Ambassador Spotlights: February 2022

Eloá is a Social Responsibility analyst at Daiichi Sankyo Brasil, joining the company towards the end of last year. However, for a long time, she has been a dedicated and impactful volunteer. She is an active member of the One Young World Community, previously working on Zurich Insurance Company’s NEXT initiative as the Brazil Local Ambassador. For the past six years, she has given her time and expertise to AVRA, an NGO that offers short-term courses, workshops, lectures, and programmes to make society more prepared for the job market. The organisation directs funds raised from these programmes towards low-income people, for them to develop their own sustainable initiatives.

During the pandemic, Eloá led on initiatives for the Atitude project such as #ProjetoResposta. Throughout 2020, Eloá and the team have conducted monthly deliveries of food stamps, cleaning products, hygiene supplies, masks and hand sanitizer to low-income communities close to the metropolitan area of São Paulo. The following year, Eloá committed to increasing these donations by 50%.

Muzna Dureid is a policy analyst and humanitarian practitioner. She currently works as policy analyst on indigenous relations and partnership at the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Muzna is also a decorated advocate for diaspora women's refugee political participation, and a co-founder of the Syrian women's political movement to engage Syrian women in politics, peace talks, and shape Syria's future.

As a participatory grant making and strategy consultant at Mariam Assefa Fund, Muzna provides funds to refugee and immigrant-serving organisations. She has been involved in multiple initiatives and networks focusing on child and forced marriage issues among Syrian refugees. This includes founding “Women Refugees, not Captives” aiming to end forced and child marriages of Syrian women refugees and girls. She has substantial experience in humanitarian work for internally displaced people and COVID response in Syria, leading a local PPE manufactory through her work as Liaison officer for The White Helmets. As part of her work for women’s rights and gender equality, Muzna has worked as a consultant on WPS at Women, Peace, and Security Network. She is a fellow of Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship at Edinburgh University and Laurate of Femmes d’Avenir en Méditerranée at Sciences Po University. Her work and story have been covered by national media outlets in Canada and can be read here.

Tamara is an experienced analyst who works in financial risk management at KPMG in the Cayman Islands. Alongside this, she has a keen interest in sustainability challenges relating to mental wellbeing and financial literacy. In collaboration with other employees at KPMG, she has been driving the You Got This! internal campaign in the Cayman firm.

The aim of the campaign is promoting wellness and giving support to people as part of the group's drive to encourage a better work-life balance. The team has been able to set up the firm’s inaugural Wellness team in 2021, when as a consequence of the pandemic mental wellbeing was an especially urgent issue. During that year, Tamara and the team highlighted Mental Health Awareness Month for the first time. They invited several mental health professionals and activities throughout May in the effort to highlight COVID and its impact on working life. Between 200 and 300 people have been engaged and impacted by the activities within the firm. Additionally, the group aims to support local organisations that promote mental health awareness and support.

Honduras has one of the highest rates of violence in the world, with widespread extortion and other forms of gang violence. Juan founded the Warriors Zulu Nation Honduras in 2011, with the goal of creating a safe space for young people in Honduras to express their artistic talents and reject gang culture.

When Warriors Zulu Nation Honduras was first founded, Juan had to meet with local gang leaders to inform them of his intentions for working in the local community of San Pedro Sula. Warriors Zulu Nation uses hip hop culture, particularly dance and music, to attract young people with common interests to create a safe and supportive community. The foundation made up of 15 “Warriors” offers artist workshops on breakdancing, rapping, graffiti, and even photography. The organisation also offers youth discussion groups on topics such as respect, politics, education and how to counter violence in local communities. More than 3,000 people have participated in and benefited from at least one of the organisation’s projects.

When Yineth was 16 years old she became very aware of the socio-economic barriers to third-level education in Colombia. This realisation spurred her to support talented young people from underprivileged backgrounds in the country who otherwise would not have the chance to pursue further education. She co-founded Mentors4U Colombia, a non-profit which identifies, supports, and connects talented low-income students with career opportunities through a powerful mentoring programme.

The organisation has so far organised 7 mentorship programmes, connecting more than 500 college students with mentors and branching out to implement similar programmes in Honduras, Mexico, South Africa, and Thailand. Mentors4U Colombia designed a 5-7 month long programme to engage participants using an innovative methodology, giving the organisation the experience it needs to now act in an advisory capacity to universities, companies, and NGOs implementing their own, similar mentoring projects, they have advised organisations such as Colombia’s Ministry of Education, Teach for Colombia, Universidad de Los Andes, Fulbright Colombia and McKinsey & Co. Yineth worked at ICETEX, a Colombian government body promoting higher education access, providing financial aid and educational credit to college students. Her work responds to the needs of young people before, during, and after their third level educational journeys. Through different programmes they have reached more than 30,000 young people, helping to develop skills and aptitudes necessary to excel in the job market.

The Academy of Health Innovations - Uganda has implemented a customizable web-based platform designed by Janssen, the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, to empower and support healthcare workers and patients on the frontlines of critical healthcare challenges in Uganda. Prior to this the method followed by Ugandan healthcare workers involved home visits by the members of COVID-19 treatment units, which proved to be both expensive and time-consuming. The web-based Call for Life COVID platform addressed this problem. As Project Coordinator, Irene has played a key role in the implementation of this initiative.

The platform works by sending out automated calls 48 hours, 2 weeks, and 6 weeks after a patient has been discharged so as to ensure proper documentation of symptoms and inquire about any mental health ramifications COVID may have had on the patient in question. Patients can respond in real-time and the service is available in several languages. Irene led the scaling of this project nationally by training over 200 healthcare workers in 18 COVID-19 treatment units. Over 4000 patients have benefited from the project so far, and the efficiency gains from the use of the web-based platform allows for a better allocation of health-related resources in the country.

In November, the energy industry announced the nominations of 100 women from its ranks who are quickly becoming key figures in the transition to a zero-carbon future. The women were selected by their colleagues and peers so as to promote their visibility as role models for an industry in transition. Maureen, a Completion Engineer at bp, was selected in Transition Economist's The New Generation category for women who, despite being relatively early in their careers, have already proven themselves as dedicated to the principles and practice of energy transition and have shown themselves to be potential future leaders in the industry. She appears alongside some of the most accomplished women in the energy sector worldwide.

Maureen has had a lifelong interest in sustainability, having written on the topic of sustainable green buildings as part of her master's degree. Within bp Egypt, Maureen works in a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative and programme mentoring young people in Egypt partnering with an NGO with the sole purpose of preparing Egyptian youth for a better chance to succeed in their careers in line with Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 5.

Having been inspired by the OYW summit in 2021, Maureen along with a group of OYW ambassadors/ bp employees are working on a ‘Volunteering Hub’ project to allow employees the chance to get a sense of purpose in making other people’s lives better in line with bp aims.

Nathalie co-founded Oceanmar Project alongside Mariana Argueroa a year and a half ago and already the organisation has held more than 20 clean-ups, developed a significant social media presence, and collected around 100 kg of rubbish. They have organized an art exposition created with trash collected during the clean ups on the island of Cozumel, which is open to the public until March 10th. The Oceanmar Project now has communities in 4 countries; Spain, Germany, Mexico, and Venezuela, and regularly organises educational events with local communities, developing online courses and participating in conferences at different universities in Latin America. Through her work with the Oceanmar Project, Nathalie played a role in helping to stop environmentally questionable construction activities on the island of Cozumel in Mexico. Working alongside a citizen-based activist campaign called 'NoAlCuartoMuelle', they successfully opposed the construction of a 4th cruise ship pier on the island, receiving support from various local and international actors in the process.

Through its educational initiatives Oceanmar Project has reached over 700 students on ocean literacy, marine biodiversity, and zero waste living. Through this vital work, Nathalie has had the opportunity to participate in international events like COY16. The Oceanmar Project aims to create a conservation and educational centre by 2023. Using the skills she picked up during her time in the corporate world, Nathalie hopes to scale Oceanmar Project's activities even further, for the benefit of local communities and the ecosystem.

The Young Leaders Community is a movement of talented young people from Moroccan-Dutch backgrounds, a community that still struggles with problems associated with a weak socio-economic position. The Young Leaders Community hopes to contribute to the alleviation of the problems affecting Dutch Moroccans by developing young people into leadership roles and mobilizing the resulting movement to reduce societal inequalities and build a more equitable and resilient Netherlands.

Anouar is one of 10 members who have become community leaders following their participation in and completion of a thorough and comprehensive Leadership Academy, which included training, personal coaching, and team fieldwork. For their outreach programmes and fieldwork, the Young Leaders Community has been nominated by the Oranje Fonds, an endowed foundation in the Netherlands, for the prestigious 'Appeltje Van Oranje' prize. Specifically, the Young Leaders Community has been nominated for their Talents Academy, through which burgeoning role models train secondary school students in 21st century skills around character development, study skills and social skills. Impacting over a hundred students annually, this programme is free of charge.

Cyrus45's story began in 2017 with 20 discarded tyres that had become a breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes. Faced with this reality, Olabanke founded Cyrus45 as an upscaling initiative transforming solid, non-biodegradable waste like tyres into ultramodern interior design and furnishing products. Under her creative lead, the company has so far managed to upcycle about 3,000 end-of-life tyres, converting them into chairs, mirrors, tables and other readily usable pieces of furniture. The environmental impact has been significant, as these tyres would likely be improperly disposed of or burned otherwise. In the process, Cyrus45 has managed to sensitise over 10,000 people on the importance of waste management, green living, and the recycling/upcycling dynamic through its social media presence and through community engagement.

Cyrus45 aims to build an eco-conscious business that nonetheless remains on the cutting edge of artistic design. In 2018, it was awarded the ACE award for best eco-friendly brand while in 2019, Olabanke received the JCI award as one of ten exceptional young people in the Business, Economic and Entrepreneurship category. She has also been invited to speak at the African Union about her work on upcycling, and Cyrus45 has received extensive media coverage in the BBC and Al Jazeera.

Oliver Rieche attend the OYW Summit back in 2011 in Zurich and has been named one of the 'Top 10 Future Leaders' in the UK by the British LGBT Awards. This year's awards are set to take place on Friday 24 June, celebrating leading LGBTQ+ activists, allies, and celebrity figures who have worked to advance the rights of LGBT+ people in the last year. Among those nominated in the 'celebrity' categories are Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa, and Billy Porter.

Oliver was nominated for the work he has carried out to advance LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion at his former law firm Reed Smith in London, where he practiced as an environmental lawyer. He helped draft the firm's first transitioning policy and promoted trans and bi inclusion through interactive workshops with Global Butterflies and the London Bisexuality Network. Oliver further hosted a Pride event for 150 clients, coordinated senior allies' training and LGBTQ+ recruitment, as well as a series of fireside chats with global LGBTQ+ role models. 

In addition to his work in LGBTQ+ spaces, Oliver has extensive experience working in sustainability initiatives. He was the co-founder of the PCY Water Project and has worked with the UNHCR in Malaysia helping refugees.