Valerie Labi can be described as a social innovator, with a proven track record for nurturing growth strategies and delivering shared value in emerging markets. Valerie is making a significant contribution to tackling the global sanitation crisis by pioneering new forms of household sanitation with potential for widescale replication in emerging markets. She is currently Country Director of iDE and founder of the largest sanitation social enterprise in Ghana - Sama Sama; a business operating across eight regions in Ghana serving more than 40,000 customers.

Not only is her work today establishing a robust sanitation market ecosystem in Northern Ghana which aims to reach more than 300,000 people by 2021. Valerie previously served as CEO of Clean Team Toilets, 2013 winners of the Dame Lesley Strathie Award for Operational Excellence at the UK Civil Service Awards and is currently one of the pioneers behind SolarTaxis, which is accelerating Ghana's transition to solar powered mobility.

She excels when driving business transformation, providing leadership and finding innovative solutions to social issues.

Her accomplishments to date at driving social change through business were acknowledged when she was invited to become a member of the 12th class of the Harambean Entrepreneurial Alliance in 2019, Valerie was honoured by President Obama when she was awarded the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders 2014.

In addition to being a mother and a business leader, Valerie’s alma mater is that of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK. Since graduating she continues to pioneer in academia, contributing to thought leadership publishing research papers on her core research focus of Sustainability Leadership.