IMANI�s Bright Simons Named Young Global Leader For 2012

Two high-flying and global award-winning Ghanaians, Bright Simons and Fred Swaniker, have been honoured with the title of �Young Global Leader� by the World Economic Forum. Professor Klaus Schwab, the Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, said in a statement: �This honour is bestowed by the World Economic Forum each year to recognize the most distinguished young leaders nominated below the age of 40 from around the world.� It added: �The Selection Committee, chaired by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, chose [the Young Global Leaders] after carefully screening the profiles of thousands of young leaders from every region of the world and from a myriad of disciplines and sectors. [Their] nomination is in recognition of [their] record of professional accomplishments, [their] commitment to society and [their] potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world through [their] inspiring leadership.� The list of Young Global Leaders includes such globally famous personalities as: Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia; Ken Ofori-Atta, co-founder of DataBank, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook; Larry Page, co-founder of Google; and Anousheh Ansari, the first female private astronaut or space tourist. Bright Simons is the President of the Mpedigree Network � www.mpedigree.net � and Frank Swaniker is the co-Founder of the African Leadership Academy - www.africanleadershipacademy.org � in Ghana and South Africa respectively. They also have other high profile roles and positions. Swaniker is a co-founder of the prestigious Africa Leadership Network and Simons is a well-known researcher at IMANI Center for Policy & Education, an award-winning policy analysis center. It may be recalled that Bright Simons won several awards last year for his invention of a mobile-phone platform for detecting fake medicines and Fred Swaniker was recently named by Forbes.com amongst the 10 youngest �power men� in Africa. Both gentlemen have also been honoured as TED Fellows - an honorary award program of TED. The TED Fellows program is �designed to bring together young world-changers and trailblazers who have shown unusual accomplishment and exceptional courage.� The two gentlemen are being honoured by the world economic forum alongside 12 other Africans.