Board Member of Philanthropy University and serves on the Board of Pos Malaysia, DRB-HICOM and MMC Corporation.

Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Sharifah Sofia is an economist who holds an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE). During her graduate study, Sharifah Sofia led her team to the regional round and qualified as one of the regional finalists of the Hult Prize 2016. During the same period, Sharifah Sofia was an external consultant to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, examining methodologies to empower rural women in low income countries. Prior to that, Sharifah Sofia has worked at the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and interned as an investment banking analyst in Morgan Stanley, Singapore.

She has a keen interest in international development, social entrepreneurship, and more specifically, exploring the role of education in promoting progressive change

Biography

Mr. Ashraful Hassan is working with Grameen Group for last 38 years. He currently serves as Managing Director of Ononyo Construction & Developments Ltd. (a concern of Grameen Group) and is engaged to construct & develop of all projects of Grameen Group. He also serves as Executive Vice Chairman of Grameen Telecom, Grameen Distribution Ltd. Grameen Shamogree, Grameen Knitwear Ltd. Grameen Fabrics & Fashions Ltd. and CEO of Grameen Telecom Trust.

He has a profound knowledge in business development, industry setup & management, focusing on resource & energy saving production, wide exposure in local & export market, developing rural artists & artisan goods and so on. He has an extensive knowledge in the field of construction engineering.

He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of several enterprises that play commendable role in the fields of information & communication technology, renewable energy, health care, food & nutrition, employment generation and so forth.

Biography

Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific took office on 1 November 2018. Ms. Alisjahbana was Professor of Economics at Universitas Padjadjaran and was Minister of National Development Planning and the Head of the National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS), Indonesia from 2009 to 2014. In 2016, Ms. Alisjahbana was a member of the High-Level Independent Team of Advisors to support the ECOSOC Dialogue on the longer-term positioning of the United Nations for the 2030 Agenda. Ms. Alisjahbana obtained her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Washington, USA. Link to the webpage of the Executive Secretary of ESCA

Biography

Jean Bernou is the President and Founder of a consulting company that helps corporations to put responsible growth at the center of their business strategy. The profits that he generates are used to promote social responsibility and to support young social entrepreneurs.

Prior to his current position, Jean served as McCain Chief Executive Officer for Continental Europe, Russia, Middle East and Africa. He was responsible for all McCain operations in this large zone. On top of his operational responsibility, Jean was leading “Be Good, Do Good”, the global CSR strategy for the company.

Jean is currently leading an ambitious project in the Hauts-de-France region with the support of its president Xavier Bertrand, in this difficult period. He helps unemployed people to create their company building on Muhammad Yunus belief that “all people are born entrepreneurs, packed with unlimited creative capabilities.

Biography

Jody Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to ban landmines through the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which shared the Peace Prize with her that year. At that time, she became the 10th woman – and third American woman – in its almost 100-year history to receive the Prize.  Since her protests of the Vietnam War, she has been a life-long advocate of freedom, self-determination and human and civil rights.

Like others who have seen the ravages of war, she is an outspoken peace activist who struggles to reclaim the real meaning of peace – a concept which goes far beyond the absence of armed conflict and is defined by human security, not national security. Williams believes that working for peace is not for the faint of heart.  It requires dogged persistence and a commitment to sustainable peace, built on environmental justice and meeting the basic needs of the majority of people on our planet.

Since January of 2006, Jody Williams has worked toward those ends through the Nobel Women’s Initiative, which she chairs.  Along with sister Nobel Laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi of Iran, she took the lead in establishing the Nobel Women’s Initiative.  They were joined at that time by sister Nobel Laureates Wangari Maathai (Kenya), Rigoberta Menchú Tum (Guatemala) and Betty Williams and Mairead Maguire (Northern Ireland). The Initiative uses the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize and the influence and access of the women Nobel Laureates themselves to support and amplify the efforts of women around the world working for sustainable peace with justice and equality.
Since 1998, Williams has also served as a Campaign Ambassador for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.  Beginning in early 1992 with two non-governmental organizations and a staff of one – Jody Williams, she oversaw the Campaign’s growth to over 1,300 organizations in 95 countries working to eliminate antipersonnel landmines. In an unprecedented cooperative effort with governments, UN bodies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, she served as a chief strategist and spokesperson for the ICBL as it dramatically achieved its goal of an international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines during a diplomatic conference held in Oslo in September 1997.

Williams continues to be recognized for her contributions to human rights and global security. She is the recipient of fifteen honorary degrees, among other recognitions. In 2004, Williams was named by Forbes Magazine as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world in the publication of its first such annual list.

She holds the Sam and Cele Keeper Endowed Professorship in Peace and Social Justice at the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston where she has been teaching since 2003.  In academic year 2012-2013, she became the inaugural Jane Addams Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Social Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Biography

Kerry Kennedy is President of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. She is the proud mother of three daughters, Cara, Mariah, and Michaela. A human rights activist and lawyer, she authored New York Times best seller Being Catholic Now, as well as Speak Truth to Power and Robert F. Kennedy: Ripples of Hope.

Kerry, the seventh of Ethel and Robert F. Kennedy’s eleven children, has devoted more than 40 years to the pursuit of equal justice, the promotion and protection of basic rights, and the preservation of the rule of law. She works on a range of issues, including child labor, women’s rights, disappearances, indigenous land rights, judicial independence, freedom of expression, ethnic violence, criminal justice reform, immigration, impunity, and environmental justice.

She has led hundreds of human rights delegations in support of these causes.

Under Kerry’s leadership, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights partners with the bravest people on earth to create lasting change.

She appears regularly as a commentator on national and worldwide television networks, and is a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines.

Kerry served as Chair of the Amnesty International USA Leadership Council for over a decade. She serves on the board of directors of the United States Institute of Peace, Human Rights First, Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation, Laureate and Leaders, Nizami Ganjavi International Center, HealthEVillages, as well as RFK Human Rights’ numerous international chapters. She is on the Advisory Committee for the Association of American Indian Affairs, the Albert Schweitzer Institute, Sankofa, San Patrignano, and the Center for Victims of Torture.

Kerry has received high honors from President Lech Walesa of Poland for aiding the Solidarity movement, The Humanitarian award from the Congress of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, and many other honors.

A member of the Massachusetts and District of Columbia bars, she is a graduate of Brown University and Boston College Law School. She holds honorary doctorates of law from Le Moyne College, University of San Francisco Law School, and University of New Caledonia, and honorary doctorates of Humane Letters from Bay Path College and the Albany College of Pharmacy.

Biography

Kiko Kislansky is a speaker, corporate trainer, writer and mentor to purposeful leaders. Kiko has impacted over 200 companies and 100,000 people through its educational programs. His main topic of work and research is Purpose in life and business with purpose. He is the founder of Cazulo - Corporate Transformation

Biography

Dr. Faiz Shah is a public health physician, development professional, and social entrepreneur with four decades leading innovative initiatives and building grassroots capacity for transformational change. Joining a permanent faculty position in community medicine at AI Medical College in 1986, he has taught at leading institutions in the US and Asia.  He directs the Yunus Center at the Asian Institute of Technology, co-leading the Yunus Masters in Social Business & Entrepreneurship and the ESG Masters programs. He is founding president of Yunus Thailand. As research partner for the Portable Health Clinic since 2011, he has led pilots in Pakistan and Thailand and contributed to a number of publications. His recent publication is the authorised Urdu translation of “A World of Three Zeros” by Professor Muhammad Yunus.

Biography

From January 2021, Maria Ida is leading the Grameen Creative Lab with the mission of creating a global Social Business Movement for a World with 3 Zeros (zero unemployment, zero poverty, zero Net Carbon Emissions,) and bring Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Yunus Muhammad legacy around the world through events and projects with social businesses, companies, and institutions. After a series of experiences in startups and social enterprises consulting in Berlin, she started her Marketing career in Unilever Headquarters in Rotterdam in the Home Care Global Team. In 2019 she joined the Food team in Italy. There she contributed to the definition of brand strategies and of the first performance marketing campaigns. Recently graduated as Growth Hacking Marketeer at Talent Garden Innovation School, she has co-founded the Global Shapers Community initiative “SOS-Save One Seat”, the first Italian and European platform born in March 2020 during the first lockdown to support restaurants in this hardtime. She was selected to join One Young World in Bogotà, where she led a project aimed at integrating refugees in Rome through culture and contributed to the creation of the #Eunite Campaign reaching over 1 M people all over Europe on 9th May 2020.

Biography

Dr. Diana Mandewo is the Communications Director for VaxiGlobal, a social entrepreneurship venture that is using biometric verification to authenticate vaccine records in Africa. She is a medical doctor in residency at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, the largest central hospital in Zimbabwe. Dr Mandewo is an Alumnus of Harvard Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program 2020.

Biography

Vanessa was the Founder & CEO of TZ Systems, a tech company focused on diversity, inclusivity, equality and wellbeing. She worked for 4 years as Head of Cultural Affairs at the Mexican Embassy in the UK. Vanessa speaks actively in different forums about the impact digitalization has on youths’ personal and emotional development and has been actively involved in numerous philanthropic, fundraising, and social development projects.

Biography

Alaap leads the Strategy & Growth efforts for the ‘Next Billion Users’ team at Google. He joined Google 8 years back in an Ad Sales role, but his interest in product management and strategy brought him to the NBU team. He has worked in several digital, marketing and consulting roles over the past 18+ years. He is a big advocate of UN SDGs and is a mentor to several SDG focused startups and non-profit Organizations.

Biography

Izumo is a founder and CEO of Euglena Co., Ltd., the world’s first biotechnology company that succeeded in the outdoor mass cultivation of microalgae Euglena for food use.

In 1998 when Izumo was a university student, Izumo participated in an internship program at Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and met Professor Muhammad Yunus. This experience motivated him to solve world-wide malnutrition problems, and to found company in 2005 offering nutrient- rich microalgae, Euglena. Following successful business growth, Company launched “Euglena GENKI program” in 2014 which distributed Euglena-contained biscuits to Bangladesh children.

Biography

Md. Mostafezur Rahaman is a researcher and solution designer with 8+ years of experience in qualitative and quantitative research, monitoring, impact analysis, solution design and project cycle management. He is passionate about helping non-profits and enterprises to improve their products and services. Right now, he is managing the Research and Innovation portfolio of YY Ventures and using scientific evidence, data, technology, design thinking and creativity to create an enabling environment for social entrepreneurs who fight poverty, unemployment and carbon emission.

Biography

In collaboration with artists ranging from Yo-Yo Ma to Sting, soprano Camille Zamora has garnered acclaim for her “dramatic and nuanced” (The New York Times) interpretations of repertoire ranging from Mozart to tango. She is known for her “dignity and glowing sound” (The New York Times) in “luminous, transcendently lyrical” performances (Opera News) that “combine gentility and emotional fire” (The Houston Chronicle). Hailed by NBC Latino and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus as a leading interpreter of classic Spanish song, Camille has performed on five continents and in live broadcasts on PBS, Deutsche Radio, BBC, and Sirius XM. Her recent album If the night grows dark / Si la noche se hace oscura: Four Centuries of Spanish Song debuted on Billboard‘s Top Ten Classical Chart. Other recent recordings include Pauline Viardot’s Le Dernier Sorcier,  a #1 Classical Best Seller on Amazon and Opera News Critic’s Choice, and Hindemith’s The Long Christmas Dinner with American Symphony Orchestra, a New York Times Classical Playlist Choice and Opera News Recording of the Year. Her 2021 season has included live-streamed and in-person concerts spanning Baroque zarzuela to boleros to Bachianas Brasileiras with Cincinnati Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, Sonnambula Viol Consort, and more.

An advocate for the arts in education, Camille is the Co-Founder of Sing for Hope, an “arts peace corps” non-profit that creates initiatives – including the Sing for Hope Pianos in public spaces from the Bronx to Beirut – that dismantle barriers and promote the mission of art for all. During the pandemic, Sing for Hope became one of the most significant employers of freelance professional musicians in the U.S. by producing 125 days of consecutive live musical programming at Javits Vaccination Center, reaching an estimated 270,000 community members. A leading voice in the Citizen Artist conversation, Camille has presented and performed at the United Nations, the U.S. Capitol, Aspen Institute, Harvard University, Oxford University, and the Skoll World Forum for Social Entrepreneurship. She has been honored with a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Award and a 100 Hispanic Women Community Pride Award, and named one of the Top 50 Americans in Philanthropy by Town & Country, NY1’s New Yorker of the Week, and one of CNN’s Most Intriguing People. She serves on the Boards of Directors of Grameen Creative Lab and The Juilliard School.

Biography

Before joining Grameen China, Gao Zhan served as a journalist of the National Development and Reform Commission’s internal references “Reform Internal Reference” and “China Reform”, deputy director of the journalism department of the National Development and Reform Commission. Grameen China is dedicated to helping the low-income people especially women who live in poverty, build their small businesses, get out of poverty and live better life, through replicating the Grameen microcredit model in China. Gao Zhan also serves as the Secretary-general for Foundation for Yunus Social Business China, promoting Social Business in Greater China. Gao Zhan is also Director of Asian Financial Cooperation Association, and Expert Member of China Micro-credit Companies Association.

Biography

Luciano Gurgel graduated in Economics with large experience in financial and capital markets. He has worked for Yunus Social Business Brazil for 6 years and was involved in the structuring, fundraising and investments of Yunus Social Business Brazil Investment Fund.
Luciano is Executive Director of Artemisia, a pioneer institution in the promotion of social business in Brazil.

Biography

Satake had worked Nomura Securies Co,Ltd at the investment banking division for 20 years. He established the joint venture company with Professor Yunus at 2010. Grameen euglena Co,ltd has contributed to eliminate the poverty and malnutrition through the agriculture business. Mung bean project has been executed with WFP to increase the small farmer’s income and supply nutritious food for Rohingya refgee. Grameen euglena contracted over 10,000 farmers and supply 1 million mung-bean packets for Rohingya beneficially at 2020. From 2022, food supply will increase 5 times compare with 2020.

Biography

Biography

Professor Waswa Balunywa is currently the Principal of Makerere University Business School, (MUBS). He has been teaching in the University for over 30 years primarily in the area of Business Administration, Accounting, Finance and Management. In recent years, he focused onto teaching and Researching into Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Change Management and
Leadership.

He led the team that started private programmes in Makerere University, changing the landscape of higher education not only in the country but in the region. He is some of the architects of MUBS, created MUBS, a leading Business Schools in the region. The School started as a Faculty of Commerce, with one Degree programme and about 220 students. It now has over 20 undergraduate programmes, 11 Masters Programmes, and a PhD. The current student population in MUBS is approximately 20, 000 students

Prof. Balunywa holds a PhD in Entrepreneurship from University of Stirling in the United Kingdom and has a B. Com an MBA from the University of Delhi, India.

In his profession, Prof. Balunywa has published books and articles in various journals.  He is a blogger and writes extensively on the economy management and social issues (http://waswabalunywa.blogspot.ug).

He has been a member of different Boards including Bank of Uganda, Uganda Airlines, Coca Cola among others. He currently serves on the Madhvani Board. He is a patron of different Associations including AIESEC and YPMA.

Prof. Balunywa is also a social entrepreneur and works with members of his family to support vulnerable Women, Youth especially the Girl child in his community. The Balunywa Foundation of which he is a Director is trying to put girls who have been denied education into Schools.

He is widely travelled and has interest in Yoga and wrestling.

Biography

Nurjahan Begum, currently working as Advisor to Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, has an outstanding career with Grameen since inception of the Grameen Bank in 1976. She was one of the earliest associates of Professor Yunus during the establishment of Grameen Bank. She served as Principal of Grameen Bank Central Training Institute, General Manager, Training & Special Program and Deputy Managing Director of the bank. She became Acting Managing Director of Grameen Bank soon after the bank’s founder Professor Yunus left the bank in 2011.

Ms. Nurjahan worked as Managing Director of Grameen Shakti – the largest off-grid solar energy company in the world. She also worked as Managing Director of Grameen Shikkha from 1997, the year Shikkha was established, to end of December 2016. She is serving as Chairperson of Grameen Distribution Ltd. and director of some Grameen companies like Grameen Trust, Grameen Kalyan, Grameen Agricultural Foundation, Grameen Knitwear Ltd., and Grameen Fisheries & Livestock Foundation. She is serving as director of Grameen Italia Foundation, Italy and Center for Mass Education in Science (CMES), Bangladesh. She also served Grameenphone Ltd., Bangladesh and Grameen Foundation, USA as director.

Ms. Nurjahan was awarded Susan M. Davis Lifetime Achievement Award 2008 by Grameen Foundation, the World Summit Millennium Development Goals Award 2009, and the Vision Award 2009. She received Outstanding Contribution to Education Award at Ed Leadership 7th International Roundtable 2014. She participated in the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit held in Los Angeles in 2007 and was appointed President to the Foundation for Justice Prize giving ceremony held in Valencia, Spain in 2007.

Biography

Lamiya Morshed has been the Executive Director of Yunus Centre, the global hub for social business founded by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, since its inception in 2008. Previously she served for 12 years as Director, Development of Grameen Trust which sets up microcredit programs around the world. She serves as the Managing Director of Grameen Healthcare Trust and is a member of Board of Trustees of YY Foundation, board member of Grameen Healthcare Services, Grameen Creative Lab, Yunus Social Business, Grameen Intel, Grameen Trust, Grameen Euglena Ltd. and Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing; as well as the Chairman of YY Ventures. She has been a speaker at numerous high level international conferences and summits around the world on the subject of microcredit and social business, and regularly serves as a judge for global social business competitions.

Biography

Graduated from the French ENA, Jean-Luc Perron started his career at the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1985, he moved to Credit Agricole, the largest banking group in France, where he has been inter alia: Head of the International Affiliates Division, Chief Advisor to the CEO for EU Affairs.

As from 2007, Jean-Luc Perron played a material role in the design, then the setting up and management of the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation. In 2016, after 8 years as MD of the Foundation, he stepped down and was proposed by Prof. Yunus to be his Paris-based advisor, then Vice-President of Centre Yunus Paris, a not-for-profit association dedicated to the promotion of social business.

Biography

Professor Ranga Zinyemba is the Vice Chancellor of the Catholic University of Zimbabwe, a position he has held since January 2013. He has previously served as Lecturer, Chairman of Department, Dean of Student Affairs and Registrar at the University of Zimbabwe as well as Visiting Professor at various universities in Africa, Canada and the USA.

Prof Zinyemba is also an Organizational Development (OD) Consultant and Capacity Building Specialist who has worked with many organizations in a variety of sectors (private, public, NGO, United Nations Agencies, World Bank, Embassies, etc.) in various countries that include Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Ethiopia, Botswana, Lesotho, Angola, Swaziland, Mozambique, Namibia, Thailand and Afghanistan on a variety of OD assignments.

Prof Zinyemba’s overriding passion is facilitating the transformation of lives and institutions.

Biography

Prof Dr. Mpezamihigo, trained at Makerere University (Uganda) for his Bachelors and Masters degrees, and attained his PhD from the University of Reading (UK) in Horticulture and Landscape Sciences. Has senior University Management experience and extensive training in higher education. Since 2015, he has steered Kampala International University (KIU) to rise to be the leading private University in Uganda two years in a row. Under his stewardship, KIU has made multiple national, regional and International partnerships, that have had significant positive impacts.

Prof Mpezamihigo is the Chairman Board of the Virus Outbreak Data Network (VODAN) – Africa; Co-President of multinational and multi-institutional Project of building digital skills for vulnerable youths and women in the horn of Africa, funded by the Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation (NUFFIC) and partnering with Dutch Partners such as Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

Serves as Uganda Country Representative and Executive Council Member to ICESCO (Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and a recipient of many awards including recognition for excellent performance, as a Council member and chairperson to committees of the Uganda National Council for Higher Education; Education Leadership Award for Excellence, by the World Education Congress Global Awards. Member of several community based and philanthropic organizations that support education and the well being of vulnerable groups. He has to his name several books, book chapters, journal articles and other publications.

Biography

Dr. Achyuta Samanta is an educationist, philanthropist, social entrepreneur par excellence and the harbinger of ‘coalition of conscience’ – an innovative sustainable model to be emulated adapting to socio-economic cultural milieu with fruits of liberalization percolating to every strata and ‘diversifying of talent pool’ thereby contributing to nation building. He envisioned- complete education for social development two decades ago has now been vindicated by the global leaders as they emphasize on education as one of the most important objectives under UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

KISS - located in Bhubaneswar, India - is a free of cost, fully-residential school for 37,000 indigenous students; this includes a mammoth body of 27,000 current students and over 10,000 alumni. KISS was founded in 1993 by Dr. Achyuta Samanta, with a vision of a world free of hunger, illiteracy and poverty.

Biography

Biography

Biography

The Youthink Centre is one of the leading Chinese youth think and do tanks focusing on global challenges and opportunities. Founded in 2009, Youthink Center had the vision to build an eco-system to support young leaders to learn, advocate, and take action on various topics such as the Sustainable Development Goals, Climate Change and Social Business. Youthink has partnered with 50+ media outlets and 110+ organizations, maintaining a network of 1000+ youth organizations/associations in China.

Alex was the initiator of the Chinese Youth Delegation to UN Rio+20 and then he led Chinese Youth participation on global development agenda and actively participated in UNGA and UNFCCC COP and UN DPI NGO Meetings. Prior to Youthink, he worked as Director of International Cooperation and Business Development in China Foundation Center,  led GrantCraft Chinese Project, and served as Secretary-General of Chinese Foundation High-level Leaders’ Delegation to Harvard University in 2012.

Biography

CEO of Coliba Corporation¶ Environmental Consultant on Plastics¶ Acumen Fellow¶ Unilever Entrepreneur Awardee.

Biography

Project Manager at Yunus Environment Hub | Assistant Program Manager at YEH | Internship at ZPWC - PY project | Junior Research Fellow at IIT-Guwahati | B.E. chemical Engineering at Annamalai University

Biography

Leadership & Learning | Social Entrepreneurship | Capacity Building | Systems Thinking

Biography

Biography

Cofounder of Natupla - Natural Plastic | Impact Officer at Yunus Environment Hub | MSc Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at LSE | Chevening scholara

Biography

Quote: 'The true African spirit of empowerment is about prospering together, leaving no one behind. The only business model that speaks to that spirit is social business.' - Daniel Ayebare
He is the CEO and Founder of Aye Africa Foundation- A youth empowerment organization in Uganda- East Africa. Aye Africa Foundation is currently a 3 Zero club supporting organization.
He is seasoned banker with over 13 years’ experience in the banking sector having worked with Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, The Deposit Protection Fund and Bank of Baroda at different levels.
He holds a Master’s degree in Institutional Management and Leadership and a Bachelor’s degree of Arts in Economics from Makerere University.
He is the President of Fintrain3k- a team of financial literacy experts trained and mentored by the Central Bank of Uganda to empower communities with knowledge, skills and confidence to manage money well.
He is One Young World Ambassador- A global organization of likeminded young men and women with a passion to make positive change.
He is a social business enthusiast passionate about the role of business in transforming communities especially in Africa.

Biography

Sadia Hossain is the Chief Operating Officer of YY Ventures. Specialized in organizational strategy, business development, talent management, and communication, she has worked in multisectoral programs addressing education, youth leadership, livelihoods, gender, climate change, public health and WASH over the last eleven years through her work with Teach For Bangladesh, Concern Worldwide, and GlaxoSmithKline Limited.
Sadia excels at scaling businesses, building high-performing teams, and delivering results through people-centered processes, structures, and systems. She thrives in impact-driven organizations, and believes that all lives have equal value. She wants to create an equitable world by ending poverty in all its forms everywhere.

Biography

Dr David Olufemi Awolala is a climate change economist, agricultural economist and climate adaptation finance expert. He holds a Ph.D Economic Sciences in Climate Change Economics, Universite Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal under initiative of the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) programme. He had background in agricultural and resource Economics at Master and Bachelor levels with 12 years of continuous teaching, research and consulting experiences. His research interests are climate risk assessment; adaptation finance; climate smart agriculture, resource economics, impact evaluation, and sustainable livelihoods. Dr Awolala is a Research Fellow of DAAD ClimapAfrica, African Science Weather for Information and Forecasting Techniques under the UK-GCRF Research and Innovations, Adaptation Finance and Fellowship Programme, and African Climate Change Fellowship Programme (AfriCLP), among others. He is a member of professional organizations which include the African Climate Change Leadership Programme and African Association of Agricultural Economists.

Biography

Graduated from the French ENA, Jean-Luc Perron started his career at the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1985, he moved to Credit Agricole, the largest banking group in France, where he has been inter alia: Head of the International Affiliates Division, Chief Advisor to the CEO for EU Affairs. 

From 2007, Jean-Luc Perron played a material role in the design, then the setting up and management of the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation. In 2016, after 8 years as MD of the Foundation, he stepped down and was proposed by Prof. Yunus to be his Paris-based advisor, then Vice-President of Centre Yunus Paris, a not-for-profit association dedicated to the promotion of social business. 

Biography

Satake had worked Nomura Securies Co,Ltd at the investment banking division for 20 years. 

He established the joint venture company with Professor Yunus at 2010. 

Grameen euglena Co,ltd has contributed to eliminate the poverty and malnutrition through the agriculture business. 

Mung bean project has been executed with WFP to increase the small farmer’s income and supply nutritious food for Rohingya refgee. 

Grameen euglena contracted over 10,000 farmers and supply 1 million mung-bean packets for Rohingya beneficially at 2020. 

From 2022, food supply will increase 5 times compared with 2020. 

Biography

After 13 years working in sales for the specialized nutrition and water divisions of Danone, Céline choose to dedicate her business skills to a mission where she could have a social impact. Driven by the conviction that corporates should take their part, she joined Danone Communities as a business developer for water access. Since 2018, she has been giving her energy and passion to grow the social impact of Danone Communities, support more social entrepreneurs and inspire Danone to achieve more impact.

Biography

Shihab Quader helps social businesses with strategy design and execution at all stages of their life cycle. With 10 years of international development experience, managing over $900M in 4 continents, he is currently handling a diversified portfolio of international projects along with Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus's Global Campaign to make the COVID-19 vaccine a global common good. Shihab is based in Dhaka.

Biography

Abdul Hai Khan, a prominent practitioner of microfinance and social business is the Managing

Director of Grameen Trust (GT).

Before joining GT, Mr. Khan worked as the Deputy General Manager of Grameen Bank and

served as the Head of Training and Special Program Department. He has been working with

Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus for more than 40 years.

Mr. Khan has a wide range of experiences on GT’s worldwide replication programs following

Grameen Bank Approach (GBA). He has conducted many international training programs on

various issues on Microcredit and Social Business in different countries as well as monitoring

and evaluation visits to the microcredit projects run, owned and/or managed by GT worldwide.

He also conducted ‘Fact Finding Missions’ in Nepal, Bolivia, Yemen and Senegal.

Mr. Khan serves as the member of a number of Boards in different microfinance organizations

and Social Business entities in Bangladesh, India, Kosovo, China, France, Italy, USA, Yemen

and others.

Biography

Lamia Hafiz is the Community Lead at YY Ventures and Impact Hub Dhaka. Apart from managing her work by mobilizing stakeholders, she works towards making the earth a more eco-friendly one by turning waste into something useful. She has 2.5 years of experience in the food and service industry and fancies herself the foodie. Lamia played for the national Basketball team and dreams going back on court as soon as the pandemic is over. She’s a person of the people, and hopes to grow in the field of communications

Biography