JA at the Skoll World Forum 2026 and Hosting Education House Oxford
Guest post by Howard Leong, Research Strategist, JA Worldwide
From the left: Ana Martiningui (Vice President of Global Development, JA Worldwide), Asheesh Advani (President and CEO, JA Worldwide), Howard Leong (Research Strategist, JA Worldwide)
I’ve never thought of myself as a social entrepreneur. Like many at JA, we simply like asking the right questions and finding the right problem to solve. Increasingly, the most interesting problems that confront us are wicked ones—complex, ill-defined social issues that are difficult or impossible to solve due to incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements. We see our world’s most pressing problems requiring innovative thinking, complex stakeholder management, and a community of excellent practitioners to compare notes on the mechanisms that scale. Sometimes, we benefit from looking further afield and listening deeply to the beneficiaries. Solutions may just be hidden in plain sight.
At the 2026 Skoll World Forum, social entrepreneurs gathered to hold such conversations and take collective action. The annual forum brings together 1,500+ social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and philanthropic foundations from 90+ countries. JA has been involved in the community for many years. Most notably, our Middle East and North Africa office (INJAZ Al-Arab) was one of the three Skoll Awardees in 2009.
This year, Simi Nwogugu, President and CEO of JA Africa, represented us at the main event while Asheesh Advani, CEO of JA Worldwide; Ana Martiningui, Vice President of Global Development, JA Worldwide; and I hosted conversations at Education House at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.