Madelle Kangha is the founder and president of JumpStart Academy Africa, a for-impact social venture that seeks to solve Africa’s human capital problem by providing secondary school students between the ages of 15 and 19 with entrepreneurial leadership training. Since commencing operations in 2014, JumpStart Academy Africa has trained over 500 students, impacting them in the areas of academic excellence, civic engagement, and enterprise creation. The Academy has also reached over 5,000 students through community outreach programs and summer camps.

In recognition of her work with JumpStart Academy Africa, Madelle has been featured by Forbes as one of the “innovative Africans fixing a broken education system.” She has also received awards and recognition from the Queens Young Leaders, American Express Emerging Innovators, Ashoka Changemakers, One Young World, and Vital Voices. She was recently named as one of the 50 Most Influential Young Cameroonians of 2016 by Avance Media Africa in the Personal Development & Academia category.

Madelle is an alumnus of the African Leadership Academy, Watson University, and the Monterey Institute of International Studies; and she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Law and Anthropology from the London School of Economics. Madelle is also the founder of Youths4Change, a youth-led, community-based organization, which mentors youths of all abilities across Cameroon. Madelle’s vision is to be a leading social entrepreneur, a mass recruiter of local change-makers, and a role model proving that citizens who channel their passion into action can achieve the impossible.