Homepage » Core Communities » Young Global Changers » People » Alumni » Class of 2018

Class of 2018

Dorcas M. Abbosey, Ghana was engaged with advocacy and education for women’s reproductive health and rights in Ghana. She initiated a skills training project in her community to train young girls to learn how to crochet and sew thus increasing their economic power. Dorcas is earning a Master in Cultural Diplomacy and International Relations from Furtwangen University in Germany. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Development Studies from Valley View University in Ghana. As a Young Global Changer, she aims to advocate for citizenship engagement and behaviour change communication strategy.

María Belén Abdala, Argentina Belén is a Political Scientist (Universidad de San Andrés) and MA candidate (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella). Currently, she works as a Senior Coordinator at CIPPEC, one of the most prominent think tanks in Latin America, where she leads applied research projects on political innovation and institutional reform. She is also a member of the T20 Task Force on Social Cohesion, Global Governance and the Future of Politics since 2018. Previously, Belén has worked as a consultant in public management, monitoring the implementation of public policies, coordinating research projects, collaborating with local and international academic referents and providing technical assistance to governments of various political parties.

Olukayode Alao, Nigeria is Founder & CEO of SusCrete Infrastructure Consulting. Olukayode is a vibrant and passionate civil engineer and procurement specialist with an eye for entrepreneurship, sustainable development strategies, technical engineering consulting and empowering those in need specifically focusing on the African continent. He is currently involved in supporting capital infrastructure projects in the EMEA region where he had developed core skills in project management, data analytics, strategic consulting and engagement. He is also a member of the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth with a focus on SDG 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure). He has a BSc & MSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Cape Town and a Master’s in International Construction Management from the Politecnico di Milano.

Francisco Javier Ardila Suarez, Colombia is a doctoral candidate working on inequality and marginalization at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He also has a master in Global Studies from the same university and a Bachelor in economics from the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. He has been an active organizer at the Young Scholars Initiative from the Institute of New Economic Thinking since 2017 and was an habitual contributor to the el Espectador's mal economista Blog in Colombia. Has worked in the Colombian diplomatic mission as well as in the Argentinian Chapter of Transparency international.

Oyuna Baldakova, Russia is a PhD Candidate at the Graduate School of East Asian Studies at the Free University of Berlin and a fellow of the German Research Foundation. Her research focuses on China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its potential consequences for sustainable economic development of Central Asia. Before her PhD, Oyuna worked in international development interning at UNESCO Bangkok, managing an EU-funded project for Central Asia, and running communications as vice-chair of the International Organization of Folk Art (IOV) Youth Committee for a two-year term.

Bilge Bingöl-Schrijer, Turkey her PhD in public law from Ankara University and is working as an assistant professor at Akdeniz University Faculty of Law in public law department. Her research focuses on state theory, human rights, experimental legal education, education and higher education law. She is working on several projects that are about integrating university research findings in to social development planning. As a young global changer she aims at creating solutions for achieving sustainable development goals by designing university-city-government interrelated programs.

Kapal Dev, Pakistan recently graduated from Politecnico di Milano, Italy in the field of optical wireless communication for 5G backhauling. He is currently Working as a Junior Consultant and Engineer at Altran Italia S.p.A. on 5G use cases such as Connected Healthcare, Augmented Reality Projects, etc. Also, working on building a online Job portal customized for pregnant women through which they can practice their skills, earn money and take care of their children too. This would benefit country economy as women is effective part of the society.

Cetin Didem Fulya, Turkey is currently a Senior Consultant at PwC Turkey's Economics & Policy Consulting team, where she undertakes data-driven policy analyses intended to act as compelling drivers for the transformation agendas of the public and private sectors. She has taken part in various donor-funded international development projects focusing on a variety of topics such as fiscal policy, capital markets, and agriculture policy. She has also recently been engaged in projects related to sectoral competitiveness and global value chains (GVCs). She holds an MSc in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a BSc in Economics, Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick.

Linda Du, United Kingdom is a graduating MBA candidate at the Yale School of Management. She also holds a BA and MEng degree from the University of Cambridge in manufacturing engineering. She has defined her career at the intersection of business, technology and international development, having held positions at the United Nations World Food Programme and Kiva. In 2019 she was a semi-finalist at the St. Gallen Wings of Excellence award for an essay on remittances, and she has also written about the role of technology in international development.

Heba Elhanafy, Egypt, an urban researcher, her center of interests lies in research studies in particular about human settlements, arts, heritage, community and urban development. Have a bachelor degree in architecture and planning currently doing her Master’s degree in urban development at TU Berlin. She is a main associate at Ecumene studio for integrated urban development and sustainable architecture where she coordinated many development projects in Egypt and in MENA region focusing on the integration of youth, women and refugees in cities for clients and partners of the caliber of UNHCR, Terre Des Hommes and Sadat Foundation.

Syeda Aisha Furrukh, Pakistan - PhD thesis of Aisha is “Women workers in a globalized world – an analysis of social meaning of human rights among textile workers in Karachi-Pakistan.” She has a Scholarship from Hochschule Fulda and a visiting faculty at the Department of Sociology-TU Dortmund. Aisha is a member of “Promotionskolleg soziale Menschenrechte” Kassel University and HFD. She is actively engaged in a community project in city Fulda for establishing/promoting a network for qualified and skilled female migrants for successful integration in German society with the help of local working women and city administration.

Nancy Hoque, USA of Bangladeshi decent. Holds an M.B.A. From University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, an M.S. Electrical Engineering and B.S. Electrical Engineering from University of California San Diego. Go-to-market strategist at Adobe, and founder of a virtual women’s incubator for the AMENA (Asia, Middle East, North Africa) region. In 2018 she was awarded the NextGen Leadership honoree at Forbes. She aspires to empower women entrepreneurs to mentorship and financial networks in developed and developing countries around the world.

Oyindamola Johnson, Nigeria - With over 8 years of experience of working on social innovation projects in Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America, Oyindamola is passionate about raising ethical leaders to drive innovation, entrepreneurship and development in rural and urban communities, as well as empowering emerging leaders and young professionals, to function effectively at the intersection of passion, purpose, impact and profit. He is the Convener of Elevate Your Game, which is an organization with a mission to accelerate human capital in developing nations through tri-sector collaboration and partnerships. He is a speaker, author, trainer and has been named Top 100 Brightest Young Minds in Africa, and African Youth Hero by the African Union Commission due to the role he plays in representing the interests and protecting the rights of young Africans.

Ika Juliana, Indonesia has been working at Indonesian Institute of Sciences since 2015. She is passionate about RnD, her passion towards sustainable energy development research has been persistent since her undergraduate studies in 2011. She conducted a research on the study of biodiesel production from used cooking oil. In 2017, she was 1st Place at Falling Walls Lab Indonesia and a finalist of Falling Walls Young Innovators of the Year Competition at Berlin with her project entitled “Breaking the Walls of Biosurfactant Flooding” which talked about future work in RnD using computational sciences.

Natasha Israt Kabir, Bangladesh is a professional rights activist having more than 7 years of working experience in development field. Her academic background is from arts. She was Former Adjunct lecturer at the Department of Law and Justice, Jahangir Nagar University. Her career is dedicated to social research including gender and disability field. As part of her professional development she acquired couple of post-graduation degrees, i.e. on International Development from University of Oslo, Norway and on South Asian Studies from Pondicherry University, India and also from Jahangir Nagar.

Pradeep Khanal, Nepal is a technology leader and social entrepreneur with deep passion in community empowerment and social impact. Pradeep has had several years of engineering, business and leadership experience in research, design and development of products in high-tech companies that include Intel, Altera, AMD, Sematech and CAMD. Pradeep has founded and led community based professional organizations as well as university-wide student organizations. He has also led several capacity building and education based projects and initiatives. Born and raised in Nepal and currently residing in California, USA, Pradeep considers himself Nepali at heart and Global in spirit. Pradeep has a master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Texas, Austin and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.

Yelena Novikova, Kazakhstan holds Master in International Business from Grenoble Ecole de Management & Master in International Security from London Metropolitan University. She’s an expert & policy Advocate in the field of ESG Integration (integration of Environmental, Social & Governance factors into corporate & Investing strategies). In 2017, she’s been featured by London Metropolitan University as 1 of its 7 most inspirational graduates alongside London mayor Sadiq Khan. She co-panelled discussions with the likes of Emmy-nominated Philippe Cousteau-Jr & Egyptian Minister of Water Resources.

Simon Rabaa, Germany just graduated from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and a Master of Science in Sustainability Economics from the University of Kassel, with an exchange semester at the James Cook University in Australia. At the Hertie School and during his exchange semester at the University of Toronto, Simon pursued a Master of Public Policy degree, focusing on local and global governance of sustainable development and social-ecological change. His professional experience ranges from working with the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag and the German Council for Sustainable Development as well as PwC in public sector consulting to holding various research and teaching positions in academia.

Ashish Rauniyar, Norway is a PhD candidate in Computer Science, researching on Internet of Things (IoT) with a focus on applying Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Algorithms for Secure, Energy-efficient and Resilient IoT at University of Oslo & Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway. He is a winner of European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC), 2017. He is recognized as Top 200 and Top 600 Young Scientist selected and invited to attend 5th Heidelberg Laureate Forum in 2017 and 69th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in 2019 respectively.

Serge Reh, Germany is a passionate and curious Digital Strategist and Project Manager at PwC. He genuinely believes in the responsibility of corporations to tackle our challenges of the future (e.g. Climate Change, Social Cohesion, Future of Work). By combining his background in behavioral psychology and business with his passion for innovation and entrepreneurship, he aims to help push the boundaries and challenge the ordinary. As a Young Global Changer he aims to be a ‘bridge-builder’, by shaping new networks for his generation.

Anna Romandash, Ukraine, is an award-winning journalist from Ukraine. She covers foreign affairs and human rights abuses in Eastern and Central Europe, Central Asia, and Middle East. Anna has launched her platform that aims to deliver local stories in areas with a shrinking civil space. She is working with Freedom House, Open Government Partnership, and Global Media Forum, delivering trainings, running campaigns, and speaking on human rights, media sustainability, and freedom of expression. She was named a Ukraine's Media Freedom Ambassador and is a Hansen Fellow.

Young-Hyun Shin, South Korea is graduating the dual undergraduate program between Sciences Po Paris and FU Berlin, now pursuing a dual master's degree at these two universities in International Economic Policy. She has equally studied at Seoul National University in South Korea and has worked as an intern for the Asian Center for Women's Studies (acws) as well as the Federal Agency for Civic Education in Germany (bpb). She is now passionate to contribute to the realization of the growth model of "Inclusive Growth", especially bridging Europe and Asia. She is fluent in German, Korean, English and French and has been learning Japanese and Chinese.

Michael Strautmann, Germany is an inclusive team leader at the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) who leverages the potential of frontier technologies for a more effective United Nations system. He has academic and professional expertise in both international cooperation and strategic management. Michael has further demonstrated his Hands-on attitude as founder of a company and a far-reaching non-profit initiative. He coordinates a variety of stakeholders in a multicultural context, balancing the interplay between an inspirational work environment and business performance.

Evelyne Tauchnitz, Switzerland. Her expertise focuses on how new technologies can be employed to build, support, and maintain peace. She is the main initiator and head of Global PeaceTech at the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs, University of Oxford. Evelyne holds a PhD in International Relations with a specialization in Political Science from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva. She was a Visiting Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy, and has experience working for the government, civil society, and international organizations.

Shukri Toefy, South Africa is an entrepreneur, investor, film producer, speaker and co-founder and CEO of FORT. He holds a degree in Law and Politics, an Executive MBA, and has the distinction of being an Entrepreneurship Expert at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. He is founder of The Rainmakers Journal, a thought leadership platform, and venture capital firm Southfields Group. Shukri has served on a number of boards, is profiled in various publications, and has been named a Top 40 CEO by Under40CEOs, and one of Fast Company’s Most Productive People.

Lina Zdruli, Albania holds a Masters from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Lina is passionate about using entrepreneurship, business and technology as a tool for social good. Lina founded and is currently running dafero, a social enterprise employing and supporting vulnerable women, such as refugees and former trafficking victims, to produce healthy yet delicious sweets. Revenue from the company is additionally used to develop life skills programming for vulnerable populations, including an education app distributed free of charge to NGOs and trade associations.

Eduarda Zoghbi, Brazil holds a BSc in political science from the University of Brasilia and currently works as a climate change consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank managing the sustainable infrastructure agenda. She coordinates a solar energy project at a youth-led NGO called “Engajamundo” through capacity-building activities in Brazilian schools and universities. In August 2019, she will start her Master of Public Administration at Columbia University, carrying out research on the energy transition at Latin America.

Class of 2018

Who We Are

Register for Updates

Contact

Register for Updates