Tolu Olubunmi is a Nigerian-born, American-raised chemical engineer turned political strategist, social entrepreneur and public speaker. She is the founder and CEO of the social impact venture, Lions Write. In 2018, Tolu was tapped by the Director-General of the UN Migration Agency (IOM) for a special appointment as Advisor to the UN Department of Global Communications and Manager of the Climate Action Campaign ActNow.  Tolu has established and led numerous NGOs and campaigns focused on education, migration, economic inclusion, sustainability, and climate change. She has worked closely with leaders in government, the private sector, and civil society to shift culture, influence public policy and build strategic and mutually beneficial partnerships – she served on the World Economic Forum’s Migration Council, co-founded Immigrant Heritage Month, and has helped draft and implement U.S. immigration policies.  

Tolu sits on the Board of Directors of the Anti-Defamation League, Board of Directors of USA for IOM. In 2015, the World Economic Forum named her one of 15 Women Changing the World and an Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur. Her inspiring personal story and work have been profiled by several media outlets, including BBC, MSNBC, TIME, CBS, US News and World Report. Tolu is an inaugural Leadership Institute Fellow at the Center for American Progress and holds a chemistry-engineering degree from Washington and Lee University. 

Ms. Ulrika Modéer officially began her role on 20 August 2018 as UNDP’s Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy. In this role she leads the organization in nurturing and growing key relationships with Member States, and new and emerging partners, as well as lead UNDP’s communications and advocacy, as it works to realize the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals. Ms. Modéer previously served as Sweden’s State Secretary for International Development Cooperation and Climate and has been instrumental in reshaping the country’s international development cooperation to support the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. She combines a strong policy background with parliamentary and civil society experience and has had several assignments in Latin America (Bolivia, Guatemala) and Africa (Mozambique/South Africa). Ms. Modéer holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Niels Annen was nominated Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in December 2021. He is a vocal advocate of maintaining and cultivating the rules-based global order and strongly believes in seeking multilateral solutions to current conflicts and crises. Based on a firm commitment to universal human rights, fostering humanitarian aid, peace mediation and the preservation of the global arms control architecture, Niels Annen promotes a strong role for the Federal Republic of Germany in international diplomacy for a sustainable future of our planet. Prior to his current position, he was Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office between 2018 to 2021 and served for several years as spokesperson on foreign affairs of the Social Democratic Party Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag. Niels Annen was a member of the Social Democratic Party’s executive committee from 2003 to 2019.   

Ms. Amina J. Mohammed is the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Mohammed served as Minister of Environment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where she steered the country’s efforts on climate action and efforts to protect the natural environment.

Ms. Mohammed first joined the United Nations in 2012 as Special Adviser to former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with the responsibility for post-2015 development planning. She led the process that resulted in global agreement around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Ms. Mohammed began her career working on the design of schools and clinics in Nigeria. She served as an advocate focused on increasing access to education and other social services, before moving into the public sector, where she rose to the position of adviser to four successive Presidents on poverty, public sector reform, and sustainable development.

Ms. Mohammed has been conferred several honorary doctorates and has served as an adjunct professor, lecturing on international development. The recipient of various global awards, Ms. Mohammed has served on numerous international advisory boards and panels. She is the mother of six children and has two grandchildren.

Katlego Kai Kolanyane-Kesupile is an international award-winning cultural architect, communications specialist, performance artist, development practitioner and human rights advocate. OkayAfrica named her one of the 100 Most Influential Women of African Descent in 2018. Her accolades include being nominated for the US State Department’s International Women of Courage Award, a TED Fellow, Queen’s Young Leader, Chevening Scholar, Mandela Washington Fellow, and OutRight’s UN Religion Fellow. She holds a Sociology Masters in Human Rights, Culture, and Social Justice, with a focus on Disability Rights and Public Space Design, from Goldsmiths University of London, UK. Her published writing spans theatre, academic texts and policy analyses. 

Mame Balla is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, and music producer based in Europe who sings about peace, environmental issues, the experiences of growing up in West Africa and more.

Mame Balla has worked with Bouba Ndour, producer and brother of the famous singer Youssou Ndour, with whom he released two internationally successful albums. Between his solo career and the former music groups Dancehall Masters and Darou Salam, Mame Balla has partnered with international artists of different music genres such as Senegalese pop singer Viviane, dancer Ndeye Geye, hip hop group Gokh-Bi System, and Dutch-Albanese rapper Jon Tarifa. He has also partnered with Polish and German artists for a jazz project, and performed with Congolese afrobeat singers in the Netherlands. Between 1999 and 2004, Mame Balla and his former group Dancehall Masters received awards as Best New Group and Best Group in The Gambia; and also received the prize Prix de l’intégration at a Senegalese hip-hop awards. Mame Balla took a course in music production at the State of Mic Studio in The Gambia. Performing with Pape Samory and Issa Ndiaye. 

Inna Modja is a Malian-French visual artist and musician. She is a United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’s Land Ambassador and a strong global figure for social, gender and climate justice. She has been advocating for the African-led movement Great Green Wall for the past five years. She co-founded the non-profit organization Code Green, which is disrupting traditional fundraising models to accelerate social and climate solutions and helping grow a Web3 community of artists and collectors who harness the power of technology for green justice.

Nadira Hira is an award-winning journalist known for her distinctive style. Ms. Hira has appeared on NPR, HBO, CNN, and MSNBC. She has captivated audiences at Google, Disney, Comic-Con International, the UN’s Global Festival of Action, and marquee events around the world as both a speaker and host. 

Ms. Hira has also relished examining contemporary culture from all angles contributing to notable outlets including Newsweek, Essence, Smithsonian, MTV News, and Fortune, where she profiled singular subjects as Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, the rollicking ancient art trade, and Twentysomethings in the 21st century.

Niels Annen has been the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development since December 2021.  Prior to this, Mr. Annen served as Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office (2018-2021), foreign policy spokesperson for the SPD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag (2014-2018), and member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and deputy member of the Committee on Economics and Energy (2013-2018).

Mr. Annen is a strong advocate of universal human rights, fostering humanitarian aid, peace mediation, and inclusive sustainable development.

In her role Ms. Ponti led several global initiatives including the #Trunitaround, #FlipTheScript, and Unite To Act campaigns that have mobilized over more than 350 million SDG actions in 190 countries and the UN SDG Action Awards that identifies and celebrates changemakers from across geographies and sectors. As a strong advocate for social and climate justice, Ms. Ponti believes in the power of creativity to lead positive change towards more inclusive, sustainable and peaceful societies.  

Previously as one of the main architects of the UN Millennium Campaign, Ms. Ponti served as the Global Deputy Director and Regional Director for Europe for over a decade and was at the vanguard of innovative campaign initiatives, building multi-stakeholder coalitions, mobilizing resources and forging long-term partnerships between civil society organizations, local governments, parliamentarians, media, private sector and the UN. She also served as a Special Advisor on post-2015 during the final negotiations of the 2030 Agenda, along her roles at the UNICEF and UN Secretariat and Catapult – a girls and women’s right crowdfunding platform. Ms. Ponti started her career with the Italian NGO Mani Tese as the Head of Campaigning and External Relations, leading global campaigns and movements on debt, trade, human rights and development assistance.  

Ms. Ponti has published several articles for newspapers, magazines, online publications and blogs on the SDGs, aid effectiveness, financial speculation, gender equality, social development, local development, debt-relief, human rights, and trade.

Canon Ambassador Muhammed Muheisen is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and founder of the Everyday Refugees Foundation. He has been documenting the world’s refugee crisis for over a decade under the theme ‘a smile in the middle of the rubble’. Muhammed has seen a great deal pass before his lens. Since 2001, he has photographed major events around the world including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Yemeni revolution, the US-led war in Iraq, and the Syrian civil war. He has also documented the funerals of the former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the late South African president Nelson Mandela, and the capture of the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

Sabrina Dhowre Elba is a CEO, model, and activist born in Vancouver, Canada, and of Somali Descent. Ms. Elba was appointed the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in April 2020 and has since dedicated herself to the challenges faced by rural women and girls. Ms. Elba also works with various civil society organizations (CSOs), including Farm Africa, Conservation International, and the European Board for Global Citizen. She received a TIME100 Impact award and The Crystal Awards from the World Economic Forum.

The Hon. Emma Theofelus is a young, 26-year-old Namibian born in Windhoek, who is currently a Member of Parliament and the Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology in the Republic of Namibia. Before her appointment, The Hon. Emma Theofelus was a youth activist for issues of gender, children’s rights, sustainable development and youth unemployment. She served as the Deputy Speaker of the Youth Parliament of the Republic of Namibia and the Junior Mayor of the City of Windhoek amongst other roles. The Hon. Emma Theofelus holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours Degree) from the University of Namibia, a Diploma in Business Management from Amity University and a Diploma in Afrikan Feminism and Gender Studies from the University of South Africa.