Class 39

Ephrem has over eight years of experience in the nonprofit and social enterprise sectors. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Dire Dawa University. While working as founding Executive Director of SunEko Art for Social Development, he designed and executed a social circus for peace and development programs where children and youth can acquire the therapeutic benefits of art. Since 2013, he reached more than ten million radio listeners through a bi-weekly radio program on areas of mental health, peace, child protection, education, reconciliation, employability, and youth empowerment. He helped improve the mental and psycho-social health of more than two thousand women and youth every year, using a community-based social enterprise project. Previously, he worked as a remote Regional Content Manager for Zeno Radio, a technology-based media company. Ephrem also worked with Save the Children International, Handicap International, Population Services International, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Pact, Reach for Change, Growth Africa, and Total S.A. on human resource capacity building programs and social entrepreneurship business models. He organized a youth networking and empowerment event which reached more than five thousand youth. WHO Africa awarded Ephrem the “Top 30 WHO Health Innovator Challenge” honor in 2019. Through these diverse experiences, he developed skills in project designing and coordination, volunteer management, media, and capacity building. Ephrem is passionate about innovative projects on mental health, social entrepreneurship, and youth empowerment.

Host Organization: Making Cents International

Role at Making Cents International: At Making Cents International, Ephrem will serve as the Youth Engagement Fellow: supporting multiple youth engagement activities for YouthPower2: Learning & Evaluation (YP2LE), a USAID-funded project implemented by Making Cents International that is designed to build, expand, and disseminate Positive Youth Development (PYD) evidence and learning.

Heba is an urban planner and researcher. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from Alexandria University and a Master’s degree in Urban Development from the Technical University of Berlin. Heba’s biggest passion is a sustainable development of cities and communities. She has worked on city issues in Egypt and various countries in the MENA region. She also took part in a number of international events, workshops, and traineeships, all of which helped her further develop her skills and knowledge. Heba’s biggest goal is to keep working to make cities more sustainable places for people to live.

Host Organization: Charter Cities Institute

Role at Charter Cities Institute: At Charter Cities Institute, Heba will serve as a Research Fellow: collaborating with new city developments interested in improving their governance and supporting the creation of the legal frameworks for charter cities.

Nesrine Aouinti has four years of experience within for-profit and nonprofit organizations and holds a Bachelor’s degree in French Language, Literature, and Civilization from the Faculty of Humanities of Tunis, Tunisia. She is passionate about open governance, transparency, and furthering democracy. Most recently, Nesrine has served as a Senior Project Manager at Coinsence, a global and decentralized collaboration platform and change-maker network powered by blockchain-based impact currencies. Within that role, Nesrine facilitated various successful programs and oversaw the achievement of vital strategic objectives. Previously, Nesrine worked as a Project Manager for Wasabi, a media and communication company dedicated to creating platforms for public debate, community building, and open expression. Nesrine ensured a multi-stakeholder collaboration for national economic policy debate in Tunisia. Nesrine connected relevant key actors working on economic advancement in Tunisia and sustained partnerships between government, non-government organizations, and academic researchers. Nesrine also worked as a Project Assistant for Al Bawsala, a Tunisian non-profit organization that aims to reposition citizens at the core of political action. Nesrine worked towards the establishment of good governance practices and political ethics with the elected representatives. Nesrine reinforced the principles of transparency and accountability in 350 Tunisian municipalities by filing hundreds of access to information requests and meeting with municipal officials all around the country to discuss pressing issues related to access to information. Thanks to these experiences, Nesrine developed strong project management and leadership skills.

Host Organization: American Red Cross

Role at American Red Cross: At The American Red Cross, Nesrine will serve as the Knowledge Management Fellow for the Global Disaster Preparedness Center: providing support to the preparedness team for knowledge management, research and learning needs both at Headquarters and in the field.

Emmanuel Olawoye is a passionate business professional. He has about 3 years of experience working in human resources and business strategy in two financial institutions (Microfinance and Commercial Banking). He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 2015. Emmanuel has previously worked in a microfinance institution where his main responsibility was to manage employees and ensure optimal productivity. In this role, he always went beyond the call of duty by working with teams that provide access to finance for micro-businesses in the North Central region of Nigeria. He helped deepen financial inclusion in the region through the introduction and sale of mobile money, micro-lending, and savings tools. In his most recent role as a business strategy analyst, he has worked on several sustainability projects, including an environmental makeover program in Lagos, Nigeria to help fight against environmental degradation and climate change. He also helped develop Public-Private Partnership proposals for six Nigerian states to launch projects aimed at fostering economic development by improving healthcare, education, transportation, agriculture, and power generation in the states. He is deeply involved in SME business expansion and he constantly helps in the creation of business solutions to help SMEs scale and grow the economy. Through these experiences, he has become passionate about entrepreneurship, leadership, and financial inclusion. He seeks to become a global social change leader making an impact on millions of lives.

Host Organization: Charter Cities Institute

Role at Charter Cities Institute: At Charter Cities Institute, Emmanuel will serve as the Operations Manager Fellow: developing processes and procedures to streamline the growth of the Charter Cities Institute, and helping the organization continue to expand and retain its operational excellence.

Kayode is an information technology security expert with ten years’ experience in consulting, training, project management, and cybersecurity. He earned a post-secondary degree in Electronics Computer Engineering from the prestigious Lagos State University in Lagos, Nigeria. Kayode is currently the CEO of Securepoint Technologies Ltd, where he provides services like IT outsourcing, IT security, cloud services, and software development and support to clients. Before Securepoint Technologies Ltd, Kayode served as Senior Business Executive at Routelink Integrated Systems Ltd, where he increased revenue from $0 to $100,000 in his first year of employment. The company had annual revenue of about $277,777 when he resigned from his appointment in 2018 after working for four years. Kayode is passionate about volunteering and knowledge sharing. His work as Technology Lead for Creative Commons Nigeria and as co-founder for Wikimedia Usergroup Nigeria helped improve access to educational materials through open licensing. Kayode is skilled in IT security, technology sales, community building, open education, and cybersecurity advocacy. Through his advocacy work, Kayode has trained over 2,000 people on skills like basic computing to data management and online privacy. Toastmasters International, District 94 awarded Kayode the Toastmaster of the Year 2019 award in May 2019. In 2016, Shell Nigeria awarded Kayode as the most outstanding Shell Livewire participant. In the same year, Microsoft Nigeria in conjunction with Intel and HP also awarded Kayode as the best SME after a business plan completion.

Host Organization: Evidence Action

Role at Evidence Action: At Evidence Action, Kayode will serve as the Global IT Systems Fellow: assisting with structural and security improvements to Evidence Action’s systems in order to enhance the ways that IT systems support their work.