Fellows

Omitogun Abolaji has more than five years of experience in enterprise building, startups, and social entrepreneurship. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Geography from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He founded Zmcorps a network of young individuals that support several community developmental initiatives by engaging fresh university graduates posted for National service within the Northern state of Zamfara, Nigeria. Through his activities at ZMCORPS, he encouraged and promoted several socio-cultural integrations and developmental activities especially trough fundraising & donations. He leads, contributed and participated to many community development activities including organizing learning programs, sessions for uneducated and fresh graduates, fundraising for sport, dance and drama amongst communities and schools, Skill acquisition, empowerment and training in cosmetics in Zamfara state. In his quest for self-improvement, Abolaji acquired skill and knowledge from several institutions including the African Managers Initiative, Enterprise Development Center (Lagos, Nigeria), Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation University of Ibadan. He is a 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Foundation Alumni. Abolaji Keen interest in business and startup has found him worked with several startups including WAWOOH. While at Wawooh, a fashion tech startup for discovering African fashion designers and promoting trade and investment opportunities in African fashion Industry, we lead and played a pivotal role leading the startup from ideation to execution and in developing successful business strategies. In his spare time, he is a business development and a Start-up coach; and have helped in mentoring and securing over $50,000 in business funding for several startups.

Host Org: Making Cents International

Role at Making Cents International: As the YouthLead Fellow, Abolaji will support the newly launched online platform YouthLead.org, a website to inspire, support, and foster connections among young changemakers around the world. In addition, Abolaji will participate in the planning of the annual YP meeting and contribute to social media and youth outreach.

Adelide has more than five years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies (magna cum laude) from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea and a Master’s Degree (summa cum laude) in Public Policy from Korea Development Institute Graduate School of Public Policy and Management. Motivated by driving social change, social enterprise acumen and youth capacity building, Adelide is the Co-Founder and Director of the Nairobi-based nonprofit organization Africa Young Entrepreneurs Support Centre which runs youth social entrepreneurship and leadership training & exchange programs. Adelide has most recently worked as an Atlas Corps Fellow in Australia supporting the design and development of youth and social change programs at the Foundation for Young Australians in Melbourne. Previously, she has worked in both government and non-governmental agencies such as the Global Peace Foundation and the Korea Trade Promotion-Investment Agency where she was actively involved in policy analysis, project management, event planning, research and report writing. Through these experiences, she has developed strong analytical, logical, project management, program design and development skills. Adelide is passionate about high performance in the social sector, social inclusion, education and youth and female empowerment.

Host Organization: RFK Human Rights*

Role at Host Organization: Adelide will develop strategies for expansion, provide support to fellows and nonprofit partners with Fellowship placements, execute and market events for Fellowship programs and fundraising, and build and maintain relationships with nonprofit partners. She will also identify new individual major donors, foundation prospects, and corporate partners.

*Also served with Atlas Corps Australia at the Foundation for Young Australians.

Nino has five years of experience in the nonprofit sector and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Management from the International University of Tunis. After founding two social businesses, Nino became a social entrepreneurship specialist and has developed a curriculum for a MEPI funded job development project. The project will teach practical skills to young unemployed people on starting and running their own businesses. He also serves as manager of EL SPACE, a community shared workspace that he co-founded. EL SPACE provides interdisciplinary workshops for local business people and affordable office space for social entrepreneurs. While working on these initiatives, Nino developed project management skills: conception, research, design, planning, execution, quality control, and report writing. He is the volunteer head of an ongoing organization, Tunisian Association for Nature and Sustainable Development (ANDD), which educates people through public workshops and debates on climate change. This work followed his volunteer work with EVASIONS, an outdoor activity association which he co-founded, that encouraged good bodily health and exploration of Tunisia. Through EVASIONS, he learned how to manage large groups of people and organize events. He also managed the budget for EVASIONS and ANDD. Nino is determined to improve the community by developing social entrepreneurship thus encouraging economic development for young people.

Host: PYXERA Global

Fellow Role at Host Organization: Nino will assist in improving local partner and participant training/tools for the SAP program that has a focus on assisting entrepreneurs. He will also help with Ares client management, social media/communications, project development, and impact measurement.

Adriana has five years of experience in the nonprofit sector and nine years working with social ventures. She earned a Bachelor’s of Social Sciences in Social Communications from USMA University in Panama. In 2013, Adriana joined a social enterprise ThinkImpact as Country Coordinator to establish their in-country operations. These operations were focused on social innovation programs carried out by foreign volunteers in rural communities of Panama. Previously, Adriana served for nine months as Project Officer in Save the Children’s regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean, and created internal communications channels to connect seven country offices. Earlier, Adriana worked for three years with nonprofit Global Brigades, as their Business Program Director and Deputy Director. As the first locally hired, she became President of the local entity of the organization as well. In Global Brigades and ThinkImpact, Adriana connected university volunteers from the United States with indigenous and rural entrepreneurs to create a social business or improve an existent business using design thinking, social innovation and consulting skills. She also built relationships with Peace Corps Panama, the U.S. Embassy, Indigenous Congresses, local nonprofits, academic institutions, community leaders and government agencies. Adriana has strong leadership, project management, strategy creation, and business consulting skills. She is passionate about social entrepreneurship, youth empowerment and corporate social responsibility.

Host Organization: WakaWaka

Role at Host Organization: As Strategic Operations Coordinator, Adriana will provide extensive research and market analysis for Mexico market entry. In addition, she will coordinate the participation of WakaWaka in technology events and support the development of WakaWaka’s marketing materials and campaigns.

Ahmed has seven years experience in the nonprofit sector including two years experience in IT Management and 3 years experience in business administration. He has a mixed educational background as an IT Engineer specialized in software programming and embedded systems from the Higher School of Engineering and Technology in Tunis (ESPRIT), a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics and Enterprise Telecommunications from the National School of Electronics and Telecommunications in Sfax. He also has a Master’s Degree in Social Entrepreneurship from the Institute of High Business Studies (IHEC Carthage). Ahmed is the CEO and Co-Founder of Secure Drive Company, which was featured in TechCrunch as one of the top three successful businesses in Tunisia developing ways to improve society and fix endemic economic problems through innovation and creativity. Previously, he has worked as a Project Manager of Unleash Tunisia Venture Bus, which funds a project promoting entrepreneurship and social business in Tunisia. He has also been selected several times to represent his country’s ecosystem of entrepreneurship in many countries including Germany, France, Italy, Egypt, and Morocco. Through these varied experiences, he has developed strong skills in leadership, public speaking, project management, business consulting, digital marketing, sales strategy, customer service, community management, technology, youth development, and social entrepreneurship.

Host Organization: SD Mayer & Associates

Role at Host Organization: Ahmed will be responsible for strengthening SD Mayer & Associates’ current position in the non-profit space, while also expanding upon it. He will help with figuring out which services their clients could be using but are not already, and assessing what non-profit organizations need in a general sense. Ahmed will also help market their firm, cultivate new client relationships, and perpetuate current ones. Additionally, Ahmed will create an internal program to expand the community outreach of our employees.

Aida Merabet has over ten years working experience with different nonprofits and corporations in the fields of business empowerment for women and youth educational programs in Algeria. She earned an MBA in Management Marketing from ESG Paris. Aida is the Founder of the social enterprise “Power Harmony Solution.” Previously, Aida worked as the Middle East Partnership (MEPI) Alumni Local Chapter Coordinator, where she strengthened commitment to civic activism, thus creating an environment where alumni can work together to bring positive change to the region. She helped empower young people to work for their economic success as an Education & Training Officer at Injaz El Djazair. As a Hub Manager for the Middle East and North Africa Business Women Network (MENABWN), she was responsible for leading and managing a program to support business women in Algeria. She has also served as an Algerian Country Officer Alwane-Algeria, with Women’s campaign International, an initiative that seeks to empower Algerian women to hold decision-making positions and to enhance their leadership roles so that they can become role models for the region. She also enjoys volunteering, whether it be as the Under Secretary General for Algeria’s national Model United Nations conference or as the Algeria Country Coordinator for the World Peace Initiative Foundation’s Project Peace In and Peace Out (PIPO).

Host Organization: Atlas Corps | American Express

Role at Host Organization: Aida will support the overall strengthening of leadership development in the nonprofit sector through a partnership with American Express. In her role, Aida will help to expand the American Express Leadership Academy franchise. Building on the American Express role in supporting best-in-class leadership practices and capacity building, she will coordinate and grow the alumni network; manage and coordinate the global Alumni Summit, help develop and improve communication and dissemination of best practices and provide overall project support for the Leaderstories.org website.

Akhil holds an honors degree in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi, and comes with a unique mix of private and social sector experience. In his most recent role, Akhil worked as a strategy consultant with a social enterprise in India to develop and execute their expansion plans, while simultaneously managing their global partnerships. Akhil previously worked as a consultant at two leading global human capital consulting firms, Towers Watson and Marsh & McLennan Companies. At the same time, Akhil managed social impact experiences for students and professionals across the globe. Over the past three years, Akhil’s work involved developing a model for using MBA students and young professionals as pro bono consultants to fill human capital gaps for nonprofits and social enterprises in India. Through this work, Akhil maintained a strong network of nonprofit leaders, pro bono consulting chapter leaders, and MBA program directors at top 10 and Ivy League Universities. With his strong passion for human capital development and social entrepreneurship, Akhil hopes to bridge the talent access gap faced by nonprofits and social enterprises.

Host Organization: Creative Associates International

Role at Host Organization: Akhil will work on business development, partnership management, and communications strategies at Creative Associates, an international development firm. He will be engaged on one of their initiatives called CreativeU, which is positioned as a process to integrate blended learning for “people in development” across the world.

Ali Zain Ul Abidin has more than 5 years of diverse experience in human resources, talent management, and capacity development of youth in for-profit and non-profit sectors. Ali earned his Master’s in Management Sciences from Baluchistan University of IT, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS), a leading public sector university, in Quetta, Pakistan. Ali has worked with BUITEMS, closely engaging with local, national, and international stakeholders for promoting employability. In this capacity, Ali has developed a talent pool of graduates from a diverse range of academic disciplines, assessed their profiles, and referred outstanding and qualified profiles to employers for jobs, training, and internships. Ali is also proficient in mentoring students for personal and professional career development. As Talent Coordinator Fellow at Partnership with Chldren, Ali assists the Chief Equity Officer and Talent and Equity Manager in managing talent acquisition goals, overseeing the PWC school intern program, and involves himself in overall performance management. He has also worked as HR Executive with a multinational logistics corporation (TCS Holdings), leading the Baluchistan Region, and Ali extended his expertise in talent acquisition and HR operations. Through these experiences, Ali has gained a firm grip on youth capacity building, peer education, HR operations, and management. He is avidly interested in broadening his perspectives on HR international practices, leadership, capacity development, talent acquisition, job training, and civic engagement.

Host Organization: Partnership with Children

Role at Host Organization: As the Talent Coordinator Fellow at Partnership with Children, Ali will assist the Chief Equity Officer and Talent and Equity Manager in managing talent acquisition goals, overseeing the PWC school intern program, and the overall performance management. The Fellow’s responsibilities include developing and implementing a strategic recruitment plan; facilitatig the hiring process for all program and administrative roles; and ccordinating and managing intakes for all new opportunities. The Fellow will also prepare and support managers to facilitate performance management process, including an annual review and goal setting; and support managers in addressing performance issues in conjunction with the Director of Human Resources.