European Young Leaders (#EYL40)

Souad is a German journalist of Turkish and Moroccan descent who works for prestigious international magazines, newspapers and TV channels, such as The New York Times, ZDF and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. She specialises in stories relating to terrorist organisations and Islam, and she recently covered the Egyptian demonstrations at the height of the Arab Spring. She is also Co-author of two German language books that deal with the issues of political Islam and jihad, The Children of Jihad and Islam. In 2009 the independent jury of the magazine medium named her one of the Top 3 reporters in German speaking countries. Souad is also the author of the book ‘I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad’, published in 2017.

A Slovenian entrepreneur, Žan Menart recognises the potential of scientific and technological advances to positively impact quality of life. Faced with the knowledge that half of the world’s population will have serious vision problems by 2050, Menart co-founded Smart Optometry to develop digital software solutions for eye diagnostics and vision therapy, including examinations, therapy, health monitoring and damage prevention. By adopting a non-traditional approach to eye care and health, Menart oversaw the development of AmblyoPlay, a software-based vision therapy solution that provides at-home therapeutic games and exercises for children with medical eye conditions. The novel interactive gaming software now helps protect and improve the eye health and well-being of thousands of patients worldwide from an early age. Under Menart’s leadership, Smart Optometry has also developed the first-of-its-kind interactive app for eye screening and testing to provide simple, fast and precise diagnostics.

Throughout an extensive and wide-ranging career in international organisations and institutions, Sandro Mendonça’s work has focused predominantly on the economics of innovation and industrial strategies. Mendonça is a Fellow of The German Marshall Fund of the United States and was a Visiting Fellow at King’s College London. In addition to serving as a board member of the Portuguese Communications Regulator (ANACOM), Mendonça was a science officer at the official Ibero-American Programme for Science and Technology (CYTED).  He has published in major international journals and has taught doctoral programmes in mainland China, namely Guanzhou and Chengdu. Sandro’s research has been used by various international organisations, including the United Nations, the European Commission and the US Senate. Mendonça was named a European Young Leader (EYL40) in 2015.  

João is the Secretary General of the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Portugal (BCSD Portugal), a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Global Network. Prior to assuming his current role, João held several roles in the public, private and non profit sectors. He served as Secretary of State for Youth and Sports in the Portuguese Government, had several roles in the Portuguese startup ecosystem (as head of Startup Discoveries, a venture capital fund, head of the REACTOR – Innovation Hub, and head of the Mouraria Creative Hub). He also served as director of GABIP Mouraria, a mission unit reporting to the mayor of Lisbon that led the rehabilitation of Mouraria – in the past a deprived area in the center of Lisbon, but also its most traditional and multicultural quarter. Finally, he’s the founder of HUB 2050, a consulting firm acting in the field of innovation for sustainability, and author of two books about management and innovation.»

Luka Mesec is a Slovenian politician and activist who currently serves as the Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunity, and as Deputy Prime Minister. He has served in the national parliament for nearly a decade and is the former leader of the eco-socialist party, The Left. Throughout his political career, he has championed participatory economics, social corporate governance, improved social benefits for the poor, labour rights and the abolition of tax havens. Mesec also initiated the establishment of a Ministry of Solidarity-Based Future, in charge of developing social housing, long-term care and economic democracy. Prior to entering politics, he was notably active in various initiatives that promoted the welfare state and workers’ rights.

Bertalan is The Medical Futurist and Director of The Medical Futurist Institute analyzing how science fiction technologies can become reality in medicine and healthcare. As a geek physician with a PhD in genomics, he is also an Amazon Top 100 author and a Private Professor at Semmelweis Medical School in Budapest. With 500+ presentations including courses at Harvard, Stanford and Yale Universities, Singularity University’s Futuremed course at NASA Ames campus and organizations including the 10 biggest pharmaceutical companies, he is one of the top voices globally on healthcare technology. Bertalan was featured by dozens of top publications, including CNN, the World Health Organization, National Geographic, Forbes, TIME magazine, BBC, and the New York Times. He publishes his analyses regularly on medicalfuturist.com.

Before becoming Executive Director of UNICEF Hungary in 2017, Antonia was a well-known Hungarian journalist, television presenter, author and documentary filmmaker. She has interviewed just about every EU politician that visited Hungary in recent years. She hosted Hungary’s main evening current affairs programme from 2007 to 2011, but was forced to leave the national public broadcaster MTV, along with thousands of colleagues after the new government “reorganised” public broadcasting and has been working at ATV, an independent news channel ever since. Antonia has participated in charitable projects and literacy campaigns aimed at helping the Roma population. For the last few years she has also been asked to head a Hungarian foundation recognising and rewarding journalistic achievements and organising events and workshops for media professionals. She is an English Literature graduate from ELTE University in Budapest.

Roberta is the youngest ever and third woman President of the European Parliament. Prior to this, she served as Vice-President of the European Parliament, also as a member on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, among several other parliamentary committees and delegations. A lawyer by profession, Roberta is a member of the European People’s Party Group (EPP) and among the first female members of parliament to represent Malta. She is a two-time recipient of Parliament Magazine’s MEP Award, receiving recognition for her work on justice and civil liberties, and hosted the awards ceremony in 2017.

Ayman Mhanna is Executive Director of the Beirut-based Samir Kassir Foundation, one of the leading press freedom NGOs in the Middle East. In this capacity, he oversees the foundation’s advocacy, monitoring, research and training activities. Ayman has previously held the position of Executive Director of the Global Forum for Media Development, focusing on monitoring violations targeting journalists and providing them with the necessary support. He has also extensively worked with issues related to election observation, electoral reform and civil society involvement. Until recently, he was a lecturer on policy development and communications at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. In 2016, he was appointed Secretary-General of the Democratic Renewal Movement, a secular, social-liberal political party in Lebanon.

Domna Michailidou is a Greek politician and economist currently serving as Minister for Social Cohesion and Family Affairs. She has held several deputy ministerial roles in the Greek government and previously served as reforms advisor to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Michailidou focuses on growth strategy, capital markets and public finance, and has worked with international institutions including the United Nations Development Programme, the British Council and the Food and Agriculture Organization. She has also served as an economist and competition expert at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in both Paris and Athens. Alongside her policy work, Michailidou teaches economics at the University of Cambridge and University College London, and has authored several publications and books. Her work bridges academic insight and public policy to promote inclusive economic development.

Meghan Milloy is the Co-Founder of Republican Women for Progress (RWFP) and the Director of Strategic Communications at the Institute for International Bankers. Prior to this, she was a fellow at the Robert Bosch Foundation, where her work focused on trade issues in the German public and private sectors. Meghan previously served as the chair of Republican Women for Hillary (RWFH) and director of financial services policy at the American Action Forum (AAF). During the Obama administration, Meghan worked as a presidential management fellow at the Small Business Administration on matters of financial inclusion and as a counsel with the House Financial Services Committee. She was an intern at the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the George W. Bush White House. Meghan has also worked in the office of former Senate majority leader Trent Lott and has volunteered for the campaigns of Haley Barbour, George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton.

As Founder of Clarity AI, Rebeca looks to solve the problem of inefficient and unequal allocation of capital by building an automated tool which rates the investment portfolios of a range of projects, companies, governments and NGOs. Rebeca is also the Founder of the Blink Booking mobile app, an award-winning last-minute booking app that is a market leader in Europe with more than 800,000 downloads, almost 3,000 hotels and available in six languages before its sale to Groupon. Previously, Rebeca served as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and as engineer at the German Aerospace Agency, Siemens and IBM.

Soheil Mirpour is a Member of the Management Board of Rocket Internet, Europe’s largest incubator for technology companies. He is also a Partner at the company’s investment arm, Global Founders Capital, which is among of largest venture capital firms in Europe. Prior to his current roles, Mirpour gained experience in private equity and investment banking at two leading global investment firms, KKR and Morgan Stanley. He started his career at Rocket Internet as a co-founder and managing director of marketplaces in the Middle East. Devoted to social causes that benefit youths from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, Mirpour currently works as a mentor in the Deutschlandstiftung mentorship programme and serves on the Board of InteGREATer.

Bálint is a Hungarian social policy specialist whose work integrates research, advocacy and fieldwork. Currently serving as the senior advisor on social and housing policy for the Mayor of Budapest, he is also the co-founder of The City is For All, a community organization dedicated to advancing housing justice and empowering people experiencing homelessness. A fervent believer in the need to address the root cause of housing and economic inequality rather than the symptom of homelessness itself, Bálint has succeeded in significantly impacting the discourse and politics surrounding homelessness and housing poverty in Hungary. He also set up and coordinates an emergency service which combines social work and non-violent resistance to prevent the eviction of impoverished families.

Nadia, better known by her stage name Imany, is a French pop-soul singer. After a successful modelling career in New York, she reinvented and established herself as a singer in Paris. Her debut album, ‘The Shape of a Broken Heart’, released in 2011, became soon platinum. Since her debut, Imany went on to write the soundtrack for the film ‘French Women’, released an acclaimed second album, ‘The Wrong Kind of War’, and toured extensively around the world. She has mapped out her route ploughing a furrow between soul, folk, blues and pop, whilst imposing her own style.