Caren Wakoli
Caren Wakoli is the Founder and Executive Director of Emerging Leaders Foundation (ELF); a non-profit organization that exists exists to empower, support and accompany young women and men to achieve meaningful, dignified and impactful participation in governance, economy and public affairs at all levels of society.She is a certified leadership coach, transformational leadership trainer, and social entrepreneur who delights in mentoring young women and men to be able to discover their purpose and achieve their greatest potential in life. She has over 17 years’ experience of doing youth empowerment work in Kenya and Africa at large. She has taken part in various policy formulation processes both nationally and internationally.
Caren has received several recognitions for her commitment to youth and women empowerment, democracy and good governance, the latest being the recognition by President Obama in his speech at the Mandela Lecture in South Africa in 2018. She is the 2018 winner of a Pan African Award – CEO Global Most Influential Women in Business and Government (Civil Society and welfare category) the East African winner. She has been profiled as one of the most influential women in East Africa, by the East African Standard Newspaper in 2017.
She has a master’s degree in international studies and Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Sociology, both from the University of Nairobi. In her free time, she loves to read, take nature walk, watch movies, learn how to play guitar and listen to jazz music.
