Cynthia Mene

Cynthia Mene is a social innovator and co-founder of the Inspire Africa for Global Impacts Initiative, a nonprofit that provides entrepreneurial leadership education for African youth. Her flagship program, Ignite Innovation Lab, has trained over 5,000 youth across Africa, funded 250 business solutions, and created more than 4,000 jobs. Cynthia has extensive experience designing, planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating human capital development programs funded by the US government (US Embassy, Nigeria); USAID; USADF; Ashoka; and other international development organizations focused on improving job access and economic empowerment of young people and women in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Cynthia serves on the board of Vetsark, a Nigerian agritechnology company focused on transforming agriculture in Africa through the digitalization of farm businesses. As a graduate research assistant for the Keough School’s McKenna Center for Human Development and Global Business, she conducts research on global partnership for alleviating poverty through entrepreneurship. As a master of global affairs student, Cynthia is the recipient of a Keough Family Fellowship.