Gbenga Ogunjimi is a social entrepreneur strengthening institutions in Africa. He currently serves as the Founder/CEO of LDI Africa, an award winning social enterprise working both in the U.S. and across Africa. Gbenga led the Nonprofit Management Series of Atlas Corps, a leadership training program for global development leaders serving top U.S. social enterprises and nonprofits like Ashoka, Habitat for Humanity, Susan G Komen for the Cure, and UN Foundation. As Atlas Corps Training Manager, Gbenga managed the program’s online learning platform reaching about 150 nonprofit leaders from 50 countries in the U.S. as well as a global alumni network. He also strengthened Atlas Corps’ collaborations with U.S. government agencies, corporate foundations and knowledge institutions. These partners include The Government of the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.), American Express Foundation and Georgetown University. Gbenga has engaged technology for causes in Africa and the United States. In Nigeria, he designed the social media strategy of United Nations’ Technology for Disadvantaged Communities, Millennium Villages and the International Year of Volunteers projects. In the U.S., through the Foundation Center, and Center for Nonprofit Success trained over 100 social enterprises on the use of technology for development. Gbenga has received global recognition for his achievements and impact. He was invited to speak at the Social Enterprise World Forum in Scotland, and Global Peace Convention in Kenya, and several MBA schools in the United States. He is proudly an Atlas Corps Alum, United States, and Global Young Social Entrepreneurs Fellow, Malaysia and Cordes/Opportunity Collaboration Fellow, Mexico.
Kimberley Jutze is a socially responsible entrepreneur and Chief Change Architect at Shifting Patterns Consulting where she facilitates social change by working alongside start-up and early stage growth social enterprises to help them mobilize resources and strengthen their organizational capabilities so that they can make the best use of these funds. Drawing upon her background in organization development, Kimberley adds additional value to her work with social innovators through the transfer of knowledge and skills to lessen their dependence on outside support. Kimberley has consulted with nonprofits and for profits in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America working within the agriculture, communications, economic development, education, gender, health, information technology, and international development sectors. She is also a presenter at social enterprise and organization development conferences, webinars, and workshops. Kimberley has written a case study for the 10th edition of Organization Development and Change and is the author of the “Nonprofit Funding and Long Term Sustainability” Social Good Guide scheduled to be published in 2014. Her blogs on social enterprise have been featured in Collaborator Magazine, CSRwire, See Change Magazine, and UnSectored. Kimberley has a Master of Science in Organization Development from Pepperdine University and a Master of Arts in International Politics from American University.
Ruma Rose is a consultant, serial entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist and author. Ruma has advised several early stage businesses including Sprayology, an innovative wellness company selling vitamin and homeopathic oral sprays, Kopali, a fair trade chocolate company, Vincent Longo, an international cosmetics company and co-founder at Finish Line Floors, a national floor care company. Her investment experience includes being the Canadian Managing Director at Innovators Fund and Senior Director at Roseworth Capital. Ruma is an active philanthropist and has raised awareness and significant capital for non-profit organizations. She is passionate about mentoring, teaching and providing resources and opportunities for young people and underserved communities around the world. She currently serves on the Global Entrepreneur’s Council at the United Nations Foundation, the advisory boards of WEConnect International, a corporate led non-profit which facilitates inclusive, sustainable economic growth by empowering and connecting women business owners globally, Nexus Global Youth Summit, a global network of young social entrepreneurs and philanthropists committed to improving philanthropy and on the Fund Development Committee of the National Board of the Girl Scouts of the USA. Ruma co-authored the international bestselling book, “Mother Teresa, CEO” which demonstrates the management and leadership principles of Mother Teresa which led her to create one of the world’s largest and most successful organizations. Ruma spent several months working with Mother Teresa and leverages the lessons learned into a set of guiding principles for successful leaders. Ruma has received global media recognition for her achievements including features in Fast Company, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg and Smart Company. She is a regular keynote speaker at entrepreneurial and philanthropy related conferences around the world. In 2011, Ruma was named “A Next Generation Change Maker in Philanthropy” by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Perspectives in Philanthropy.
Yaw Adu-Gyamfi has almost a decade of experience working directly with communities and young people focusing on skills development and entrepreneurship. As a trained cluster facilitator, Yaw makes use of the bottom up approach to development facilitating collaboration among government, academia and private sector, leading to the establishment of two cluster initiatives supporting the economic empowerment of over 1,500 rural people in northern Ghana. He is also the Co-founder of Kumasi Center for Lifelong Learning, an NGO that is working to empower a corps of leaders, game changers and sustainable entrepreneurs poised to address social needs, solve problems and set up innovative community based businesses to create jobs. Having been the first Ghanaian Atlas Corps Fellow in 2011, he served in Strategic Communications supporting the initiatives of CentroNia, Washington D.C. based organization that serves 2,500 low income citizens. He is also a member of the Pan-African Competitiveness Forum-PACF, empowering local organizations towards enhancing the competitiveness of African countries. Since 2013, Yaw leads in the implementation of an integrated intervention targeting 6,000 mothers and their newborns towards the achievement of MDG goal on maternal and child-health. He is skilled in strategic communications across multiple platforms including social media, technology and cluster management and serves of mentor for Students in Free Enterprise based in Catholic University of Ghana. Yaw holds a BSc. in Information, Communication Sciences and Technology from the Catholic University of Ghana, an M.A. in Governance and Sustainable Development from the University of Cape Coast-Ghana, Certificates in Cluster Facilitation and Mobiles for International Development from the Pan-African Competitiveness Forum and Institute for Technology and Social Change, Washington D.C.
As a self-starter, Maja has steered a fast-track career moving into frontier markets in her twenties. Maja´s international experience provides insights into solution-focused management and acceleration of business growth initiatives and projects. She has played a pivotal role in helping various entities capitalize on opportunities and navigate complexity of high-growth and frontier markets. Maja has worked in United States law firms and European, African and Latin American private and public entities, which resulted in her living and working in over 18 places in the world. Maja offers organizations the benefit of more than 12 years of transactional, corporate, entrepreneurial and government institution experience, where she was instrumental in the development and management of projects in energy, infrastructure, commodities, technology and consumer goods. She provided daily support to the business and operational teams in managing deliverables, long-term strategy and relationships with firm´s shareholders and local entities. Organizations and clients appreciate her insight into their operational and execution needs and the advice focused on effective management in complex high-growth markets. As a powerful presenter and speaker, she gives of her time and public speaking abilities to fundraising for charitable organizations and serves as a mentor, tutor and motivational speaker for various non-profits, universities and public institutions. Maja is part of Young Global Leaders at the Milken Institute. She also serves on the Board of Advisors for World Energy Forum, Allcot, (Global Energy Company), and as an Atlas Corps Young Trustee. Maja is a sought after speaker on ¨Entrepreneurship and Investment in High Growth Markets¨ at organizations such as Nexus Summit, Young G8 Summit, World Energy Forum and various MBA schools around the world. Maja received her law degree from Emory University, a Master´s certificate in diplomacy and negotiations from Georgetown University and her undergraduate degree in International Affairs and Economics from Georgia State University.
Leke is currently Human Resources Manager at Consolidated Breweries Plc. Prior to joining CB-Plc, he was Head, Human Resources function at Verod Capital Management Limited where he was responsible for generating strategic HR initiatives to help develop the group recruitment, drive employee engagement and implement talent management. Leke also worked as strategic human resources business partner (HRBP) with Honeywell flour mills plc; where he effectively partnered the Finance, HR, Logistics & Supplies departments of the organization. He was responsible for recruitment, HR best practice, HR strategy and organization development. Before that he held roles in Honeywell group, Ocean & Oil holdings, SmartMark Ltd, Nadina Industries & Transcon Group. He is currently a member of the faculty at Phonersis consulting, where he facilitates coaching sessions on various HR-topics. He is passionate about developing people and retaining talents. Leke holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration (HR) from the prestigious University of Lagos, Akoka and Bachelor’s Degree (Honors) in Philosophy from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun state. He is a member; Nigerian Institute of Training and Development, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management and also an Alumni of Cornell University, USA.
Author of “Step by Step Guide to Creating Lucrative Information Products” and creator of “The High Performing Woman Formula”. Marja is a business and high performing woman trainer and consultant. She will help you transform what is good within your life or business into what is extraordinary so that you can multiply your business, skyrocket your career and live a life of prosperity and abundance. Excellence is her measure. She transforms good into superb. That means more of the best of you, your team, department or company more of the time. She has more than 15 years of international training, consulting and coaching experience in various industries throughout Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia and the USA. She has helped hundreds of people transform their business and their life. In her early twenties she completed initial studies in law and psychology, after which she practiced as lawyer for several years. During her late twenties to mid thirties she changed careers and started to focus on people- and business development. She obtained several more qualifications. During this time, she successfully headed up a training campus for corporate clients and was awarded a Total Customer Satisfaction Award for outstanding results on a multimillion dollar international change project. She’s deeply fascinated and curious about people. She loves to listen to them, engage with them and inspire them. She is an avid reader of topics on psychology, neuroscience, marketing, business, personal development, high performance and spirituality. In her free time she loves spending time with her family and friends, reading, traveling, skiing, hiking, socializing, meditation and listening to music. Her motto: “We’re not here for a long time. We’re here for a good time. So live fully, love generously, care deeply and speak kindly”
Born in East Africa, educated across Africa, India and USA George brings to each assignment an international outlook and understanding, combined with the diplomatic skills and ability to make things happen for all ‘partners’. George thus brings his experience of working in the commercial, not-for–profit and charitable sectors both in UK and overseas to his work with clients. Both his degrees are in business, the undergraduate from Banaras Hindu University in India and his MBA from the University of Georgia, USA. His initial years after graduation were spent running his own financial consultancy working in the City of London providing advice to SME’s and High Net worth clients. In the Middle East he headed the Sales Division of a leading insurance company in Dubai. During his time in the Middle East he also consulted for General Motors Overseas Corporation and taught MBA students at an American satellite campus in Dubai. On his return George took active roles as a consultant to Breakthrough Breast Cancer in the UK. George was one of the founding trustees of CIP (Community Initiatives Partnerships). CIP and its subsidiary companies with £18 million turnover was the first comprehensive Public-private Community Regeneration organisation of its type in the UK. He was appointed as Non Executive Director at Chiltern Leisure Trust. He was appointed to the Patient & Public Involvement Forum (PPIF) at the Chiltern & South Bucks PCT by the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health (CPPIH), a legal entity set up by the UK Department of Health. George’s focus in the past 12 years has been in the areas of education, health, training and joint ventures collaborations for companies, educational institutions and private investors in this area. His work takes him across USA, Canada, Europe, India and Africa. He led a project in India to deliver an international nursing programme for nursing students with international and local partners, is a consultant to several American and European educational establishments, and was the Vice President of SSM, Rome, Italy. During his tenure at the Swiss School of Management he initiated and launched the first IAM accredited centre in Italy to deliver British courses of the Institute of Administrative Management (IAM). George was a Senior Consultant at JBC International a niche global consultancy providing high end advisory services in the education space, mentoring, high level human resources consulting to executives both individuals and corporate of Fortune 500 companies internationally. He is the Director of Strategic Alliances at UK Work Study Director, MIDAS Consulting (UK) Ltd and is on the Advisory Board of Eduit Inc a global initiative that seeks to use technology to flatten