Alumni Board
These graduates give their time to the network — welcoming colleagues, strengthening regional ties, and helping the community stay close across continents.
- Colleagues
- 11
- Serving
- The alumni network
- Snapshot
- 2026
Colleagues serving the network
Each person here is a Kectil graduate who now helps guide the alumni community. Open a card for the public bio.
Sherry Knowles
Founder & Executive Director
United States of America
In 2015, Ms. Knowles created the idea of a non-profit foundation, “The Malmar Knowles Foundation” (“MKFF”) to provide mentorship to talented youth leaders (aged 17-26) in developing countries, with a focus on leadership, innovation, inventions and entrepreneurship, mental health, gender equality and environmental sustainability. MKFF was organized in the State of Georgia, U.S., and recognized by the U.S. IRS as a non-profit 501(c) organization in 2016. Now, ten years later, MKFF is working in over 100 developing countries globally to mentor, train, support and strengthen youth leadership. Over this ten-year period, MKFF has touched the lives of over 10,000 youth. The dream of creating a global network of youth leaders in developing countries for a better tomorrow is being realized by hard work, dedication, and a very active Kectil Global Board of proven passionate youth leaders and volunteer representatives in many countries.
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Ajauwa Ifedayo
Alumni Board Member
Nigeria · Cohort 2017
Ajauwa Ifedayo, professionally known as Iffective, is a KECTIL Alumni Board Member, creative entrepreneur, musician, and emerging technology and cybersecurity professional based in Glasgow, Scotland.
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Azeem Yousaf
Alumni Board Member
Pakistan · Cohort 2017
Azeem Yousaf is a dynamic and accomplished individual whose journey reflects an unwavering commitment to education, youth empowerment, and social welfare. Azeem is a Textile Engineer by profession and a postgraduate scholar in Business Administration, blending academic excellence with a deep passion for community service and leadership.
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Edvard Grigoryan
Alumni Board Member
Armenia · Cohort 2024
Edvard Grigoryan is a conflict analyst and policy professional working at the intersection of diplomacy, peacebuilding, and regional security, with a particular focus on the South Caucasus and European foreign policy. He holds a Master's degree in EU International Relations and Diplomacy from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, which he completed on a full European Commission scholarship, and a Bachelor's degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from Yerevan State University.
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Goharik Grigoryan
Alumni Board Member
Armenia · Cohort 2022
Goharik Grigoryan is an educational leader and researcher with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a strong professional focus on education policy, governance, youth development, and international educational cooperation.
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Hein Htet Oo
Alumni Board Member
Myanmar · Cohort 2019
Hein Htet Oo is a strategy and policy executive with extensive experience spanning government, UN, and nonprofit settings — from leading operations of the New York City Department of Small Business Services Career Centres in Manhattan to serving as Advisor to the Ambassador of Myanmar's UN Mission. He holds an MBA in Sustainability from Bard College.
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John Jawara
Alumni Board Member
Sierra Leone
John Jawara is a Kectil Alumni Board Member from Sierra Leone. He assists Kectil with West African engagement and issues. His professional specialty is healthcare. He holds a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Grand Valley State University in Michigan and a Bachelor of Science in Community Health from Kenya Methodist University.
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Mridul Upadhyay
Alumni Board Member
India · Cohort 2018
Mridul Upadhyay is a youth peacebuilding and inclusive governance practitioner from India, and a Kectil Alumni Board Member (2018 Colleague). He is Co-Founder and Chief Advisor of Youth for Peace International. He currently works as a Programme Management Specialist — Youth at the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT).
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Ronald Barzola
Alumni Board Member
Peru
Ronald Barzola is a Kectil Alumni Board Member from Lima, Peru. Between 2018 and 2021 he was a Hult Prize Winner and served as a Peru Community Builder. In 2023 he became a Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative alumnus.
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Ruth Etalla
Alumni Board Member
Cameroon · Cohort 2024
Ruth Etalla is a communications professional and Master’s student with a background in Journalism and Mass Communication. I am passionate about storytelling and social impact, using communication as a tool to amplify voices, inspire young people, and create meaningful connections across communities.
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Wycliffe Nyabade
Alumni Board Chairperson
Kenya · Cohort 2016
Wycliffe Guguni is a Kenyan Senior Manager in social innovation, impact management, and the building of entrepreneurial ecosystems. His management work sits at the intersection of sustainable development, research, entrepreneurship and innovation, youth leadership and policy. His recent thinking emphasizes the importance of sound policy, community-led research and effective innovation processes in creating enabling environments for entrepreneurship and development. His focus has expanded beyond individual projects and organizations toward the systems and ecosystems that enable innovation and entrepreneurship to flourish. Over the course of his career, he has evolved from a youth and community leader into an increasingly influential ecosystem builder, connecting entrepreneurs, young leaders, researchers, policymakers, development organizations, government, and the private sector to advance developing solutions to complex social, economic, and environmental challenges. Guguni serves as the country director for the KECTIL Program in Kenya, where he oversees program implementation on public policy debates, training on innovation by design thinking, intellectual property workshops and entrepreneurial mentorship events for networking and partnerships development. He has served for 5 years as Africa’s Program Coordinator for Fast Forward 2030, an initiative of the University College London hosted by the Institute for Global Prosperity, where his work focused on fostering impact entrepreneurship for sustainable development, building partnerships and coordinating interactions among actors in the Fastforward2030 entrepreneurial ecosystem. He is also chairperson of the KECTIL Alumni Board and a board member at Empower Her Initiative. His earlier work includes grassroots environmental initiatives such as Kibra Green, where he coordinated youth and women in solid-waste-management activities involving waste collection, recycling, drainage, community sensitization and training. He subsequently worked in social innovation and impact management through the KTH Global Development Hub, where his work brought together innovation, development, sustainability, impact and multidisciplinary collaboration. His KTH experience included a multidisciplinary water-quality project involving KTH, Stockholm Vatten and Ericsson, demonstrating his exposure to human-centered design and cross-sector innovation. He has led research and impact initiatives focused on women's economic empowerment, inclusive growth and Kenya's informal economy.
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