New Class

We are delighted to welcome nearly 100 new Young Global Leaders to our community of outstanding people addressing the world's most pressing problems. From courageous journalists uncovering the most critical political and human rights issues of our time to savvy entrepreneurs transforming the way we work with technology, this year's class is packed with brilliant minds and passionate leaders from business, civil society, academia, and government. Discover the new class:

9 YGLs in Africa

Roselyne Chambrier

Chief Executive Officer, Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms (Arise IIP), Côte d'Ivoire

Roselyne Chambrier is an entrepreneurial, result-driven leader, with an extensive track record in West and Central Africa spanning finance and infrastructure sectors.

Connecting the dots between governments and institutional investors to vet new partnerships and licensing opportunities in large-scale projects, she aims to set new benchmarks building and managing a solid industrial and logistics portfolio, contributing to local economic empowerment, creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs and attracting FDIs.
She was previously Managing Director of the Industrial Bulk Multipurpose Terminal of San Pedro.

She firmly believes that global challenges can be addressed from Africa and is a founding member of A new ROAD (Round-Table on African Debts) the first think tank dedicated to African public debts and financing of economies, calling for the establishment of a Responsibility Pact from governments, large private companies and financial institutions.

She has a passion for education and is the Founder of Sename Foundation, a philanthopic organization. Her vision is to create a transformative path through educative curricula and trainings to empower girls and underserved communities to become thriving success stories of their own.

Kow Abaka Essuman

Legal Counsel to the President, Office of the President of Ghana, Ghana

Kow Essuman is an international lawyer in every sense, who specializes in corporate and commercial litigation and arbitration. He is currently serving as counsel at the office of the President of Ghana. He is licensed to practice law in England & Wales (2008), New York (2010) and Ghana (2011). He holds a Master of Laws degree with Honors in International Mergers and Acquisitions and Financial Institutions from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (2009). He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from BPP Law School, London (2008) and is a member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn. He obtained a Bachelor of Laws from University of Westminster, London (2007) and was previously a Global Shaper at the Accra Hub.

Peace Hyde

Creator and Executive Producer, Netflix, Ghana

Peace Hyde is an award-winning producer multi hyphenate, TV Host, Creator, Journalist and Activist. She is the Head of Digital Media and Partnership and the West African Correspondent at Forbes Africa. She is also the producer of the award winning Vice News documentary, "Inside Nigeria's push to end police brutality". The documentary is a winner of the TopShorts film festival award as well as a winner at the Los Angeles Film Festival. She was shortlisted by President Barrack Obama to be part of the 200 Inaugural Obama Foundation Africa Leaders, a recognition that highlights her work with Aim Higher Africa.

Vukosi Marivate

Chair of Data Science; Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Prof Vukosi Marivate is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and holds the ABSA UP Chair of Data Science at the University of Pretoria. He specialises in developing Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods to extract insights from data, with a particular focus on the intersection of ML/AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP). His research is dedicated to improving the methods, tools and availability of data for local or low-resource languages. As the leader of the Data Science for Social Impact research group (https://dsfsi.github.io/) in the Computer Science department, Vukosi is interested in using data science to solve social challenges. He has worked on projects related to science, energy, public safety, and utilities, among others. Prof Marivate is a co-founder and CTO of the Lelapa AI (https://lelapa.ai/), an African startup focused on AI for Africans by Africans. Vukosi is a chief investigator on the Masakhane NLP project (https://www.masakhane.io/), which aims to develop NLP technologies for African languages. Vukosi is also a co-founder of the Deep Learning Indaba, the leading grassroots Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence conference on the African continent that aims to empower and support African researchers and practitioners in the field.

Oluseun Onigbinde

Co-Founder and Global Director, Budgit, Inc., Nigeria

Oluseun Onigbinde is the co-founder and Director of BudgIT, a global civic organization that works to intersect civic education with institutional accountability across Africa. In 2011, he launched Nigeria's largest fiscal transparency group, known as BudgIT, which utilizes the value in public data, giving citizens radical insights into how public resources are managed. He led a team that mainstreamed the blend of data and design through infographics, having had a strong background and experience in strategy consulting, product development, data analytics, digital media, data journalism, and the use of social media for "factivism". Over the years, Mr. Onigbinde has utilized his technical knowledge to stimulate the use of data, thereby crafting insights for industry and civic decisions. Through BudgIT, his approach to the use of data has reached over 20 million citizens, cultivating and encouraging their interest in data and its value to communities. Oluseun Onigbinde is a recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship, Future Africa Awards, Quartz Africa 30 Innovators Award, Aspen New Voices Fellowship, Melvin Jones Fellowship, and Stanford Draper Hill Summer Fellowship. As a Knight Innovation Fellow, he also worked with the International Center for Journalists/Gates Foundation on rethinking health journalism in Nigeria. Oluseun has worked on several projects funded by MacArthur Foundation, Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, OXFAM, and Omidyar Network.

Walter Pacheco

Chief Executive Officer, Angolan Stock Exchange, Angola

Pacheco was raised in Angola but lived most of his life in Portugal and the United Kingdom, where he finished his higher education. Mr Pacheco holds a Bachelor Degree in Business and Economics and a Master Degree in International Finance (with distinction, first in his class). He started his career as a FX trader at the Standard Bank of Angola. As the former Head of Market Development at Angolas Capital Markets Commission, in 2014, Mr Pacheco oversaw the establishment of Bolsa de Dívida e Valores de Angola(BODIVA) - the Angolan Stock Exchange - which changed the landscape of the financial system in Angola, fostering investment and long-term growth. In 2014, while Mr Pacheco was Executive Director, Bodiva launched two secondary public debt trading markets (a treasury securities registration market and a wholesale treasury securities market). He was General Director of the Debt Management Office at the Ministry of Finance, Republic of Angola before serving as CEO of the Angolan Stock Exchange.

Uche Pedro

Founder, BellaNaija, Nigeria

Uche Pedro is a Nigerian entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of BellaNaija, a media tech brand known for entertainment and lifestyle content. Under her leadership, BellaNaijas social footprint has grown through its collective brands - BellaNaija.com, BellaNaija Weddings and BellaNaija Style - to be the largest on the African continent with more than 200 million impressions each month. In March 2019, Uche was honoured with the Forbes Woman Africa New Media Award for her innovative impact on media in Africa.
Uche is passionate about progress of youth in Nigeria and across Africa. Uche holds a Bachelors degree – Honours Business Administration (HBA) from the Ivey Business School at Western University in Canada where she graduated with distinction.

Tokini Peterside-Schwebig

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, ART X Collective, Nigeria

Tokini Peterside is a Nigerian entrepreneur and businesswoman who is committed to creating a new narrative about Africa through its culture and creative industries. She is the Founder & CEO of ART X Lagos Collective, which organizes the Art X Lagos, the first international art fair in West Africa. The Financial Times described the fair as "a reflection of Nigeria's potential on the global scene," and it has since become a cornerstone of the African art sector, contributing significantly to Lagos' global positioning as a fast-emerging and exciting cultural hub. Tokini also launched platforms to support emerging talent: ART X Live! - a dynamic showcase and accelerator for rising musicians and artists, and the ART X Prize - Nigeria's leading award for emerging artists.

Gregory Rockson

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, mPharma, Ghana

Gregory Rockson is the co-founder and CEO of mPharma, a technology-driven, vendor-managed inventory and retail
pharmacy operator with operations across eight countries in Africa. An alumni of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Community and tech pioneer, he was a PPIA Fellow in Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School and a Rotary Scholar at University of Copenhagen.