Leila Janah

A courageous adventurer throughout her short life, Leila Janah’s work was inspired by her travels. A stint teaching English in Ghana when she was a high school senior first sparked her realization that there were talented people stuck in poverty simply because of where they lived. From that time on, she sought to do something about it, whether it was creating her own degree in African Development Studies at Harvard University or launching her nonprofit Samaschool in 2013 with the aim of teaching people transferable digital skills. Janah’s insight led her to found companies that were way ahead of their time. She created Samasource in 2008 to train workers in AI data annotation; today, the company, which employs people in India and East Africa, numbers the likes of Walmart and Microsoft among its clients, and has given over 50,000 people the skills to compete in the global marketplace. It was another trip that led to the founding of organic skincare company LXMI in 2015. Janah created this ethical, fair-trade brand after discovering its signature ingredient, Nilotica, at a market in Uganda, and it has expanded into Suriname, Kenya, and South Africa as well as providing opportunities for women in Uganda.