ADEL Bios

Nicola Bilotta is currently researcher at IAI where he works on international political economy, digital economy and geo-finance. 

Chiara Cocchiara is a System Operations Engineer at EUMETSAT, preparing future Earth Observation Space Missions to monitor weather and climate. She was awarded the MIT Innovator Under35 and the ESNC Prizes for a new drone technology design to help saving human lives, especially the immigrants in the Mediterranean Sea.

Ritika Passi is Fellow at ORF. She works on connectivity, tracking developments across Eurasia and the Indo-Pacific, the changing global economic order and its geopolitical impact, and Indian foreign policy

She ROARs is empowering female leaders across Africa. Having lived and worked across 5 continents, Chidiogo speaks 7 languages (Chinese, English, French, German, Igbo, Italian and Spanish). She is a World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow; and Associate Fellow of Nigerian Leadership Initiative.

Katrina Amupolo is the Business Development Coordinator for the Swakopmund Community Skills Development Centre. She has experience in empowering youth and women through entrepreneurship, skills training and mentorship.   Katrina founded the Empowering Erongo Young Women Project, a  project which offers job readiness training, mentorship and career guidance to unemployed  young women in the Erongo Region, Namibia.

Asim Ali has an extensive background in the Middle East, human rights, countering violent extremism, and public private partnerships. Asim is currently working as a Foreign Affairs Officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the U.S. Department of State.

Eric Asmar is the CEO of Happy Smala, a consulting firm and startup studio in Rabat, Morocco specialized in innovation and collaborative finance. Prior to this, he served as Director of Programs at the Moroccan Center for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, where he launched Dare Inc., Morocco’s first social enterprise incubator.

Foster Awintiti Akugri heads a non-profit organization, focused on preparing the youth for future jobs. Impacting over 3000 youth since its inception and through its partnership with IBM, Hacklab Foundation hopes to reach over 100,000 youth by 2021.

Hanae is an impact tech entrepreneur and certified international project manager with 10 years of overall professional experience, including 5 years in social impact stewardship at a multi-award non-profit and 2 years of operational stewardship at a high growth tech startup.

Jihad is a Moroccan American Psychologist and CEO of InspireCorp, the first prevention-focused mental health social enterprise in the MENA region and Africa. 

Benjamin Bocio Richardson is a humanitarian, health activist, and dentist. At the age of 14, he co-founded a charity with his family named FUMEBO, which is dedicated to supporting underserved communities in the Dominican Republic. Benjamin earned his degree in Dentistry from La Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE) in the Dominican Republic and Boston University. 

Max Bouchet is a researcher with the Metropolitan Policy Program and the Global Economy & Development Program of the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Chaimae Bourjij is currently the national project coordinator of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Morocco. In parallel, she is founder chairwoman of the International Youth Council – Morocco chapter and MENA regional director for the International Youth Federation.

At CEBRI, she is responsible for coordinating the think tank’s Environment and Climate Change Program.

Charlotte Brandsma is a political scientist and activist with an interest in security, civic engagement and women’s rights. Her geographic focus is Europe, the United States and the Mediterranean region.

Jessa Coleman is a seasoned director with a decade of experience in public-private partnerships, climate finance, decarbonization, resiliency, and sustainability across three continents. She has demonstrated a strong ability to manage high-stakes projects, foster strategic relationships with key partners, and drive significant financial and environmental impact.

Francisco Cordoba is a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Institute for the Future in Cyprus. He has founded Zote, a decentralized recruitment platform in London; Latinverse, a metaverse learning platform funded by Metapurse fund in Singapore; and NaaS, an AI lending solution for SMEs funded by Startupbootcamp in the Netherlands. He has advised financial regulators and won first place at the Bank of Cyprus Fintech Hackathon.

Teresa Danso-Danquah is the Manager of NextGen Initiatives at Disability:IN, where she leads career development programs for U.S. college students with disabilities