Founder and Executive Director, Educate Girls

Safeena is the Founder and Board Member of Educate Girls (EG), an Indian non-profit working towards empowering communities for girls' education in some of the hardest-to-reach villages. Under Safeena's guidance, EG has mobilised 1.2 million+ girls for enrolment to date, supporting over 17.5 million+ children.

Most recently, when the global pandemic hit India in 2020, EG under Safeena's leadership distributed ration to poverty-struck households in rural India. With the second-wave creating a massive loss of livelihood in India, EG restarted its Covid Relief Initiative to distribute ration and hygiene kits 200,000+ households to date benefitting over 1 million individuals, while running awareness campaigns and amplifying the use of government learning applications. To combat the impact of Covid19 on children's education, especially girls, EG started Camp Vidya – a community-based learning initiative. Piloted by Safeena, 17,000+ camps were completed, reaching 340,000+ children.

A London School of Economics graduate, Safeena worked extensively with underserved communities in South America, Africa and Asia, before returning to India. Her efforts to bridge the gender gap in education in India has been instrumental in EG achieving a major global milestone — the world's first Development Impact Bond in education. On its completion, the bond surpassed both its target outcomes by achieving 160% of its learning target and 116% of its enrolment target. These results are testimony to the commitment of EG to deliver quality at scale (the organisation currently has 2,262 full time employees and 20,000+ community volunteers) and value to every single child in the program. She has also been instrumental in EG becoming the first Audacious project in Asia, a first-of-its-kind coalition that surfaces and funds critical projects with the potential to create global change. In 2020, EG's solution to empower 1.5M girls to go to school was selected at MIT Solve's Learning for Girls & Women Challenge. EG also became one of world's 100 most inspiring innovations in K12 education twice in a row in 2021. Safeena has been conferred with many accolades for her work at grassroots which includes the 2017 NITI Aayog's Women Transforming India Award, the 2016 NDTV-L'Oréal Paris Women of Worth Award.

Strategic Director and European CEO/Co-founder Wolfram Research

Wolfram Research pioneers new approaches to AI, data science and computation-based development, with technology and consulting solutions that drive innovation in analytics, software development and modelling. Working with start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, governments, most universities and school systems worldwide, Wolfram's expertise spans all fields where computation is applied including medicine, finance and telecoms for R&D, deployment and education.

Over the last 30 years Conrad has been a key part of the technology transformation that has brought maths, computation and data science to the forefront of today's world and moved us towards the AI age. He regularly appears in the media, speaking about subjects ranging from the computational future and artificial intelligence to 21st-century education.

CEO and Co-founder of Teach For All

Wendy Kopp is CEO and Co-founder of Teach For All, a global network of independent organizations working to develop collective leadership to ensure all children have the opportunity to fulfill their potential.

Prior to launching Teach For All in 2007, Wendy founded and led Teach For America – which has proven to be an unparalleled source of long-term leadership for expanding opportunity for children in the United States – for 24 years. Wendy led the development of Teach For All to be responsive to the initiative of social entrepreneurs around the world who were determined to adapt this approach in their own countries.

Wendy is the author of A Chance to Make History: What Works and What Doesn't in Providing an Excellent Education for All (2011), One Day, All Children: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach For America and What I Learned Along the Way (2000). She holds honorary doctorate degrees from 15 universities and is the recipient of numerous awards including the WISE Prize for Education (2021), the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship (2008), and the Schwab Foundation's Outstanding Social Entrepreneur Award (2003). Wendy holds a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and resides in New York City with her husband.

World President of OMEP (World Organization for Early Childhood Education)

Degree in Primary Education, with a BA in Educational Sciences, from the University of Buenos Aires. In the area of government, ex- Director of the Early Childhood Education Area of the City of Buenos Aires. Ex-senior consultant for the United Nations Development Program. Nowadays Professor in the Master Early Childhood Education at the University of Buenos Aires and the Regional Training Program in Educational Policy Planning and Management, IIPE-UNESCO Buenos Aires, Office for Latin America. Her field of interest is early childhood education policies in relation to children's rights, and management of educational institutions for children aged 0 to 3 years. She coordinates training and teacher update programs in poverty contexts and assess public policies and programs on early childhood education and care.

Member of OMEP (World Organization for Early Childhood Education) since 1999. Currently, she is the WORLD PRESIDENT of OMEP since January 1, 2020.

Member of the COORDINATION GROUP of the Collective Consultation of NGOs for Education 2030 (CCNGO-Education 2030)

Chief Executive Officer. Queen Rania Teacher Academy

Dr. Osama brings more than 25 years of experience in education quality, policy, evaluation, and reform, among other areas. Before joining QRTA in 2019, Osama worked for 6 years as the Director of the school inspection at Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge. Osama worked as an Associate Professor of educational management and policy at the Hashemite University in Jordan.

Throughout his career, Osama consulted for several local and international organizations such as the World Bank, UNICEF, EDT, Ministries of Education in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Rwanda, and Iraq.

Osama holds a Ph.D. in International and Development Education from the University of Pittsburgh and a Certificate in Evaluation Practices from George Washington University as well as an Executive Leadership Certificate from INSEAD Business School.

Senior Advisor to Abu Dhabi's Early Childhood Authority. Former Executive Director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation

Cecilia Vaca Jones has over 25 years of experience managing social development policies and programmes.

Cecilia was the Executive Director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation until June 2022. Before she joined the Foundation, Cecilia was the Coordinating Minister of Social Development of Ecuador from 2013 to 2016. She was responsible for policies in health, education, housing, sports and social welfare.

Over the years, she also held policy-making roles in various other Ecuadorian ministries — including the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Social Inclusion and the Ministry of Education — where she championed policies to improve the conditions of children, women and indigenous populations.
Beyond government, Cecilia has worked for civil society organisations such as CESTAS and Fundación Esquel, international organisations such as the Organization of American States and UNDP, and in academia: she was a part-time professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador in Quito, and a Fellow Language Scholar at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, USA.

Cecilia holds an Executive Master in cities from the London School of Economics. She also holds a Master in Social Policies for Sustainable Development from the University of Bologna, Italy, and a BA in International Relations from the Pontifical Catholic University in Ecuador. A native Spanish speaker, Cecilia is fluent in English, Italian and French, and speaks basic Kichwa. Since 2002 she has been a volunteer for Ayuda Directa, an Italian NGO that develops sustainable projects for rural communities in Chimborazo and Cotopaxi provinces.

Cecilia is a passionate sportswoman. She has competed in events such as marathons and Ironman 70.3, founded a women's cycling club, and scaled the highest peaks in Ecuador and Italy.

Senior Adviser, World Bank Education

Harry Anthony Patrinos is Adviser, Office of the Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank. He specializes in the economics of education, particularly the returns to schooling, school-based management, demand-side financing and public-private partnerships. He has managed education teams in Europe and Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, and the Global Unit. He led lending operations and analytical work programs in Latin America. He co-led the development of the Bank's Harmonized Learning Outcomes database, part of the Human Capital Index, published in Nature. He has studied and worked extensively on the socioeconomic status of Indigenous Peoples and has co-authored books and reports on this subject including Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Development (Cambridge).

Mr. Patrinos has many publications in the academic and policy literature, with more than 60 journal articles published. He is co-author of the books: Making Schools Work; The Role and Impact of Public-Private Partnerships in Education; and Decentralized Decision-Making in Schools. His work appears - among other outlets - in the Nature, Journal of Development Economics, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Journal of Population Economics, Education Economics, Labour, and the Economics of Education Review. He also worked in Africa, Asia and North America. He previously worked as an economist at the Economic Council of Canada. Mr. Patrinos received a doctorate from the University of Sussex.

CEO, Dream a Dream

Suchetha Bhat is the CEO of Dream a Dream, a non-profit organization that empowers children from vulnerable backgrounds to overcome adversity and thrive in a fast-changing world. Since starting her career in 2001, she has worked both in the corporate and social sectors. After a successful 9-year corporate stint where she worked with MNC's such as Larsen and Toubro and IBM, she started her journey in the social sector as a volunteer with Dream a Dream. The experience convinced her to get a Postgraduate degree in Psychology and join the organization full-time in 2010. Due to her success in driving the scale and strategic direction of Dream a Dream as COO, she was promoted to CEO in 2018. Her pioneering work in developing their design framework has firmly positioned Dream a Dream as a thought-leader in the space of Life-skills in India. Under her leadership, the organization has grown from working with 10,000 young people in Bengaluru to over 1 million children across 5 states. Suchetha is on the Advisory Council of Amani Institute and Kizazi. She is also an advisor to many young women social entrepreneurs and non-profits in India.

Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of Educate!

Under Boris's leadership, Educate! has grown to become the largest youth skills provider in East Africa, meaningfully impacting over 200,000 youth across Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya. With a team of over 190 staff and 300 youth mentors, the organization has received much acclaim for its work, including the 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Prize and the 2015 WISE Award. Educate! was also highlighted by the World Bank's S4YE's Impact Portfolio, The Brookings Institution as one of 14 case studies in their global scaling education learning initiative, the UN's Generation Unlimited as one of 20 innovative youth solutions, and by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a Goalkeepers Accelerator.

Boris emigrated to the U.S. from Latvia at the age of 7. He considers himself lucky to have attended a great public school in San Francisco that eventually got him into Amherst College. As a refugee himself, Boris believes in giving other young people access to the same educational opportunities that have allowed him to get to where he is today.

Before jumping into Educate! full-time, Boris worked at startup incubator Loeb Enterprises. Boris is a recipient of the 2011 Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize, and a two-time Forbes Top 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur.

Boris has been with Educate! since 2004.

General Director, VVOB

Sven Rooms is leading VVOB as General Director since 2018. He has more than 20 years of experience within the international development cooperation sector, working with governments and partners in more than 25 countries across Africa, Asia and South America. Sven Rooms joined VVOB in 2011 as International Programmes Director. Before he was Programme Director at Plan International Belgium.

Founder and Managing Partner, Kaizenvest

Sandeep is the Founder and Managing Partner of Kaizenvest, an education focused fund management firm, headquartered in Singapore. He is responsible for overseeing the firm's strategy, growing operations across regions, driving the company's thought leadership and building the firm's investor and entrepreneur networks across the globe.

He has 25 years of experience in private equity, investment leadership, consulting and operations management. His passion is to work closely with entrepreneurs who have a deep sense of purpose similar to one that led him to establish Kaizenvest. Under Sandeep's leadership Kaizenvest has established itself as the only education sector focused fund manager with private equity and private debt funds across South Asia, South East Asia and Sub Saharan Africa.

Prior to founding Kaizenvest, Sandeep spent seven years working in the Silicon Valley. During his time there, he was a Partner at Outlook Ventures, a leading US-based venture capital fund, where he was involved in 11 investments and delivered superior returns to his investors. He also served as a board representative for the firm's portfolio companies, providing active support in areas of sales operations, business development and product marketing leadership.

Sandeep sits on the boards of various education companies across the Philippines, Vietnam and India. He is also an established thought leader, having been frequently featured as a speaker on private equity, emerging investments, globally impactful trends and the importance of continuous research and innovation.

Sandeep holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Edukasyon.ph

Henry founded Edukasyon.ph in 2015. Fast forward to today, it is now a leading edtech in the Philippines empowering 8 million Filipino learners. Edukasyon.ph launched its newest product, EDGE Tutor, on-demand K-12 tutoring service in English, Math, and Filipino for students in Kindergarten to Grade 10, in addition to Explore (college & career counseling) and Experience (future skills training).

Henry received his Bachelor degree in Economics and Economic History at the London School of Economics in 2007. He pursued his MBA at the Harvard Business School under a scholarship from Bain Capital, and graduated in 2013 with distinction.

Acknowledging his contributions to society through his efforts as a social entrepreneur, Henry has been recognized by the Forbes list of 30 Under 30 Asia Social Entrepreneurs, Asia Society 21 Young Leaders and the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Institute.

Indonesia Hub Leader • Pijar Foundation

Ageng Sajiwo, a visionary leader from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, is a beacon in the fields of Business Development, Marketing and Management. As Director at Future Skills by Pijar Foundation, he is shaping the future of learning for closing the talent gap. His entrepreneurial prowess is evident by his years of experience managing digital businesses. With an MBA from the People's University and an Engineer degree from Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Ageng's journey is testament to his persistence in pursuing excellence and innovation.

Myanmar Hub Leader • MYEO

Htet founded MYEO as a university project whilst finishing her second degree at the University of Hong Kong in 2014.

Htet has 10+ years of experiences in Edtech sector focusing on Myanmar market with background in Business, Economics, Design Thinking and Finance. MYEO is Myanmar's human capital accelerator, upskilling youths with 21st-century skills through our online ecosystem, and connecting them to motivated peers and exciting job opportunities.

MYEO has +170,000 youths engaging with MYEO's Facebook community, +34,000 youths trained exclusively online, +33,000 youths trained in-person and online and +61,000 youths using MYEO's learning chatbots. Htet is a strong advocate of "Community Entrepreneurship" and "Education Equity" with dedication to build technology tools and solutions for the cause.

Peru Hub Leader • Amantani

Originally from the UK but growing up in Peru, I have dedicated my academic and professional life to the development sector by first studying a BA in International Development in the University of Liverpool and later completing an MSc in Poverty Reduction Policies at SOAS (University of London). I have over 10 years of experience in fundraising, coordinating and leading social development projects and have spent the last 9 years working with Amantani in fundraising and project management roles.

I firmly believe in developing projects with a sustainable and participatory approach, with a particular focus on gender and education-focused projects working alongside women as agents of change.

Greece Hub Leader • Imagine Heritage

European heritage advisor & EU culture funding analyst. Cultural entrepreneur, pioneer of digital humanities projects in Greece. Co-founder and CEO of Imagine Heritage nonprofit organization as well of Heritage Future consortium.

Operated one decade ago as a Leading consultant of regional synergy between Mediterranean & Latin America. Worked in London as an advisor for the economic development & cooperation between Europe, South Africa and Latin America, gained important international experience on the global issues before moving completely to the Cultural Citizenship & entrepreneurship field.

Today, totally devoted on the European heritage protection and reuse for the future, thinking and writing on the importance of a "European Culture Contract" for an open heritage republic.

Moreover, co-founder, editor and member in International Cultural and Scientific Journals & Publications for the reworking of Anthropocene, Noosphere and Social networks in our age. Visionaire & active citizen for a new educational paradigm in defence of an universalist and ecumenical reloading of life's meaning.

Member of Europa Nostra.

Kyrgyzstan Hub Leader • Nice Kyrgyzstan

Mahmoud Abdelkarim is the CEO of NICE KYRGYZSTAN, Mahmoud's passion for social impact began in his young adulthood and has led him to work in the development sector. He holds an MBA from the American University of Central Asia (AUCA), which has given him a solid foundation in business management and strategic planning. He has successfully led the implementation of various initiatives and programs aimed at improving the lives of vulnerable populations in Kyrgyzstan. Mahmoud's commitment to his own growth and development has enabled him to lead NICE KYRGYZSTAN with conviction and clarity, creating a positive impact in the lives of those the organization serves.

Slovakia Hub Leader • Nanosymphony

Born in 1972, graduated in Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava as software engineer with strong experience with ORACLE database. He supports the development of contemporary art, creates conditions for the activities of artists and performers and facilitates the implementation of joint projects. He He implements genre-oriented and multimedia projects, workshops, cultural events and festivals for young artists and performers. He is also involved in activities related to the protection of cultural heritage and implements projects aimed at the preservation of cultural heritage. In addition, it supports the activities of the internationally renowned Experimental Studio Bratislava. Through the sonicArt project, it disseminates the historical legacy of the studio and implements new projects in the field of classical music, jazz and experimental works. It permanently develops the activities of the Nanosymphonic Orchestra

Italy Hub • Reuse Italy

People who decide to participate in our activities are part of a community who believe in the reuse of the forgotten heritage, and share our vision of saving them thanks to the architecture project.

Reuse Italy promotes the re-use of the forgotten historical buildings in Italy, in team with national organizations, institutions, worldwide famous architects and the local citizenry.