One Young World 2022

For the second consecutive year, Holcim participated in the annual One Young World Summit, which convenes the brightest young leaders to accelerate social impact.

Meet Ralph - winner of the Lead2030 challenge

Holcim is proud to support Lead2030, a One Young World initiative that funds and accelerates Sustainable Development Goals solutions created by founders under 30. This year, Holcim is investing in a challenge focused on SDG #11, sustainable cities.

Ralph Nasara from OOYOO is the winner of the Lead2030 Challenge supported by Holcim. OOYOO is developing low-cost, high-performance carbon capture technology to make cities greener. OOYOO is awarded with $50,000 in funding, access to the One Young World Summit, and mentoring from Holcim experts to take their work to the next level.

Through this challenge, we invest in youth-led initiatives that make cities greener by pushing the boundaries of sustainable construction and urbanization.

Meet our delegates


Twenty-seven Holcim delegates attended the 2022 One Young World Summit in Manchester. Check out their bold ideas for the future.

AbdurRahman Awad

Technical Sales Engineer, UAE/Oman

"It is our collective responsibility to protect our planet's resources for our future generations. My boldest idea is to challenge all the business units in the Middle East and Africa to build a demo of a sustainable residential unit, using Holcim sustainable products."

Al-Anoud Shagareen

HR Officer, Jordan

"My idea aims to have continual environmental contribution where each employee has his own imprint and positive impact. I called it "Shoulder the Responsibility.""

Allyson Zurawski

Environment & Land Manager, US

"To accelerate growth and build for the future, we can develop a platform where we can capture all of the projects related to sustainability that we are already working on across the globe."

Eftychia Avramidou

Araxos & Arta Quarry Supervisor, Greece

"I have a personal vision to promote diversity in the industrial sector and contribute to minimizing its industrial footprint."

Elena Dunaeva

Airium™ R&D Project Leader, France

"I would like to focus your attention on the social impact of Holcim. Diversity and inclusion matters for business... and I think everybody can play a role."

Elena Hess

RMX Value Added Products & Services Specialist, Switzerland

"My bold vision is that ECOPact, our green concrete, is not just the global market leader for sustainable RMX solutions but it is a concept that transforms our way of thinking and acting across the value chain and in our whole group."

Felipe Garcia Majorel

Country Category Manager, Argentina

"I am really passionate about nature and sustainable development. Leading the energy strategy for Holcim Argentina has allowed me to be a protagonist in the company’s way towards sustainability."

Frida Maria Martinez Silva

Regional Commercial Manager, Mexico

"We need to bet on the new. We need to stop thinking the old way... Inclusion in our field, diversity and gender equality in key positions are fundamental to produce global growth."

Ioanna Papaioannou

Senior Communications Specialist, Greece

"Having acknowledged that education is one of the most powerful and proven vehicles for sustainable development, as highlighted by the SDGs as well, we designed and implemented a contribution program, focusing on empowering and uplifting the future generations."

Juan Diego Bolanos Lanzziano

Cloud Project Specialist, Colombia

"Recently, ADC - Americas Digital - Center has implemented a policy where you can work from anywhere. We can use this flexibility to choose a community, or a place that normally doesn't have a professional with our background, and we can share with this community our knowledge."

Kaushik Mukherjee

Country Head of Geocycle, Bangladesh

"All individuals have the right to live in an environment which is not deleterious for their health and we need to preserve this environment for our future generations... As Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation of India said once, the Earth can satisfy our need, but not our greed."

Kazei Kurda

S&OP Supervisor, Iraq

"New ideas are born when we come together because each of us can make a difference but together we can make a big change."

Liam Berneville-Claye

Marketing Manager - Value Added Products, Australia

"As young emerging leaders of the new world, we have a duty to inspire, educate and implement real-world solutions, which shape our future for the better."

Lisa Moser

Head of Recycling/CDW Cement, Germany

"Together with my team and technical marketing, I push for innovation on sustainable products. I like to be part of an industry which is going to design the way we live tomorrow."

Lucas Degelder

Reliability Manager, Eastern Canada

"My boldest idea is that by 2030, we have one cement plant in each of our five regional markets that delivers a 60% reduction of CO₂ emissions relative to 2018 levels."

Martha Cordova

Digital Lead, Ecuador

"Since I was 14 years old, I have been fascinated with the power of technology and the exponential impact in the world. My boldest idea around digitalization is providing an agile service using an online quotation service, through conversational commerce."

Maxime Despont

Trading Manager EMEA, Switzerland

"How can we trigger that when an individual is building a new house, they say to the construction company: "We heard about this Holcim low-carbon solution, can we include it in our project?" My ambition is that very soon it becomes an obvious behavior to go for low-carbon cement for any new project."

Melissa Maria Delgado Vides

Head of Market Insights, El Salvador

"My boldest idea is related to the growing digital communication channel and the growing need to make communities more sustainable and resilient.Tracking the progress of a construction project digitally can cement more trust with international stakeholders."

Merjorie May C. Young

Regional Activation Officer, Philippines

"I strongly believe in the power of togetherness: no options are small or irrelevant, as long as we passionately believe in it."

Mohammad Saad

Maintenance Manager, Romania

"Our world is facing too many challenges. CO2, energy, water and climate change are factors forcing us to change drastically how we manage our operations. The good news is that we have in our hands all that we need to drive our future operations to the new one."

Nimco Moumin

Senior Manager, M&A Corporate Development, Canada

"The drive to build more with less has already started with innovative solutions such as our ECOPlanet range of green cement products... It is up to all of us in the greater Holcim network of employees to share, educate and disseminate the validity of these innovative solutions."

Patrick Lester

Senior Manager, Organizational Development, US

"I want to start the “No free returns pledge.” If you buy it, keep it. Take the pledge to make smarter consumer choices to help reduce waste, fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions."

Vlad-Constantin Ungureanu

Digital Lead, Romania

"Never in our history have we needed to urbanize over 1 billion people in a matter of only 10-20 years, but now we do and we have to do that in a fast and sustainable way."

Yousuf Ismail

General Manager, UK

"I'm massively passionate about growing and developing businesses and passionate about innovation, digital and sustainability."