Scholars

Ahmidu Barrie has over ten years of experience in non-profit administration, logistics, and management. Ahmidu earned his first degree in Peace and Conflict Studies at Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone in 2010 and later pursued his post-graduate degree in public administration at the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM). His drive to help his country comes from seeing his parents work very hard to take care of their family, as well as his experience of being abducted and forced to be a child soldier during his country’s civil war. After working with Wellbody Alliance, a local NGO that helped care for amputees and others with war wounds, he knew his life’s work was to help the poorest of the poor. He established the Community Health Worker Program, which brought care to the doorsteps of people living with HIV and TB across Kono District. When Ebola came to Sierra Leone in 2014, Partners In Health began working with Wellbody, and they eventually merged. During this time, as lead Logistician, Ahmidu was tasked with creating Ebola care and treatment centers across two districts. Currently, as Chief Operating Officer for Partners In Health Sierra Leone, Ahmidu is helping shepherd the development of the Maternal Center of Excellence, which aims to improve health outcomes for women in a country with one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world. Ahmidu is eager to learn from the experiences of his colleagues and hopes that sharing his experience in health systems strengthening in low-resource settings will be of use to others. The skills and training that he hopes to acquire will enable him to improve his capacities as a leader and be an even stronger advocate of social justice, health equity, and education.

Chloe Alexander graduated from Bentley University in 2016, where she combined her Business degree in Accounting with Liberal Studies in ethics and social responsibility. She was recognized for her civic leadership, was an active leader in the Bentley Microfinance Group, and continues to volunteer as a business competition judge each year. For three years, Chloe provided internal audit consulting, managed business services, and provided business process improvement services to banking and technology clients. After an opportunity to visit a refugee camp and meet with asylum seekers in Jordan, she decided to take the leap to pivot her career into the public and social sectors. In 2019, Chloe joined the Peace Corps as a Community Economic Development Volunteer in Ukraine, where she completed language, cultural, and technical training to successfully partner with local organizations seeking to build their capacity for social impact. Chloe hosted English-speaking clubs, assisted with grant development activities, and facilitated organizational capacity assessments to identify training opportunities. All Peace Corps volunteers globally were evacuated due to the global Coronavirus pandemic, which led to a new opportunity for Chloe to further develop grant management skills at a government agency and reconnect to her hometown of Prince George, Virginia, USA. Chloe is passionate and extremely curious about many facets of international development, including activating the private sector to bridge resource gaps between the needs of vulnerable groups and limited public and nonprofit capacity, social entrepreneurship as a tool for economic development, and the interconnectedness of religion, gender, and economic development.

​Divya Chhabra is an AIF Fellow working with SAFA India, based in Hyderabad, Telangana. She is focused on developing local employment opportunities by incubating micro-entrepreneurs and creating an ecosystem for micro startups. She holds an integrated degree in BCom LLB from Tamil Nadu National Law University, Tiruchirappalli. During her academic pursuits, Divya gained valuable experience interning with various organizations, including the People’s Union of Civil Liberties in Jaipur, Majlis Legal Centre in Mumbai, and Jagori Rural Charitable Trust in Dharamshala. Through these internships, she gained knowledge about litigation and violence investigation while developing her passion for the development sector. Divya believes in effective communication with communities to understand their needs and bring positive change. She is determined to use her Fellowship as a stepping stone toward starting her own social enterprise or NGO. When she is not working, Divya enjoys reading and traveling.

Shamima Omwayi is a vibrant young Kenyan woman with a strong passion for humanitarian affairs, notably in the areas of community development, human rights, and peace and sustainability. Shamima holds a Bachelor’s of Commerce Degree in Finance and a Diploma in Accountancy from Technical University of Kenya. Shamima helped revive a community-based charitable organization, Villa Teag Children’s Home, where she has been volunteering for close to seven years providing administrative support. She has contributed immensely overall to the welfare of the homeless children. Previously, Shamima has volunteered as a facilitator for several organizations, including Global Communities in partnership with USAID and Hope World Wide. She also facilitated for Plan International in the areas of women and youth empowerment and peace and security under the Kenya Tuna Uwezo program, leading to an award as a champion of peace efforts in Nairobi City. By actively engaging in community work, she has developed skills in community organization and action, planning and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and humanitarian communication. Her goal is to network on social entrepreneurship while focusing on the role of women in sustainable economic development. When Shamima is not ironing out community issues, she is expanding her knowledge on various subjects. During her free time, she engages her social media followers on current affairs. Shamima is currently working on a project proposal for Young Mothers Innovator Entrepreneurs.

Untari has four years of experience in the capital market industry and earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). Currently, she works as a Potential Listing Development Analyst at Indonesia Stock Exchange. She covers several capital market products, predominantly equity IPO. She does deal sourcing for potentially listed companies and advises c-level management of potentially listed companies on their IPO process, of any sector or company size; as well as links them with capital market professionals and supporting institutions. She also researches efforts to increase the number of listed companies in Indonesia which will often translate into listing regulations & policies in the Indonesian capital market. Previously, she serves as a Commissioner in a company that serves small-medium scaled fish farm entrepreneurs that she co-founded during her study in UGM. Having on-ground experience in interacting with entrepreneurs at many levels made Untari realized how important public policy is in order to better our society, which ultimately will improve people’s welfare and quality of life. This is the reason that she is interested in making the capital market or any kind of financing options, in general, to be more accessible.

Urvashi Suraj hails from Mumbai and is currently serving as a Banyan Impact Fellow in Dewas, India. A Chartered Accountant by profession, her career has been a unique blend of corporate and social sector experiences. Prior to the fellowship, she worked on the partnerships team at a social impact startup, where she built strategic alliances with ecosystem players. She has also previously worked in the statutory audit function at KPMG, reviewing financial statements and testing internal controls of public and private limited companies. Urvashi is passionate about community-driven development and the power of collaboration to achieve impact at scale.