Introducing the 2025 Leapfrogging Partnership Fellows

The Leapfrogging Partnership Fellows program helps connect, inspire, mentor, and support the work of 12 e-mobility leaders around the world.

Led by Dr. Monica Araya, Distinguished Fellow at ClimateWorks Foundation, the six-month program offers a valuable learning and training experience for young professionals. Selected through a competitive nomination process within the network of Drive Electric Campaign partner organizations, Fellows are based in and from some of the fastest-growing markets across Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

The Drive Electric Leapfrogging Partnership Fellows program provides:

• Mentorship from members of the Drive Electric community of electric transportation leaders and advocates.
• Support through monthly learning modules with Drive Electric experts and an honorarium.
• Investment in a network of alumni to continue after the completion of the program.

“The Leapfrogging Partnership Fellowship brings together an inspiring cohort of next-generation leaders in e-mobility from emerging markets around the world,” shares Araya, who is leading program development for the Fellowship. “It is so energizing to connect and support this network of next-generation leaders.”

The Leapfrogging Partnership Fellows program is part of the Leapfrogging Partnership initiative of the Drive Electric Campaign, which aims to supercharge electric transportation by supporting partners across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

The Fellowship program is designed to foster connections between emerging leaders in electric mobility, bringing together a unique coalition to share knowledge, network with peers, find mentorship, and develop a community of alumni that will continue on after the program concludes.

“One of the most powerful elements of the Drive Electric Campaign is the connectivity between partners. We have seen how collaboration and sharing learnings across regions can accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles, and we are thrilled to welcome this cohort of Fellows to our global community,” noted Rebecca Fisher, Drive Electric Campaign Director.

Meet our 2025 Leapfrogging Partnership Fellows:

Alberto Chávez Mejía (he/him)

Alberto is an associate researcher for electromobility at the Iniciativa Climática de Mexico, where he undertakes data analysis to advance zero-emission transport policy and innovation. His work connects government and civil society stakeholders to accelerate Mexico’s transition toward clean and sustainable mobility.

📍Mexico

Andika Akbar Hermawan (he/him)

Andika is an associate with the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Southeast Asia program where he leads coal-to-green initiatives under the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), drives critical mineral decarbonization efforts, and supports a project to accelerate the adoption of EVs in Indonesia. He is a co-author of the Indonesia Sector Transformation Report and Advancing Clean Metals in the Nickel Sector, published in April and June 2025.

📍Indonesia

Clemente Gauer (he/him)

Clemente is a director and coordinator of the safety working group at ABVE (Brazilian Electric Vehicle Association) and board member at ABRAVEI (Brazilian Association of Electric Vehicle Owners), where he focuses on measures such as road tax exemptions and incentives for charging infrastructure.

📍Brazil

Huong Le (she/her)

Huong is a researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), where she explores best practices in EV development policies, fuel consumption standards, and ZEV regulations, translating data into actionable policy recommendations to accelerate Vietnam’s EV transition.

📍Vietnam

Juan Pablo Díaz Gutiérrez (he/him)

Juan is an industrial designer with a master’s degree in smart mobility and has led several projects for the development and implementation of electric vehicles and transport decarbonization in Colombia and Spain. He is currently a project leader in the sustainable mobility area at Polen Transiciones Justas, where he leads the E-rurality project, testing two- and three-wheeled electric vehicles in rural conditions and demonstrating their enormous potential for rural work, as well as their resilience in extreme road and weather conditions.

📍Colombia

Katie Mumbua (she/her)

Katie is a project manager for the Green Freight Support Program at the Smart Freight Centre, where she leads efforts to reduce freight emissions and co-leads the Green Freight Support Program in Africa’s busy Central and Northern transportation corridors.

📍Kenya

Mariana Müller Barcelos (she/her)

Mariana is a transport decarbonization coordinator at the World Resources Institute (WRI) Brasil, where she leads freight decarbonization initiatives, focusing on engaging public and private stakeholders  and contributing to the development of public policies to accelerate the sector’s decarbonization in Brazil.

📍Brazil

Prian Reddy (he/him)

Prian is a senior program manager, zero-emission buses at C40 Cities, where he leads technical assistance and strategy for electric bus adoption across several African cities through the Zero Emission Bus Rapid Deployment Accelerator (ZEBRA) program.

📍South Africa

Priya Bansal (she/her)

Priya is a senior program associate with the electric mobility team under the sustainable cities and transport division at WRI India, where she leads research and analysis focused on gauging the enterprise-level impacts of the electric mobility transition on India’s automotive manufacturing sector and strategies towards accelerating EV value chain localization.

📍India

Rijhul Ladha (he/him)

Rijhul is a research associate at the University of California, Davis’ India ZEV Research Centre and Global South Clean Transportation Centre, where he explores the transition to electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, conducting economic analysis and assessing market projections to build policy and regulatory roadmap for zero-emission trucks at national and sub-national levels in India. He is involved in building knowledge support among stakeholders for supply-side regulations in India.

📍India

Stefano Sacco (he/him)

Stefano is the battery sustainability lead at Centro de Movilidad Sostenible (CMS), where he focuses on projects that combine technical innovation and policy development to accelerate decarbonization in Latin America and the Caribbean. His work includes two key areas: the economic, environmental, and social impacts of mining in Chile, and the development of batteries’ second-life and recycling ecosystems for the region.

📍Chile

Tenny Kristiana (she/her)

Tenny is a researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), where she explores charging infrastructure in the transition to zero-emission vehicles in Indonesia, as well as broader electrification strategy outreach to government, other stakeholders, media, and the public.

📍Indonesia

Accelerating zero-emission transportation for all

The Leapfrogging Partnership is supercharging zero-emission road transportation in emerging markets, supported by the IKEA Foundation, Quadrature Climate Foundation, and other participating funders.

Drive Electric’s global approach has already accelerated progress toward 100% clean transportation with work in over 76 countries. Now, more than 40% of the world’s transportation demand is covered by government and business commitments to shift 100% zero-emission vehicles by or before 2050. But clean transportation, and its benefits, are not yet equally distributed. The goal of the Leapfrogging Partnership is to accelerate access to clean, affordable zero-emission vehicles the world over.

The Leapfrogging Partnership deepens Drive Electric’s work with partners across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia by supporting the next generation of country leaders in zero-emission transportation, encouraging scalable solutions at regional and country levels, and expanding existing global platforms to include public, private, and civil society sector leaders from emerging economies.

About the Drive Electric Campaign

The Drive Electric Campaign is an ambitious, philanthropy-powered global initiative to achieve a global tipping point leading to end the polluting tailpipe and accelerate the transition to 100% sales of zero-emission electric cars, trucks, buses, and two- and three-wheelers for the benefit of health, climate, and the economy.