Elizabeth Dearborn Hughes

Elizabeth Dearborn Hughes is the CEO & Co-Founder of the Akilah Institute for Women, a college with campuses in Rwanda and Burundi. Elizabeth moved to Rwanda after graduating from Vanderbilt University in 2006. Elizabeth and her husband Dave Hughes founded Akilah to provide market-relevant education and career development to promising young female leaders. Ninety percent of Akilah graduates launch their careers within six months of graduation, earning incomes 5x higher than the national average. Akilah has been featured in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, Forbes, Guardian, GOOD, ABC News, the Council on Foreign Relations, and more.