2022 IMF Youth Fellowship

Africa

GHANA: Irene Dumoga

Irene works on various projects under the Strategic Communications and Outreach Team as a Trainee for the Africa Climate Mobility Initiative. She holds a Master of Arts in Global Studies from Bard College, and a Bachelor of Arts in French and Linguistics from the University of Ghana. She was awarded the Open Society University Network Fellowship (2021) during her master’s degree studies. She has worked with NGOs such as the STL Amandi Foundation (Accra, Ghana) and Welcome to Chinatown (New York, US).

GHANA: Stephen Bruku Sekyere

Stephen is a development-oriented professional with training in political science. He has a passion for alleviating poverty through entrepreneurial opportunities. As an Area Territory Manager for Zeepay, he provides many micro businesses with financial solutions to micro businesses at a cheaper cost. As a sales manager with Unilever, he ensured his 23 direct reports earned a living wage, and 95% of his 1616 customers, who were women-run enterprises (SMEs), received financial training. He led the group, Recycle Up! Ghana, to create awareness of and collect plastic for recycling which was adopted by the University of Ghana.

KENYA: Cindy Amuka

Cindy is a practicing lawyer in Kenya who offers expert legal opinion and client representation on an array of practice areas. She also volunteers her legal skills and has organized her volunteer advocacy work to mirror her corporate work for mutual benefit. She has served the African Union (AU) as a Board Member of the AU Youth Advisory Board. She is passionate about economic development in emerging economies and aspires to be a change agent advocating for the most pressing needs of the day including addressing climate change, food insecurity, and inflation.

MALAWI: Papamile Isyagi

A business scholar with over half a decade's worth of studies across various global and local syllabi such as: IGCSE, AS and A-level, and a full ICCR scholarship to pursue business administration. Moreover, as an environmental and social advocate, Papamile is a member of Rotary International via the Rotary Club of Surat, and was recognized by UNICEF for an idea related to mitigating the adverse effects of single-use plastics.

MOZAMBIQUE: Santos Bila

Santos Bila currently works toward his doctorate in Economics at the University of Johannesburg, where he is also employed as an assistant lecturer. Santos has a master’s degree in Development Economics. Macroeconomics, development economics, industrialization, and climate change are some of the topics that he is interested in researching. Santos has worked as a researcher for several agencies, including the Financial Fiscal Commission (FFC) in South Africa and the Gauteng Department of Economic Development (GDED) in South Africa. Additionally, Santos has collaborated with the Center for Development and Democracy in Mozambique.

NIGERIA: Oluwafemi Omosuyi

Oluwafemi earned his professional doctorate in International Relations and Diplomacy in the United Kingdom and he is the founder of OBA Global Citizen, a social enterprise and a participant of the United Nations Global Compact, supporting economies and human development for sustainability with a focus on cross-border trade for women, climate action through nature-based solutions, digital inclusion for vulnerable and marginalized groups, and provision of resilient and equitable water distribution in Africa. He is an outstanding business professional with years of experience executing key initiatives in digital ecosystems and business solutions. He was appointed as an expert writer by the African Union Development Agency of the African Union High-Level Panel on Emerging Technologies.

NIGERIA/USA: Zahrah Abdulrauf

Zahrah recently earned a master’s degree in Global Affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China as a Schwarzman Scholar. Previously a communications consultant for the City of Birmingham's Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity, she crafted pitch decks for numerous economic development initiatives, helping to raise over $15 million from investors. She previously served as the Executive Creative Director of a technology startup with over $100,000 monthly recurring revenue, creating the materials that resulted in a successful $1.1 million seed fundraising round. She is currently a Policy and Communications Associate at Yale’s Economic Growth Center.

TOGO: Kodjo Adandohoin

Graduated with a PhD in development economics at the University of Clermont Auvergne (France), Kodjo has been working mostly on budgetary issues, especially public finance in developing countries for a couple of years. His academic training in public finance has enabled him to understand the challenges of public financial management and the need for developing countries to build effective tax systems in order to meet the growing needs of the millennium development goals without resorting to foreign aid. Equipped with main concepts of taxation, he was able to propose research topics during previous professional experiences, notably on the place of digital financial services in revenue collection for African countries, participated in the drafting of the public expenditure review for Benin in 2022.

UGANDA: Fiona Martha Nakyejwe

Fiona holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Makerere University Business School and a postgraduate diploma in financial management from Uganda Management Institute. As a client analyst at Stanbic Bank Uganda,. Fiona specializes in financial statement analysis for business clients to determine their credit worthiness. Alongside her professional work, she volunteers with the Rotaract club of Kampala city. In 2020, as the director of the Rotary Foundation for her club, she spearheaded the collection of approximately $3,500 towards the Foundation, which contributed to saving over 60 mothers and children and strengthening local communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

UGANDA: Ajuna Tadeo

Ajuna holds a Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Management from Makerere University, currently working with Uganda Agribusiness Alliance as Platforms/ Value Chains Development Specialist and Youth4Agribusiness Coordinator. He is a member of the funds advisory group for the Alliance & Movements _ Fair Value Chains and Food Systems and Climate Justice projects by Oxfam International _ and a Theirworld Youth Ambassador from Uganda. Furthermore, he is an activist for climate, gender, and equal opportunities for all. He has supported the formation and sustainability of a number of agriculture related multistakeholder platforms for various commodities.

Asia Pacific

INDIA: Soumya Agrawal

Soumya studies economics at Miranda House, Delhi University, India. She has always been interested in using the tools of economics to solve some of the world's most pressing issues like climate change, food security, poverty, etc. She is interested in working towards gender empowerment, having interned with various organizations working towards this issue. She has also written various articles on this issue such as women in STEM, female land ownership in India, etc. Being the Content Lead of the animal welfare society of her college, she has been actively improving awareness of animal welfare issues. She has recorded various podcasts on wide-ranging issues from circular economy to mercantilism.

JAPAN: Ryo Ogura

Ryo is a development finance practitioner, gaining professional experience in the public and private sectors from International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Mizuho Bank. As an Investment Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group at IFC, Ryo participated in various investment/lending projects in Europe and Central Asia. While at Mizuho Bank, he worked in Hanoi, where he found his passion for international development. Ryo holds a Master of Public Administration in Development Practice from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where he learned policy analysis and sustainable development, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Clarion University.

MALAYSIA: Willie Ng

Willie holds a master's degree from Australian National University and received professional accountancy under CIMA UK. In 2018 he became involved in community projects related to environmental causes where he found out that most of the social enterprises with good causes cannot last long despite their initial positive impacts due to lack of expertise and leadership. Thus, he converted one of his NGO projects into an impact enterprise that focuses on waste management. Global Cerah, an agri-tech startup was established with the support from fellow peers and technical professionals. Currently, he leads his Global Cerah team to introduce and educate target audiences the interconnection of the circular economy and proper waste management to sustain long lasting impacts to the environment.

NEPAL: Dikshit Poudel

Dikshit, an applied economics doctoral student at the University of Georgia and Adam Smith Fellow at George Mason University, is interested in trade, agriculture, environment, political economy, and food-nutrition security and holds a pure science degree as well. He uses applied microeconomics, econometrics, machine learning, and scientific theories in his work. He won the “National Young Scientist Award 2019” from Nepal (State) Government and was a recipient of the Integrity Fellowship 2019/20. He has gained experiences from various assignments ranging from being a tutor, a research intern, a lab assistant, a project officer, and a club president to Teaching Assistant at the graduate level. He loves traveling, public speaking, and leadership.

SRI LANKA: Shenali Bamaramannage

Shenali is a final year undergraduate at the University of London, majoring in economics. She is currently employed by LIRNEasia, a public policy think tank based in Colombo. She has previously worked as a freelance journalist and successfully operated a clothing store in during pre-economic crisis period in Sri Lanka. Some of her ongoing projects are related to the role of monetary authorities in directing SDG sensitive investments, social security nets and, online harms. Her research interests lie in sustainable development, economics of climate change, and gender economics.

SRI LANKA: Ridma Pathirana

Ridma is a marketing and communications professional with experience of over four years in the corporate sector. He has gained a diverse range of exposure by working with various multinational corporations. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business with International Management degree with first class honors from Northumbria University, UK. He also completed his post graduate diploma in Professional Marketing offered by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK. Currently studying Master of Economics at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Ridma is a co-founder of a youth initiative called ‘Through This Together’ which focuses on improving mental health among youth in Sri Lanka.

Europe

GERMANY: Vitus Ernst Rennert

Vitus is a Philosophy & Economics student who is graduating from the University of Bayreuth. Enthusiastic about international macroeconomics and policy, he wants to use the understanding of economic phenomena to change society for the better. During his studies he has volunteered in projects contributing to public discourse and bringing together diverse perspectives on topics such as climate change, sustainable development, and financial markets. Vitus organized a conference on the future of society, which searched for ethical principles to guide humanity forward. Additionally, he has worked as a tutor for macroeconomics and philosophical analysis.

GREECE/USA: Niko LeMieux

Niko is a former synthetic biologist with graduate degrees at the Fletcher School of Diplomacy and an MBA from IE Business School in Madrid. As a proponent of sustainable capitalism and long-term strategic thinking, his previous international business experience includes management and strategy consulting on behalf of private equity firms and venture capital funds and financial sponsors in the infrastructure and tech space. Co-founder of, and current advisor, to Hexagon Wireless, he is currently building crypto-incentivized decentralized infrastructure networks that allow individuals to participate and get paid for building robust, reliable, and scalable solutions in the communications and energy space.

HUNGARY/ROMANIA/USA: Evelyn Bodoni

Evelyn is a young leader passionate about creating inclusive opportunities for underrepresented communities in business. She is the co-founder of Global Outreach FBLA, a non-profit organization aiming to promote business leadership education in developing nations. For her service, Evelyn was named a US Presidential Scholar (2020) and was also recognized with the President’s Volunteer Service Award. An undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, she is pursuing a double concentration in multinational management and finance. Evelyn interned in New York City with Goldman Sachs (summer 2022) and is an incoming summer analyst (2023) at Morgan Stanley.

PORTUGAL: Sofia Barbeiro

A Project Manager at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Sofia holds a passion for the intersection of SDG13 with SDG14, building knowledge on the climate-ocean nexus. Sofia strongly believes young people must be given the opportunity to actively participate in formal decision-making processes, particularly those pertaining to climate change negotiations. In 2021, she was selected as an Ambassador of the Global Youth Climate Network and invited to represent Portugal at the PreCOP26 "Youth4Climate" event. Recently, Sofia joined the Youth Delegation to the Congress of the Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, promoting fair youth engagement at the local level.

TURKEY: Ilayda Bengidal

Ilayda holds a BSc with distinction in economics from Middle East Technical University. She also holds an MSc in international business with distinction from University of Edinburgh and part of her dissertation was published by United Nations House Scotland (UNHS). She worked at Prince's Trust as operations executive, supporting young entrepreneurs' business planning process. Currently she works as Research and Innovation Support Officer at the University of Surrey, where she works on increasing research collaboration, and impact opportunities for social scientists. Also, she manages projects with UNHS, WEF Global Shapers, and180 Degrees Consulting - all of which help her make positive contributions towards achieving SDGs.

Middle East & Central Asia

EGYPT: Amr Hassan

Amr is a social entrepreneur and YouTuber from the working class. He received a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy as a first-generation college student. Amr studied civic engagement at Bard college, New York, and is now serving as the founder and CEO of a social enterprise called Empower Hub. He is also the founder of the Facebook community “Empower 2030 leaders Hub” with +24K active members. Amr is a public speaker as he provided 4 TEDx talks and 50+ mega-event talks. He has +100K subscribers on YouTube and +100K followers on Facebook.

JORDAN: Rajae Sahouri

Rajae is a driven entrepreneur who focuses on youth development, policies, and strategy in business and entrepreneurship. He started his own podcast, “The Straight Up Start Up”, as an effective medium to educate people on the intersection of entrepreneurship and leadership, especially for youth in the Middle East. Currently, Rajae is a Transaction Strategy Analyst at EY-Parthenon. He graduated from Princess Sumaya University for Technology, with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration.

LEBANON: Mariam Dabboussi

Mariam is a Consumer Marketing Manager at Google whose work focuses on how technology can be useful to millions of users in the Middle Eastern and North African region. She looks after YouTube, Google Assistant, User Research, and Product Growth for the region. She is known for launching Google Assistant in Arabic across 18 markets, breaking the Guinness World Record for the biggest Iftar Livestream, and for launching an emotional wellbeing feature on Google Assistant. Mariam has earned multiple accolades and has been profiled by The National, Sky News Arabia, and Annahar. She was named by Fast Company Middle East' as the Most Creative Person in Business in 2022. She graduated with a bachelor's in industrial engineering at the American University of Beirut.

MOROCCO: Afaf Zarkik

Afaf is an economist at the Policy Center for the New South. Among her areas of research and reflection is energy markets as well as energy and sustainable development policies. Before joining the Policy Center, Afaf was an analyst in oil and gas mergers and acquisitions, a venture capital analyst in a cleantech fund, and a senior analyst in asset management. She holds a master's degree in energy strategies from the Ecole des Mines de Paris.

MOROCCO: Oumaima Outani

From Morocco, Oumaima is a soon-to-be physician. As a medical research enthusiast and a socially engaged youth advocate, she uses her social media platforms to democratize access to opportunities among young people and raise awareness about social issues affecting all, including climate change and gender-based violence.

Western Hemisphere

ARGENTINA: Tomás Elia

Tomás Elia received a BA in International Relations from UCA, Argentina, and has an MA in International Cooperation from the University of Barcelona, Spain. He currently serves as a Senior Analyst at Accenture. Through his experience, he gained a comprehensive understanding of how global actors operate. At an international level, he worked for the United States Embassy in Argentina, the HCCH (Hague Conference), and the Organization of American States (OAS/OEA) office in Washington D.C. Tomás has additional experience in the public sector, as he worked for the City Government of Buenos Aires. Prior to his current position, he consulted for CIPPEC, a world-renowned think tank. Tomás is passionate about technical cooperation, economic development, and sustainable development issues.

BRAZIL: Lucas Almeida Brandão

Lucas is a student of International Relations and Chemical Engineering, mainly interested in environmental issues and renewable energy. This year, as a future internationalist, he had the opportunity to participate in the Academic Congress on National Defense, where he presented a team-built article about the relations between Brazil and USA. Currently, he is an intern at the International Relations Office of the Municipality of Belo Horizonte, where he works directly with public policies and monitors their real impact on the population, as well as following the city's internationalization movements, incorporation, and improvements of global agendas.

COLOMBIA: Valentina Castro

Valentina is a Master of Public Administration (MPA) student at Columbia University. She has a double degree in Economics and Political Science. Valentina lived in Washington, DC, working for the Organization of American States (OAS), supporting the implementation of OAS programs and projects by ensuring the proper execution of funds and mitigating financial risks. Recently, Valentina worked for Goldman Sachs (GS) as a Summer Analyst in the Sovereign and Economic Risk area. At GS, Valentina monitored the economic, financial, political, and social dynamics of Latin American countries, provided input for economic forecasting, and reviewed macro downside risks.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Sharina Gerald

Sharina is an entrepreneur and a sustainability educator with approximately eight years of experience in the education sector, particularly in the teaching of A Level Biology and Environmental Studies. She graduated with a BSc General with majors in Biology and Environmental and Natural Resource Management in 2014, and has been working in education ever since. She is currently freelancing, offering tutoring services in the sustainability sciences.