 And welcome to this session celebrating the launch of the YGL class of 2023. My name is Kolei Galma and I'm coming to you from the World Economic Forum's studio in Geneva, Switzerland. Today has been almost one year in the making. We have spent many months scouring the world of leadership in search of the game changers, disruptors and visionaries under the age of 40 who are leading their countries, serving their communities and launching groundbreaking initiatives to inspire new ways of social change. And today we are so excited to welcome and honor the nearly 100 new change makers selected to join the YGL class of 2023. This year's class represents what is needed most today, hope, conscientiousness and ingenuity to change the world for the better. The World Economic Forum's latest Global Risks Report highlights that the world is facing a unique and uncertain decade ahead with the return of older risks such as inflation, trade wars and social unrest that is being amplified by new challenges such as unsustainable debt levels, low growth and climate change impacts. This convergence of risks however is not only creating a turbulent landscape for leaders but also an opportunity for them to demonstrate their role in building a more inclusive and resilient world. And that's what these young global leaders we are celebrating today are capable of. The leaders in this year's class come from 45 countries, 44% of them are women and 62% are from the southern hemisphere. From Ecuador to Vietnam, Kosovo to Saudi Arabia, these leaders come from all walks of life and collectively embody a powerful truth that each of us has a role to play in making our communities and the world a better place. We are incredibly inspired by the class of 2023 and we hope that as you follow along today, you will be too. Before we jump in, I want to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you for taking the time to participate in this virtual experience. To stay up to date with all the latest happenings, follow the official hashtag YGL23 and to see the full list of new class members, visit our website younggloballeaders.org and don't forget to tag us in your posts on social media, using the handle at YGL Voices on Twitter or the forum of young global leaders on LinkedIn. Without further ado, I'm going to invite the president of the World Economic Forum, Borge Brenda, to weigh in on the significance of today's celebration. Over to you, Borge. Thank you, Kula. Hello, everybody, watching this address from around the world. I'm really thrilled to address you today as we celebrate the incredible accomplishments of the young global leaders, class of 2023. This community founded nearly two decades ago has brought together some of the most innovative and determined minds of our time to drive positive change across the globe, really walking the talk. We are facing, as we all know, unprecedented challenges in our world today. The pandemic exposed the fragility of our global systems and we are grappling with economic, social, political and environmental pressures on a scale we have never seen before. On climate change, we know that our planet is on fire and we have to act now. The cost of inaction far exceeds the cost of action. But in the face of these challenges, this community has shown us the power of unity and determination in shaping brighter future for all. We need to create more silver linings. Through their collaboration and fresh thinking, they have demonstrated a deep understanding of the opportunities that today's pressing problems present. They are an engine for positive change and we rely on their leadership to support us in driving public-private cooperation in the global public interest. The World Economic Forum and our partners are committed to supporting young global leaders in their quest for a more equitable and inclusive world. By providing access to our activities, we hope to inspire them to transform their ideas into reality and build a better future across all boundaries. In the past year, this community has shown us what is possible when we come together to champion change. They have unveiled plans to revolutionize health services in rural and refugee communities, galvanize private sector action on pollution and achieve more together than they could do alone. This is a message for all of us. Let's take a moment to recognize and celebrate the exceptional work of the young global leaders class of 2023. Your dedication and hard work have not gone unnoticed and we are excited to continue working alongside you in the future. Together we will continue to spark the flames of innovation and create a brighter future for all. Thank you so much for joining us Borge and for highlighting what the young global leaders community means to the World Economic Forum. It's always so inspiring to learn how this community continues to challenge the status quo to advance the forum's mission of improving the state of the world. Now we'll turn to Wadia Itemza, head of the Forum of Young Global Leaders, as he speaks to a few current members of our community and listen in as they reflect on how being part of this community about standing people fuels hope and keeps them going. Over to you Wadia. Thank you Kuli and hello, welcome to all of you watching us live for this class lounge. My name is Wadia Itemza and I'm the head of the Forum of Young Global Leaders. I'm super excited to welcome and recognize the nearly 100 leaders who are joining our community today. The Forum of Young Global Leaders was created in 2004 to help the world meet increasingly complex and interdependent problems. The aim was to create a proactive multi-stakeholder community of the world's most dynamic and innovative leaders to inform decision making and mobilized transformation. And over the years, Young Global Leaders have done just this. From courageous journalism to pressing, uncovering most pressing political and human rights issues, to entrepreneurs transforming the way we work with technologies and everything in between. Why gels have always been doing great. This year's class is no different as it is packed with brilliant minds and passionate leaders from business, civil society and academia. Before we speak to few of these new YGLs, we will talk to some long time members of our community who will shed the light on how our program has accelerated their leadership journeys. Up first we are joined by Nehama Kasigi. Nehama, welcome. Thank you so much Wadia. It's a pleasure to be here today and congratulations to the class of 2023. Can you please tell us more about what you do? I'm a pediatric surgeon and a public health specialist and my focus right now is building health systems to deliver surgical services in refugee and rural contexts. Excellent, thank you. Up next Fahd, thank you for joining us today. Thank you Wadia and thank you to the World Economic Forum and congratulations to all the young global leaders on their selection. My name is Fahd Al-Babe from Saudi Arabia. I'm an YGL alum and I work for Aramco as the senior vice president for strategy and market analysis. Excellent, thank you Fahd. Last but not least, Al-Anoud, welcome. Thank you Wadia and Alf Mabrouk. Congratulations to all the newly joined young global leaders. As you can see, we cannot contain our smiles. We're very excited for you. We're super excited to have this class of YGLs. And to quickly introduce myself, my name is Al-Anoud Althani. I'm the deputy chief executive officer at the Qatar Financial Center Authority. And as you know, it's an underrepresented industry globally, so I'm proud to be the youngest and the only female to ever join the executive committee team in Qatar. Excellent, congrats. So Nehma, you've been part of this community since 2017, if I'm right. Can you tell us what learnings have you got from the community? And before that, where were you when you learned about your selection? So I was at the hospital. I just finished seeing patients and I was just about to go to the operating room. I quickly checked my email and there was the email. I'm not sure if it's still sending emails. We do, among other things. And I wasn't quite sure what it was when I initially looked at the email and then I scrolled down and learned more. And it was really very exciting and it was such a privilege and an honor to join the extraordinary group of young leaders. So that's my story and how I found out and how surprised I was. Fahd, what about you? Where were you? I was camping in the desert. It was a quiet night and I only had access to phone calls, a little lack of data. And then I got a call from a friend telling me you didn't check your WhatsApp. I told him what's happening. He said you've been selected as a young global leader. If I had to climb uphill just to get better data reception. And then I was inundated with so many congratulatory messages. But what was interesting to me is going from that quiet place to uphill where you were flooded with information. And to me that contrast represents the leadership journey we took at DYGL. You go from self reflection and being, talking to yourself all the way to engaging with this global community. Fahd, I still remember vividly my feelings at that moment and the excitement thereafter. Super. And I know you have a special story because you've been engaged with the forum for a long time with the Shapers community. So I'm sure you knew many YGLs in the community because of the relationship we have between the two communities. So how was your feeling when you were selected and where were you? So I was in the office. I received a phone call telling me that I was selected for the young global leaders. I couldn't contain my excitement but I tried to act cool on the call. I still remember that day but it was very special because I've been a founding member of the global Shapers community and it was almost 10 years ago, 12 now. And we always saw the young global leaders as a selected group of young leaders who are affecting change in their local communities, regional or global ones. And they were role models to us. So it was really more of a responsibility that I felt once I received the news. And I looked at it from a completely different perspective. It's being a responsible leader and ensuring that I hold the title with the dignity, respect and the responsibility that it gives each and every one of us. Whether you're an existing alumni or a newly joined young global leader. I like that. The responsible leadership notion of being a YGL. You know, we challenge YGLs to achieve the potential of their leadership. And we challenge them to realize that potential leadership. How have you leveraged the community to enrich and accelerate your leadership journey? And how did you join forces with other YGLs to do more than what we can do alone? And so YGLs and fellow YGLs, it's a community. It's family, I would even say. And all of the big initiatives that I have carried out in the past few years, I have really received support from fellow YGLs. So taking the example of opening the first operating room in a refugee camp for children, YGLs were instrumental. And so we launched that initiative back in 2020 at Davos. And multiple YGLs were there for me, including Simon, may he rest in peace. Including Jaime, including Akim. Mariah was also there. And so it's a community that is diverse. You'll meet people from all walks of life, from artists, musicians, to presidents, to scientists and doctors. And as a doctor, we tend to stay in our silo, in a bubble. You know, I'm mostly in a hospital or in the operating room. And so being part of the YGL community really broadened my outlook. And YGLs have been instrumental in accelerating or even propelling some of the initiatives that I've led in the last few years. And so I'm very, very grateful for that. And I'm hoping the current class will have similar experiences. And we are grateful for the work that all YGLs are doing around the world, especially in Kakuma where we have a special relationship with the local community. So thank you. Thank you. Fahd, how about you? How the community has helped you to be a better leader? Well, there are two-fold impact of the community. The first is the network. And all of a sudden you're part of a much bigger network that spans across all continents and different sectors. But the other benefit as well as working with that network and the World Economic Forum, you're exposed to new verticals in your knowledge domains. You're also exposed to geographical insights about different countries and regions and what others have succeeded in or not. As well as latest thinking on issues and strategies and what everyone is challenged with. And you realize that whatever you're going through, there are so many people that are going through. You can benefit a lot from their mistakes and the shortcuts that they've done. You can synergize and capitalize on resources. I remember in one of the programs that we were about to launch related to digital wellness. You know, we started that program in the company and then I brought it to one of our summits here and presented it to some of the YGLs. And I realized that I was presenting it to advisors and coaches who helped me not only shape our thinking around it, but even scaling it beyond our country. In addition to the network, I think the intellectual part and the knowledge you gain is quite helpful for you as a leader. It is also an opportunity for self-reflection. You're working with like-minded people who are going through a lot of what you're going through. And you realize that you develop some comfort zone with them through the educational modules, through the engagements in these summits. And with time, you realize that I have a circle of trust that is much bigger than what I had previously. It's about the platform of safe space of leaders. And to the audience that are watching us, many or a lot of people think that when you are at positions of power, that you have many people that help you, it's right, but you're alone. And the community gives that platform that is a safe space to enrich your insights, but also to challenge each other. And that's really powerful. Thank you for sharing that. And Anoud, you just returned from Nayang Technological University where we had an educational module for YGLs. But also you hosted many YGLs and myself during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which was really an amazing experience. How has being part of the YGL community helped you at work and also to be a better leader? So I think building upon what my colleagues have mentioned, we are a social network, a very diverse group of young leaders who are already affecting change in our communities, who are already innovating and finding solutions to solve the biggest problems in the world. But we're doing it either individually or via organizations or looking like within our countries and our regions. Now, the power of the Forum of the Young Global Leaders is that it's a global network. It's a network where if we put our hands together, we can solve the global problems because we cannot do it individually or looking inwardly in our own countries and organizations. Now, the Forum as you mentioned basically provides a lot of opportunities for young global leaders to engage, whether it's official learning journeys where host countries and host YGLs create a learning environment to showcase what their culture, country or projects that are being done to solve some of the major issues or the educational modules where you go expose yourself to different people thinking about one topic and a completely different perspective, but you learn from each other and you grow and you try to find solutions or come up with projects to solve these issues. So Nanyang was about re-globalization on sustainability and equity. It was very unique because we were such a diverse group that each region saw it from a completely different perspective and that's the power of such a global network. It's because together, once we understand our differences, we can solve problems. Now, hosting the World Cup was very unique and special to my heart because it was 12 years in the making. It was a historic time for Qatar. It was the first time that an Arab country in the history of FIFA gets the chance to host the World Cup, to host the world with our diversity, our differences in one country for one cause which is football and sports. So sports was a unifying force that brought different people from all over the world to Qatar to enjoy the games. But it was an opportunity for us as young global leaders and my colleagues are not with me today but Ahmed and Abdulrahman from Qatar, we've put a program together to ensure that this global network can learn about our culture, about our religion, about our values as an Arab world. But also we went through an educational journey where we took them to some of the landmark projects that Qatar boasts to the world which is how Qatar is leading in the educational front, how we're investing in technologies to solve the transition from fossil fuel to cleaner energy, to cleaner energy. And I mean, the list can go on. Fad, was she a great host? She was amazing and the food was great and the whole country was enjoying hosting people during the World Cup. And really we've seen what the word hospitality means. Amazing memories. Let me put up that. Thank you for hosting YGLs and hosting us Al Anoud. Nehma, you mentioned before or earlier the YGL committee has been a source of support to your ongoing initiative in Calcuma which is something that has started as a YGL learning journey a few years ago. If I remember it was in 2018. In 2018. 2018, wow, that was long time ago. Then a second one in 2019. That was before COVID so it's a long time ago. Before COVID, yeah. And you know, we can see that really the success of your initiative was because of being part of this community. Absolutely. And so you've been engaged really truly and took the maximum from this community. So what advice do you have to the new class on how they should be engaged in the community and how they should make the most of their YGL experience? So my advice number one is engage fully and give. Just give unconditionally. I think that's what I've found is the best approach. Secondly, make those connections, those human connections with fellow YGLs. My best friends are YGLs. The people I adore most in this world are YGLs. So take that time, take that time during that first year especially to just build relationships with fellow YGLs. Connect with them on a human level and try to move through different sectors. So if you're a scientist, connect with the musician. If you're a politician, connect with the doctor that you may never see. And then following that, then you can go to the educational modules which are very, very useful. And that's another opportunity to connect more deeply with fellow YGLs. And lastly, just enjoy the experience. The years will go by very, very quickly. Just take the time to enjoy being a YGL and enjoy the fact that you can land in any country in the world. And you have a friend, you have a family member through this YGL community. It's interesting because some of them I see the more than I see my mom. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's a reality. How about your friend? What advice do you have for this class of YGLs? I'm sure all the YGLs are excited right now by the selection. But that's only the beginning. It's a journey. And you get as much as you invest in it. You invest by connecting with people, by going out of your comfort zone, by learning about new things. So this is one aspect. The other aspect is trust the process of the YGL journey. Embrace the structure and just be open-minded to any idea that comes to mind. You'll be amazed by how small conversations over lunch or in a corridor can scale up quickly to be an impactful program. And the third aspect is abide by the principles of the YGL, the generosity, authenticity, respect and impact. We can connect and engage all the time and have fun in addition to the many learnings. But if all of this does not translate into results and impact, then that's wasted time and energy. Super. And Anoud, what are your thoughts? What advice you might have for YGLs? The more you put into it, the more you get out of it, to be honest. And once a YGL, you're forever a YGL. But the newly joined YGLs, it's a three-year program. So make the most out of it. Do engage with the learning journeys. Do attend the educational modules and apply for them. Because those won't be given once you graduate from the program. But the lifelong friendship, some of my best friends, who I met two years ago, are truly my closest friends today. And it's amazing because we actually share a lot of the same values. So despite our backgrounds and where we come from, we really are the same. At the end of the day, we're people. We put our titles behind us and we're here to really improve the state of the world. And that's why each one of us has been selected as a young global leader. Because our work is already affecting positive change, socially, economically, politically, environmentally as well. I mean, I was just having a discussion with some of the newly joined YGLs, and some of them were talking about cross-border solutions that they are adapting to local communities, but it's only one technology that's utilized. For example, drones and delivering medicines to areas that are out of reach. So it's really fascinating. And now I have an idea because I can connect them to some of the work we do. And this is how you scale ideas and you take them beyond. Super. Thank you. I mean, everything you said is connected to our guiding principles, authenticity, generosity, respect and impact. So thank you for joining us. And after listening to these leaders, I'm reminded of the immense power of our community and the collaboration we have. The Forum of Young Global Leaders has created a space where individuals from diverse backgrounds can come together, support one another and help bridge divides to create real-world change for the benefit of all. The YGLs we have heard from today have shown us that leadership doesn't have to be a lonely journey. In fact, it is through connecting with others, sharing our vulnerabilities and showing up as our true authentic selves that we can truly thrive and make a difference. So thank you so much for joining us and for inspiring the Class of 2023. And we can't wait to see you somewhere in the YGL activities. Next, the moment you have all been waiting for, we will hear from some of the members of the YGL Class 2023. But first, we'll play a short video as an introduction. We live in a volatile world, in a world where change is happening much more rapidly and where the answers of the past are not good enough for today. From here, we're going to face a lot of hurdles, a lot of economic challenges, social challenges, environmental challenges. It's been a really tough, unprecedented few years where not only is the world really volatile, there's been a real breakdown in trust. You really cannot impact change if you're also not sitting at the right tables. And so I think that it's really important to have more youth representation in places of decision making. And so I'm very happy that there is a forum like Young Global Leaders that puts that idea at the centre. Getting clear on what we collectively believe is a responsible leader or a standard organisation. That's what we're trying to do. I come from a country where people don't take you seriously till you're 60. And I feel that the energy and the motivation and the passion of somebody at 20, 30, 40 is unmatched. The best thing about this community is the spark. You meet people from this community and you hear about what they do, their ideas and that spark is quite inspiring. What I find every time I talk to a YGL is that somebody's so in need and nobody was doing this thing so I guess I'm just going to have to do it. It's such an inspirational community of people who have dedicated their lives to solving some of the world's biggest challenges. You have to include youth because you make better decisions. I have young people mentor my board because people are so stuck in their own ways. I've been doing this for 30 years and it's like, what is your point? You might have been doing the same thing for 30 years. A young person might come in with an idea at the first meeting that can change everything. It's about building a goal bigger than what's on the table. How do we challenge the status quo? How do we grow the horizon in an integrated manner? The voice of youth brings that. As you just saw from that video and heard from Borger earlier, our societies are facing an unprecedented combination of economic, social, political and environmental pressures. The COVID-19 pandemic heightened uncertainty and highlighted our collective fragility. Through this we saw YGLs pulling their diverse skills, experiences and networks to make positive differences in their organizations, communities and beyond. I'm so excited to speak to three new members of Class of 2023 who will shed the light on why their involvement with the YGL community at this moment is needed in the world of today. First, I would like to introduce Margaret Zhang who is joining us virtually. She is the editor-in-chief of Vogue China. Prior, she wore many hats as a filmmaker, writer, photographer and consultant. Welcome, Margaret. Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you. We're also joined by Richard Ittle, the CEO and co-founder of Skycell, a company that is leveraging technology to deliver more than 200 million vaccines per year to the world. Welcome, Richard. Thank you, Maria. Finally, we are joined virtually also by Peace Hyde. She's the head of digital media and the West African correspondent at Forbes Africa. She's also the creator and the producer of the critically acclaimed reality TV series on Netflix, Young, Famous and African. Peace is also an Aliko Dangote Fellow, a fellowship program established by the Aliko Dangote Foundation for African Young Global Leaders. Welcome, Peace. So, Margaret, you are part of Class 2023 and you become the youngest editor-in-chief of Vogue in 2021 at just 29 years old. A remarkable achievement. Can you tell us a bit more about your journey that got you there? Yeah, I've had certainly an unconventional career path. I began my life in performing arts actually in ballet and theater and classical music. And then at some point fell into the fashion industry as a photographer and a model and a writer while I was studying business school and law school at Sydney University. At some point in my studies, I realized that I could somehow be this connective tissue between business and creatives kind of leveraging the amplification and storytelling capacity of culture, not just for commerce, but also for cause. And upon graduating law school, a few years later, I moved to New York as a kind of base for my fashion career as a consultant and photographer, creative director, writer. And at some point I co-founded background, which was at the time a global cultural consultancy and production company where I was kind of bridging eastern and western hemisphere across a number of industries, not just fashion, not just consumer goods, but also tech and food, video gaming, for instance. Meanwhile, I was carrying up to direct and write and act in my first feature film, which was to be at the time an examination of the condition of womanhood and motherhood in modern day China, which got put on hold by COVID. And then during that time, out of the blue received a call from Anna Wintour about this work China role. And as you can probably tell, I love a challenge. And so here we are very honored to be here. And it was been so great to kind of hear from our YGL alumni about how they were able to connect with so many people from other industries because that's really kind of the bedrock of my whole path to date. So very excited to connect with everyone. Thank you, Margaret, and welcome to the YGL community or family, as we love to say it. Thank you. Richard, as I mentioned earlier, SkySale offers data-driven container solution that allows pharma companies to optimize their supply chain by reducing and even predicting the risk of delivering sensitive drugs by air. I'm curious, what inspired you to take this path over 10 years ago? It was not a straight line. Leadership. Actually, what led me to this was I helped my mentor during your university times who just recently passed away, Dr. Hans-Oli Pestalozzi, built up an institute to promote entrepreneurship. And he there challenged me with three questions. So why do you do it? What do you do? And how do you do it? So like use your intellect, your mind, your heart, and then act with your hand. And that became the basis on making the decision what I wanted to do later on in life. And when my co-founder, Nico, approached me and said, yes, this piece of technology, we had many avenues to apply it. But we thought, okay, pharma seems like a big challenge that everyone seems to have around the world. There's more than $35 billion worth of product lost every year. Wow. And at the same time, it's transported in a non-sustainable way. 80% of these pharmaceuticals are transferred in a throwaway solution, which is landfill. And so we thought, what if we could design a container solution that eliminates the loss, but is also cutting out CO2? Wow. So that became, but the origin was this, why do you do it? I mean, you make it seem like so easy to make. And now it's a straight line, but it was a path. Excellent. Thank you. Peace, you are the brain behind young, famous and African. And I claimed Netflix. And it is also the first African reality show that was launched in Netflix. You know, I'm curious to know. I think Eat Peace has. Peace, I don't know if you are with us, if you can hear me. Probably we'll come back, we'll come back to her. I'll turn to you Margaret. Over the last few years, we've seen the fashion industry being challenged to be more sustainable. And social media influencers becoming more increasingly relevant. And as a push for more inclusivity, what is the one leadership threat leaders in your industry must hone for success in the face of this? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think the key consideration here is about concrete impact and not just amplification and awareness. I mean, on sustainability and diversity and inclusivity, as you mentioned, we're already aware, right? Everybody's already aware. So what is the next step? What is the actual action that we're taking on? So sustainability is the key. I feel it's important for us to remember that it's not just a marketing ploy. You know, sustainability is also so much bigger than the things that we can see. It's beyond the materials. It's beyond the supply chain. It's about the full gamut of the United Nations SDGs and how can we kind of leverage the resources and platforms at our disposal and collaborate with other industries in very unexpected ways, as our colleagues said earlier. And so for China, social sustainability is more so that primary focus. So for instance, we have our great traditional Chinese Christenship initiatives that bolster local supply chains and focuses on building up local Chinese artisan communities. And these are thousands of years old and kind of being able to leverage our platform to transmit their work in a more concrete way to the world through, you know, the creative giants that we're able to work with of the next generation is really key. But on inclusivity, we do similarly need to really lead by example, right? By doing not by saying, and it's just not just about the visible appointments that give you that disproportionate kind of publicity crudos. It's really about the people in positions that are behind the scenes that are in key decision making power. It's about the bottom up. It's about kind of opening our minds to the experiences and perspectives of people from diverse backgrounds of young perspectives that might be challenging industry norms. And so from a vocational perspective, it's not really us as an arbiter of culture, of cultural truths, right? As leaders, we're not kind of standing at the top of the mountain saying, you know, this is what it's going to be. We're just simply a cultural curator that plays kind of a much greater institutional role to ensure that these diverse voices are not only in the room, not only at the table as a fact of, but they're actually kind of given this space to experiment, space to challenge our industry norms, space to challenge our local communities long held views that are potentially outdated or not kind of serving the direction that we all need to be moving in. I mean, a simple example from a vocational perspective is our vocfilm initiative that is giving our platform to Chinese women in storytelling and in film to kind of tell their stories and reflections and societal issues in their lens rather than only coming from our perspective. So it's really more about concrete action, if that makes sense. Amazing. I love it. Love it. Thank you. Peace. If I can turn to you, you are the brains behind the young, famous and African, Netflix's first African reality show that follows a group of African entrepreneurs and A-listers who also happen to be friends. As they go about their lives in Johannesburg in South Africa, I know your path as, your path to executive producer was not a conventional one, but you still made it happen. Tell us more about that journey. I think something that I've always been passionate about is just celebrating remarkable Africans and having the ability to create young, famous and African with my co-creator Martin Asare was really exciting for us because we had the opportunity to really celebrate remarkable Africans from all walks of life that were using their natural God-given talent to really impact their communities. And by default, the globe. So being able to tell stories using Forbes Africa over the years and now create young, famous and African and work with a team in front of the camera and also behind the camera of some of the most talented, remarkable Africans in media has been an absolute privilege and an honour. And so yes, we're very excited about the global reception to season one. We have season two coming out. I know that's a plug, but we have season two coming out. So yes, we're very excited about the reception. And it's just an amazing opportunity to celebrate incredible African stories because like this community, there are so many of us all over the world that are doing things to make a change. Excellent. I love it. Thank you. Peace and thank you for championing the African identity. I know I'm biased, but I love it. Richard, you are someone who built a successful startup. And following the last financial, you know, the financial sector collapse. Today, the 2008 I'm talking about. Now we have another one, which is, you know, no comments on the actual what's going on, but we're seeing like the 16th biggest bank in the U.S. Going to a bankrupt and so really, you know, what kind of insights do you have into the new scene of startups that are going on? You know, the startup space is kind of one of the potentials to solve many of the world problems. And you're solving one and many other startups are solving also problems. And we are turning more to the social entrepreneurship part of the business. But if we have those big challenges such as the one that you had in after 2008 of the financial sector, and probably we're going to have a recession, what insights or what advice do you have for entrepreneurs? Entrepreneurs are extremely resilient elements. Otherwise, they die. And that's why the majority of startups die as well. Yes. But many of the entrepreneurs survive because they have such an idea. And they're so passionate about that idea. And they convince others to follow them through. We come back to the topic of leadership. Yeah. That they convince investors, employees, sometimes to give the hard sweat and sometimes work for free for months and years or very low pay because they believe in that idea. And then there is this breakthrough moment when it becomes relevant for society because there's a breakthrough that the technology works. And so I think endurance. I think the number one trade in entrepreneurs is endurance and also in leadership. That's a key trade. Excellent. I love it. And what's your outlook of the future? Very bright. Very bright? I love it. Entrepreneurs? That's been a YGL. Entrepreneurs are optimists. This is usually what investors like and hate about entrepreneurs because they are optimists. Because they see the opportunity in the future. I mean, we could all say, oh, we are doomed because we're over consuming the resources of the planet. But we have the technology to massively also reduce the carbon in the atmosphere. We are building machines that can suck out the CO2 out of the air. So this is the ingenuity of entrepreneurship. But it requires all the different people to come together from politics, from investors and then people that actually do it. Super. Peace, if I may turn to you. Richard said he sees the outlook as very bright and I'm sure you will say the same thing. I mean, you are telling a new story with the young, famous and African, and you are presenting the continent as a vibrant, beautiful and forward-thinking continent. What was the one leadership threat you had to hone in that process to kind of change your mindset or go for a big challenge like this one? I think some of the things that were highlighted earlier on in the session where when you are working in the capacity of a leadership, it tends to be quite a lonely, isolating journey where you're so tunnel-visioned in what you're trying to achieve and your passion that you tend to move in solo. And with the creation of YFA, it was really something that I really wanted to just tell a positive story about Africa that presented an alternative perspective about the Africa that exists now. But what was really remarkable, I think what was the biggest learning curve is being able to work with some of the most talented exemplary Africans in media behind the scenes and realizing that no man is an island to create real big impact and global change. It takes a community of like-minded individuals with the same passion. And I think being able to work as a team and being able to understand the skill sets and embrace the passions of the different members and what they bring to the overall vision of what you're trying to achieve was one of the biggest adjustments because now we have a community that was trying to create this huge project. And that's been a really, really big learning curve but also a very big blessing that I think we can all kind of cut ourselves in the back and be happy about that we were able to work together and be able to achieve such an impactful content that really redefines the African narrative. Excellent, excellent. Congrats on that. Margaret, I'll turn to you and as we are running out of time, I will ask you one last question. Why did you say yes to us and yes to the YGL community and what do you hope to gain from this journey? That's such an interesting question because I think in my whole career I've always tried to seek out the rooms of people that I would never otherwise have ended up in to find people from really kind of opposing school of thought or different industries that I never would have had the opportunity to work with. I think we need to engage with and so to be able to connect with a fresh cohort of fresh perspectives is so appealing to me because I think as you all mentioned at the top of this session, there are so many really urgent and imminent issues that we're all faced with across all different industries that are going to have kind of sweeping impacts on society. But to Richard's point, I think it's so key to come to that table with optimism and a fierce kind of problem solving attitude rather than kind of the fear mongering or the kind of disaster mentality. And so to be able to look at the norms or look at the operational successes of other industries and key leaders in other industries and have this kind of eyes wide open perspective of youth who are always on the right side of history that was immensely appealing and exciting to me. And, you know, for me, throughout my whole career, it's always been about learning experiences. So to be able to be a part of this program and kind of expose myself and challenge myself and therefore all of the work that I do to kind of new ways of thinking and different industries that might be able to collaborate with culture and the fashion industry space that I operate in is just an immensely exciting journey that I'm very keen to embark on. Excellent. We're excited to have you. Richard, how about you? What do you hope to gain from this journey? Create more awareness with senior leadership, so harnessing the network here to also create more awareness of the C-suite of large corporations. Everyone knows climate change is a big issue, but they overestimate how much it would cost their own company to do something about it. And the World Economic Forum has so much data about this. And, for example, only one to four percent of an additional price increase would mean a product is CO2 neutral. Why not? When I challenge most leaders with that information, they think it's 20 to 40 percent more. So it's massively less. And so it's basically how can we get this message across faster to the top companies that can make a difference? And we already crossed the one with inflation. We went beyond that. So sometimes it's an easy one. Thank you for that. Peace. How about you? What are you most looking forward to learning on your YGL journey? I think one of the most amazing opportunities is to be part of such a powerful, impactful community of people who are really passionate about not only transforming our continent and the world, but also joining hands and doing it as a team and as a group collective. And so I'm really excited about the opportunity to meet more exemplary individuals from all walks of life and being able to see what we can create together, to be able to just keep that mission and narrative going. One of the main, main things I keep hearing is how you get to deal with people from all walks of life and be in rooms, as Margaret said, that you wouldn't normally be in. And for me, that is really invigorating. And I just like the opportunity to learn and to expose myself to more communities and more people and see what we can create together. Super. Thank you so much to the three of you, Margaret, Richard and Peace for joining us today and sharing your stories. Congratulations again on being selected as young global leaders. It's a powerful representative of the YGL community, and we can't wait to continue to connect and learn and collaborate with all of you over the next years of your journey with us. And my last word for all the YGLs is that privilege. We should not be ashamed of it, but we should be ashamed if we don't use it for a purpose. Over to you, Kule. Thank you, Wadia, and thank you to all of our speakers. I don't know about you, but after hearing all of those incredible stories and ideas, I feel more knowledgeable about the leadership skills needed to lead in a variety of industries, and I have more appreciation for the power of community in shaping a better world. Here, I will reference one of my favorite African Proverbs that says, if we want to go fast, we go alone, but if we want to go far, we go together. Of course, the speakers we just heard from are a few of the nearly 100 changemakers in the 2023 class, and they also belong to a wider community of over 1,400 young global leaders who collaborate to address critical issues in creative and meaningful ways. And as you know, all good things must come to an end. So with this, I will wrap up today's session. Congratulations again to all members of the Class of 2023. To discover all our new members, especially those creating change in a city near you, visit our website, younggloballeaders.org. If you enjoy today's session, be sure to let us know on social media using the hashtag YGL23 to join the conversation or by tagging us on Twitter using the handle at YGL Voices or on LinkedIn by mentioning the Forum of Young Global Leaders. Thank you again and see you back here again soon.