Executive Director, Social Entrepreneur, Female Leadership Advocate
Ghana

Yawa is the Executive Director of Emerging Public Leaders, a serving member of the Board of Directors at Ashesi University College, and the Founder of the Leading Ladies’ Network. In addition, she is a Co-founder of Impact Hub Accra, and an influential speaker and author.

Prior to her current positions, she served for three years on the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community and worked as a leadership consultant to UN Women, assisting in the development of leadership curricula to enhance the capacity of women leaders in East and Southern Africa. Additionally, Yawa served for two years as a member of the Advisory Board of the Women’s Institute for Global Leadership at Benedictine University.

In May 2012 at the World Economic Forum on Africa, Yawa was recognized as one of Africa’s Rising Leaders, and in 2016 was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship in honor of her pioneering work nurturing emerging women leaders.

Her most recent venture has allowed her to work toward her goal of accelerating African development and economic growth through building a stronger civil service. As Executive Director of Emerging Public Leaders (EPL), Yawa works to strengthen EPL’s organizational development and expand its network of country-led programs.

Yawa gained her BSc in Business Administration from Ashesi University in Ghana, after completing honors studies at The American University of Rome in Italy. She is an alum of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, where she gained an MA in Gender, Peace and Security. She additionally attended the Protocol School of Washington where she certified as an International Protocol Consultant.