epAward 2019 Jury

  • Iana Aranda - Engineering for Change (E4C)


    Iana Aranda is the President of Engineering for Change, LLC (E4C) – a knowledge organization and global community of over 1 million individuals. The organization designs and delivers essential technologies to underserved communities.  Iana drives a multidisciplinary and human-centered approach to international development enabled by digital platforms, partnerships with technical societies and knowledge infusing engineering consistency, innovation and talent to deliver sustainable solutions. Iana has over 12 years of experience in academic, research and nonprofit sectors focusing on the intersection of engineering design, business development and social responsibility. Engineering for Change is a longtime collaborator of  empowering people. Network and a Supporting Partner of  empowering people.Award 2019.

  • Dr. Maria Flachsbarth - Member of the German Bundestag


    Dr. Maria Flachsbarth is a Member of the German Bundestag since 2002. She is the Deputy Regional Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union in Lower Saxony and also the Chairman of the party’s district association in Hanover. From the 15th to the 17th legislature, Maria Flachsbarth was a full member of the Committee for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Since the beginning of the 19th legislative period, she is Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development.

  • Patricia Jumi - GrowthAfrica, SPRING


    Patricia Jumi is the Managing Director and Co-founder of GrowthAfrica, an organization focused on growing successful enterprises in Africa through business acceleration, strategic advice and access to investments. Patricia has 20 years of extensive experience across Africa in working with entrepreneurs across different sectors and transforming their businesses into successful ventures. She has accelerated GrowthAfrica’s advancement across different parts of Africa by working with over 152 entrepreneurs who have gone ahead to raise $42m and created 24,000 jobs. Patricia is also the Regional Co-Director of SPRING in East Africa and Ethiopia, an accelerator which helps entrepreneurs develop products that positively impact the lives of adolescent girls living in poverty in Africa.

  • Christiane Laibach - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft


    Christiane Laibach is Chair of the DEG Management Board since July 2018. She was also appointed to the Management Board of KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH in 2008. She has served as the First Vice President and Team Head Rail and Road in the area of project and export financing. From 2001-08, she served as the Senior Vice President and Head of Aviation. She was also an as Senior Project Manager in the Southeast Asian division in the area of development cooperation. She has been associated with empowering people.Network and was a part of the international jury for empowering people.Award 2016.

  • Deepak Menon - Village Capital


    Deepak Menon is the Regional Director for Emerging Markets at Village Capital, an organization that trains and invests in entrepreneurs solving real-world problems. Deepak joins Village Capital after 5 years with mDhil Health Info Services, a health startup based in India, where he served as the COO. Prior to mDhil, he spent eighteen months with Quest Alliance, a non-profit focused on education and vocational training, where he worked primarily on program evaluation & partnership management.  He has also been with Microsoft,  working on building partnerships and programs with non-profits as well as social enterprises working in health, education or financial inclusion.

  • Odin Mühlenbein - Ashoka Germany


    Odin Mühlenbein is a Partner at Ashoka Germany and the Lead of Advisory at Ashoka Globalizer. Ashoka is the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs. Globalizer helps these social entrepreneurs develop impact strategies for social system change. Before joining Ashoka, Odin was a consultant at McKinsey & Company and co-founded two social ventures.

  • Oliver Nachevski - Engineers Without Borders International


    Oliver Nachevski is the President of Engineers Without Borders – an international association of engineers and engineering students from around the world. The organization facilitates collaboration, exchange of information, and assistance among its members. Oliver has over 32 years of extensive professional experience in the corporate and non-profit sectors where he has advanced the core business objectives by promoting social and environmental responsibility. He is also a Project Manager at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) fostering involvement from the private sector by developing strategic alliances. He was a jury member of empowering people Award 2016.

  • Martha Yaneth Rodríguez Merchán - World Vision Colombia


    Martha Yaneth Rodríguez Merchán is the National Director at World Vision Colombia. Martha has been closely supporting programs of World Vision in Colombia for 20 years. She has made an extensive contribution in the areas of Administration and Finance, Human Resources, Marketing, Communications and Sustainability. In 2013, she took over the role of the National Direction of World Vision Mexico. She is a specialist in Education, Business Administration, Social Management, with Market Research Studies, Leadership of NGOs and Senior Management at INCAE.

  • Petr Skvaril - Impact Hub


    Petr Skvaril is the Global Partnerships Director at Impact Hub. The organization is a leading global network of 16,000 entrepreneurs, acceleration programs and co-working spaces in 100 cities around the world that drive innovation for a sustainable world. Petr and his team develop strategic partnerships around Impact Hub’s global and regional initiatives. He has wide experience in leading a number of innovation projects in his previous role at Vodafone and managing the global development business team at AIESEC International. Petr is currently based in Prague and has lived in the US, the Netherlands and Austria. 

  • Amy Smith - Massachusetts Institute of Technology – D-Lab


    Amy Smith is the Founding Director of MIT D-Lab, an innovative university-based program in international development and a senior lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is also the founder of the International Development Design Summit, co-founder of the MIT IDEAS Global Challenge, co-founder of Rethink Relief conference, and originator of the Creative Capacity Building Methodology. She founded MIT D-Lab in 2002, that works with people around the world to develop and advance collaborative approaches and practical solutions to global poverty challenges. D-Lab has established a diverse international network of more than 1,000 innovators from across the world and set up local innovation centers in Africa, Central America, South America, India and Southeast Asia. MIT D-Lab is a longtime collaborator of the empowering people. Network and a Supporting Partner of empowering people.Award 2019.

  • Julia Thiele-Schürhoff - Knorr Bremse Global Care e.V.


    Julia Thiele-Schürhoff is Member of the Supervisory Board of Knorr-Bremse AG and of the company’s Corporate Responsibility Council. Since 2005, she is Chair of the Executive Board of the nonprofit organization Knorr-Bremse Global Care. The aim of the organization is to strengthen people’s independence and responsibility for themselves and to align impact-oriented education and WASH projects. Prior to this, she worked in Infineon Technologies AG on sales business administration. Knorr-Bremse Global Care is sponsoring an additional WASH Award of 20,000 Euros and a mentorship program for a winner of empowering people. Award 2019.

  • Karen von Bismarck - Technology Exchange Lab


    Karen von Bismarck is the co-founder and CEO of the Technology Exchange Lab, Inc. (TEL), a US-based nonprofit organization and leading information center on low-cost, high-impact solutions to problems of poverty. She worked as an instructor in the Management School of the German Trade Union Confederation in Hamburg.  In 2009 along with a fellow alumnus from MIT Sloan, she founded the Technology Exchange to bridge the gap between global innovators and consumers at the bottom of the pyramid.  In addition to her work with TEL, her participation in like-minded organizations includes co-judging the annual MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab Business Plan Competition and advising the Aid & International Development Forum. Karen was a jury member of empowering people Award 2016. TEL has been works closely with empowering people.Network for may years and is a Supporting Partner of empowering people. Award 2019.