Elena Bonometti

Elena Bonometti is the Chief Executive Officer of Tostan, an Africa-based organization that empowers communities to develop and achieve their vision for the future and inspires large-scale movements leading to dignity for all.

Elena is an Italian national with 20 years of professional experience in Africa, specializing in the field-based management of development programs, specifically focusing on community health and economic empowerment. Since her appointment as Tostan’s CEO in 2017, Elena has led the organization’s new scaling strategy, which seeks to scale community well-being following three pathways: direct implementation of programs, training and sharing, and global influence.

Today Tostan implements its education programs directly in hundreds of rural communities across five West African countries. It has also welcomed more than 600 trainees from 49 countries to its training center in Senegal, West Africa and is increasingly playing an important role in the global community.

Elena holds a Global Executive MBA from Georgetown University/ESADE Business School, a Masters of International Relations from Sciences Po in Paris, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at University of Trieste, Italy. She is fluent in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish and currently lives in Dakar, Senegal with her family. Elena is also a co-founder of Catalyst2030, a collaborative movement of joint action for systems change to achieve the SDGs.