Biographie
Social entrepreneur, farmer, global youth advocate, and author, Thione Niang was born into a modest family of 28 children in Senegal. He emigrated to the United States in 2000 with only $20 in his pocket and carved his way through hardships while getting involved in his new community in Cleveland, Ohio.
His efforts led him to participate as a community organizer in the historic 2008 presidential elections by supporting Democratic candidate Barack Obama, and to become the national co-president of gen44 for the 2012 re-election campaign. Former president of international affairs for the “Young Democrats of America,” he was appointed by President Obama as an ambassador to the Department of Energy.
Thione Niang has spoken in over 100 countries around the world on various topics such as leadership, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and sustainable energy. He has founded and currently leads six structurally different but substantively similar international organizations: Thione Niang Group, Give1Project, Akon Lighting Africa, JeufZone Farms, Thione Niang Institute of Agriculture and Leadership, and Give1Project Digital Skills Academy.
