5 Women to Watch at WEF 2019

This year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) kicks off today in Davos. “Around 3,000 participants from business, government, civil society, arts, culture and media are gathering in the Swiss mountain town for five days of sessions on some of the most pressing global challenges” — reads the official WEF introduction.

Unfortunately, women remain significantly underrepresented at the annual gathering. This year, 22% of participants will be women, a slight improvement from the 21% registered last year.

Nevertheless, there are still some truly inspirational women in attendance, who will surely provide valuable insights on this year’s theme: Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Here are five of the female leaders who will be among the speakers at this prestigious global event.

Winnie Byanyima

Winifred Byanyima is the executive director of Oxfam International. Before that, she served as the director of the Gender Team in the Bureau for Development Policy at the United Nations Development Program.

At Davos, she will be a part of several panel discussions, including one on how Africa can create 18 million jobs each year to 2035 to accommodate young labor market entrants.

You can stream the session here. You can follow Winnie on Twitter.

Basima Abdulrahman

Basima Abdulrahman is one of the co-chairs of this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos. The co-chairs are responsible for framing discussions throughout the week, and Basima will be the leading voice among them on sustainability. She is an award-winning architect, and the founder of KESK, Iraq’s first sustainable architecture consultancy.

As a Co-Chair of the event, she will be present at a number of sessions, including the introductory press conference, which will set the mood for the entire event and which you can watch here. You can also follow Basima on LinkedIn.

Katja Iversen

Katja Iversen is the President/CEO of Women Deliver, and a leading global advocate for investment in gender equality and the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls.

At Davos, she will speak at a panel on “ Women in the New World of Work”. The panel will explore how to build an ecosystem for women in Fourth Industrial Revolution jobs and how to promote lifelong learning in STEM and computing for women.

You can stream the session here. You can follow Katja on Twitter.

Niama El Bassunie

Niama El Bassunie is the CEO of WaystoCap, an online B2B marketplace for businesses in Africa to buy and sell goods. Niama is one of Africa’s foremost female entrepreneurs, and WaystoCap was one of the first ever African companies to receive funding from the prestigious Y Combinator program.

Niama will be speaking on a panel focused on enabling the achievement of generating an estimated $12 trillion of market opportunities in food, cities, energy and health systems in Africa through the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

You can stream the session here. You can follow Niama on LinkedIn.

Hilary Cottam

Hillary Cottom is an acclaimed innovator and social entrepreneur, who has previously worked with UNICEF and the World Bank. She is a TED speaker and a frequent advocate for Africa and better social services for all.

At Davos, Hilary will deliver a lecture on how we can apply a human-centered design approach to reimage social systems for the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. She will also be a part of a panel on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its social implications.

You can stream the session here. You can follow Hilary on Twitter.