Blog
Feb 25

Meet Africa’s 5 WEF Global Shapers

Five young people from Africa have chosen to be the Global Shapers at the World Economic Forum.

These five people were selected to participate in the WEF in Davos out of more than 7000 Global Shapers.

According to the WEF, the Global Shapers Community is a network of young people driving dialogue, action and change.

These five Global Shapers from Africa are:

1. Shamiso Kumbirai, South Africa

Shamiso Kumbirai is a Civil Engineering Master’s Candidate from the University of Cape Town who was selected for the WEF in her capacity as a water engineer at Aurecon. Kumbirai also works to develop the next generation of females in engineering with WomEng. The Master’s student has been working with the organisation since 2011 and has been the development director since 2015.

 

2. Anita Okemini, Nigeria

Anita Okemini is the Policy Director for Rural Development and Inclusive Growth at the ONE Campaign. ONE Campaign is an organisation that is taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa.

She is also the Dialogue Series Manager of the Abuja hub of Global Shapers. Okemini has her degree in Economics from University Colleg London and her Masters in Public Policy from the Havard Kennedy School of Government.

 

3. Doreen Kessy, Tanzania

Doreen Kessy is a Global Shaper that is educating children in the form of a Swahili cartoon show, Ubongo Kids. Kessy is the COO of Ubongo, a social company that is focused on providing educational content in the form of a cartoon show.

The Global Shaper said that growing up she did not see anyone that looked like her on TV. She has now changed through Ubongo. The content of Ubongo KIds is localised to African and Tanzanian animators and voice actors produce the show so that the audience can relate to the characters and the scenes.

4. Fabrice Alomo, Cameroon

Fabrice Alomo is the founder and CEO of HehFit and AgHehFint formerly known as AMoney. Alomo is both a tech entrepreneur and a social entrepreneur.

His company AgHehFint is assisting unbanked and under-served smallholder farmers who live in rural areas effectively manage their finances, improve their financial literacy, increase their revenues, better their lives and build resilience against economic shocks.

5. Grace Mugabekazi, Rwanda

Grace Mugabekazi an entrepreneur and strategist as well as a curator of the Global Shapers hub in Kigali. Mugabekazi is MBA candidate at the ALU School of Business and the National Human Resources Development Adviser for UNIDO. UNIDO is a specialised agency of the UN that works to promote industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalisation and environmental sustainability.

Mugabekazi also works as the Country Manager for Spring, an accelerator for businesses that are looking to innovate and make a powerful positive impact on the lives of adolescent girls across East Africa and South Asia.

Source: IOL