Joannes Yimbesalu is a 2025 Millennium Leadership Intensive participant and a Pan-African development leader, AI strategist, and social impact entrepreneur with over a decade of experience advancing youth employment, digital innovation, and inclusive policy solutions across Africa. He is the founder of Nanaade, an AI-powered job-matching platform revolutionizing how young Africans access employment, skills, and career guidance—incubated at the Harvard Innovation Lab and Social Innovation + Change Initiative. Joannes has led national and regional programs with UNICEF and Generation Unlimited (GenU) in Nigeria, Niger, Benin, and Côte d’Ivoire. GenU is a global public-private youth partnership, a flagship program of the United Nations on a mission to skill the world’s 1.8 billion young people and connect them to opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship, and social impact, especially in the most vulnerable communities. Yimbesalu spearheaded large-scale digital skilling and youth employability initiatives, including the rollout of Yoma, a blockchain and AI-powered platform that has reached over 4 million youth. He currently serves as technical lead for the Youth Entrepreneurship and Future of Work subgroup under the Women’s Economic Imperative and contributes to the International Panel on Social Progress (IPSP). A published researcher, Yimbesalu has co-authored “How AI is Bridging Gaps and Building Bridges in Development” and “From Ideas to Impact: Unlocking Youth-Centred Job Creation in Africa.” He holds a Mid-Career MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School and is committed to building inclusive, data-driven solutions that unlock the potential of Africa’s youth.