Laura Akunga

Laura Akunga is an entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Benchmark Solutions Limited, a multinational company with operations in 13 countries around the globe. Benchmark Solutions Ltd offers specialized strategic alliance services with a major focus on market and financial linkages. Under Laura’s leadership, Benchmark Solutions Ltd has arranged transactions of over $1 billion USD.

Laura is also a philanthropist — educating, mentoring and supporting the medical welfare of 50 orphan girls. Among her various awards and recognitions, Laura was named in the Top 40 Women Under 40 in Kenya by Business Daily Africa in 2014, and as the Young African Woman Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010. In 2013, Laura was appointed the vice chairperson of the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP), an initiative of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Laura was selected for the 2015 Fortune/U.S. State Department Global Women's Mentoring Partnership. She was a mentee for two weeks in May 2015, splitting assignments between Xerox Corporation with Barbara Basney and Young & Rubicam with Shelley Diamond. Read an article about her on the Xerox blog; and watch a video interview with Shelly Diamond at Y&R.