Aida Bakri
Global Citizen Proud Mom Social Entrepreneur in Belgium
Ethiopian and Swiss by origin, Aida is a social entrepreneur at heart.
With vast experience as the co-Founder and Managing Director of a leading Brussels-based consultancy, ADS Insight, she has a strong sense of leadership and management in the field of international and European affairs. Her expertise is in public affairs, connecting change-makers with EU decision-makers.
With a long-standing policy expertise in maritime, renewable energies, circular economy, education, food safety and impact investing, Aida is proud to see ADS Insight approaching 20, and yet maintaining a spirit of we can always do more. It is this spirit and a strong commitment to the UN SDGs which is the guiding light for all the work of ADS.
Thanks to ADS Insight’s corporate social responsibility and ESG strategy, Aida and her team have been involved in supporting a wide range of good causes ranging from Adopt-a-Midwife in Ethiopia, to SeaAlarm for oil-spill-responders, to the RFC refugee football club Syriana, and CREAD, the Climate Resilience Executive Agency for Dominica.
Aida was also a co-Founder of the LadyAgri Impact Investment Hub in 2018 and today serves on its Advisory Council. ADS Insight was proud to have served as LadyAgri’s incubator and continues to support the mission to bring impact investment and technical assistance to female entrepreneurs in agriculture in Africa and small island developing states.
Aida has lived in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria, Switzerland, and Belgium. She holds a Bachelors' Degree from Vesalius College in Brussels, and a Masters’ in Environmental Technology and Management from the VUB. She has previous experience in the European Commission DG Research and at the EFTA Secretariat. She is plurilingual to varying degrees, in 5 languages, English, French, (Swiss) German, Swedish and Dutch.
She is a mentee in the Vital Voices and Bank of America Global Ambassadors Programme, and she is also a mentor to the next generation of young professionals.
She lives in Brussels with her family, 2 children and dog, but the Bakri family is spread over 4 continents. A truly international bunch.