Karen Korponai

Karen is in the business of guiding conscious companies in their quest to turn visions into reality. She promotes the business paradigm that focuses on people, planet, purpose and prosperity. Karen has over 20 years’ experience working with global brands including managing projects for celebrity brands such as George Foreman, Bob Marley and Akon. She is an MBA graduate of Thunderbird School of Global Management, is bilingual and has travelled to over 70 countries. In 2014, Karen launched her own consulting company to support organizations with business development, marketing and communications, events, sustainability strategies and strategic partnerships. One of her first projects included a C-suite position at Akon Lighting Africa, which brought solar energy solutions to over 1 million rural households in over 10 countries. Karen is focused on identifying and supporting scalable technology solutions such as those impacting clean energy and ocean plastics. She has had the opportunity to attend the Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) on Necker Island. Most recently, Karen is involved in sustainability initiatives within smart cities. She is a Board Advisor and Director of Social Impact and Sustainability for the Skopje Technology Park (STP Capital) in the Balkans. And, she is advising Akon on strategic partnerships for his Smart City initiative in Senegal. One of Karen’s many skills is her ability to foster strategic partnerships between like-minded organizations. Her efforts with Akon led to the first African-made solar street light assembly plant in Mali. She also led the co-creation of Light to Learn, a campaign around education and energy in Liberia with Akon, the technology driven Bridge International Academy schools and the first elected female head of state in Africa, Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson. Karen is a founding member of the House of Marley consumer electronics leadership team and launched the brand in over 30 countries, developing and executing marketing plans and managing agency relationships and events to support Bob Marley’s vision of creating a better world through earth-friendly products. Karen is an Ambassador for the Global Citizen Forum and the Global Blockchain Business Council where she has spoken on panels hosted on Sr. Richard Branson’s Necker Island and Kasbah Tamador in Morocco.