Kossi Elom Balao is a West Africa-based bilingual journalist specializing in political and environmental issues. He began his career as a reporter at the University of Lomé’s student newspaper in Togo. He worked his way up in journalism, serving as an editor at five different newspapers. He is currently an editor of three news portals: Ghanaweb, Cameroonweb and Wayeno (a news portal based in Togo). In 2015, he was awarded first place in the Local Heroes Journalism Competition organized by Deutsche Welle.