Smare joins world’s Young Global Leaders

 THE World Economic Forum has announced in Geneva the selection of Papua New Guinean lawyer and businessman Anthony Smaré as a Young Global Leader for 2014, joining the Forum of Young Global Leaders for a six-year term.

The Forum of Young Global Leaders recognises the world’s most outstanding, next-generation leaders under the age of 40 from around the world who commit a portion of their time to jointly shape a better future and thereby improve the state of the world –  honourees include Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google co-founder Larry Page and British Prime Minister David Cameron.  

Smaré becomes the first person from the Pacific Islands to be honoured as a Young Global Leader.  

The 2014 Young Global Leaders have been recognised for their professional achievements, their commitment to society and their potential to shape the future of the world through their inspiring leadership.  

The Young Global Leaders selection com­mittee, chaired by Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan, screened the profiles of thousands of young leaders from every region of the world and from every discipline to arrive at the 2014 selections.  

At the announcement in Geneva last Tuesday, Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman, World Economic Forum said,  “The Forum of Young Global Leaders provides a unique effort to engage the younger generation into the management of global affairs, working together and being integrated into the larger forum community. 

“The Young Global Leaders have an exceptional opportunity to improve the state of the world.”

“Young Global Leaders are not just exceptional people in their own right; they are leaders that already have a track record in improving the state of the world,” said David Aikman, managing director and head of the New Champions at the World Economic Forum. 

“We welcome the Class of 2014 into our community and look forward to collectively engaging them to deliver change of genuine global significance.” 

Smaré said he was honoured and humbled to be selected as a 2014 Young Global Leader.  

“It is an extraordinary privilege to be recognised as part of such an amazing group of people who have accomplished so much,”he said.   

“I hope to learn as much as I can and to contribute as much as I can particularly regarding causes that I feel passionately about that impact the world.   

“My inclusion will serve to challenge me to make a more significant contribution to the world, and Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Island communities in particular.”   

As a Young Global Leader, Smaré will be actively involved in a number of World Economic Forum community projects and events, including a Young Global Leaders summit in China in September,  the yearly World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, as well as to a series of Young Global Leaders events throughout the year.  

The Young Global Leaders come from all sectors of society (arts and culture, academia, business, civil society, media, politics and social entrepreneurship) and all regions, and notable  Young Global Leaders include British Prime Minister David Cameron, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, Yahoo chief executive officer Marissa Mayer, Google co-founder Larry Page and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.  

Smaré is part of a group of around 213 honorees that was announced, including Dorjee Sun, CEO of Carbon Conservation (Australia); Sachin Bansal, co-founder and CEO of Flipkart.com (India); Jonah Peretti, co-founder and CEO of BuzzFeed (USA); Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder of CloudFlare (Canada); David Karp, founder and CEOof Tumblr (USA); and Charlize Theron actress and founder of Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (South Africa).  

Smaré has degrees in law and applied science (geology) from the Queensland University of Technology.  

He started his career in the Melbourne offices of Australian law firm Allens Arthur Robinson, eventually becoming partner of the law firm.  

In December 2013, he was appointed interim chairman of Nambawan Super Limited.  

He is a director of the PNG subsidiaries of Barrick Gold Corporation, which own 100 per cent of Kainantu gold mine and 95 percent of Porgera gold mine. 

He was a foundation director of Nationwide Microbank Limited and is a director of City Pharmacy Limited.  

He is a former director of Telikom PNG Limited, Mineral Resources Authority and bemobile. 

He has substantial property, logistics and other business interests.  

Queensland University of Technology named him Outstanding Young Alumnus for 2010 in recognition of his achievements in law and business since graduating in 1998.   

Smaré’s record in social enterprise, including founding the Kumul Scholars International at university, incorporating leadership organisation Kumul Foundation, serving as a foundation trustee of the Halivim Wantok Disaster Relief Fund, and recently helping the expansion of the Barefoot College programme to PNG through the training of PNG village women as solar engineers in India and the creation of a Highlands based training centre in PNG under the newly founded LekNating Foundation.