Vedant SEEAM – Chairman
Vedant Seeam is the Founder and Chairman of ELI Africa, as well as the President of ELI Africa (Mauritius). After performing well at primary school level, he was granted admission to St Joseph’s College, where he became Chairman of the Student Council. He began playing badminton and soon made the Mauritian National Team. In 2005, Vedant achieved the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award. After he graduated from high school, he ran for political office and became the youngest-elected politician in Mauritius when he served as the Vice-Chairman of Finance of the District Council of Rivière du Rempart. Thereafter, Vedant opted for the prestigious Yale University to pursue further studies. At Yale, Vedant made history when he became the first international Yale Varsity Football Team player to date. During his junior year Vedant began to conduct research and fundraise, and soon thereafter, started HOPE Inc. (Helping Orphans Prosper Through Education). HOPE later turned into ELI Africa, and Vedant’s dream of helping disadvantaged African youth through education took a large step towards reality.
Sam TEICHER – Environmental Project Manager
As the ELI Scholar until June 2013, Sam leads our environmental project promoting conservation, waste management, and environmental education. In addition to his ELI Scholar work, Sam is assisting management of ELI Africa’s operations. A proud resident of Washington, DC, Sam holds a B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in environmental sustainability from Yale College. His project with ELI Africa is part of his gap year for the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies’ Master of Environmental Management degree, which he expects to obtain in May 2014.
Cedric CLAIN – Program Officer
Cedric pursued his secondary level education at St Joseph’s College and achieved brillant results at SC and HSC level. He is currently doing a BSc in Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Mauritius. Cedric was one of the first ELI Corps Members to join ELI Africa and used to lead a class of logical reasoning in the centre at Mon Gout which attracted a lot of kids. He subsequently worked as an ELI Intern for two months before becoming Program Officer.
Ashnavi BHIKAJEE – Treasurer
Ashnavi works at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. After completing her HSC at Queen Elizabeth College in 2006, she won the State Scholarship for ranking first at national level (Economics side) and pursued her BSc in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She previously worked at Amnesty International.
Dean LO SEEN CHONG – Assistant Treasurer
Dean, the youngest member of our board, is a student at Le Bocage International School, due to complete his IB diploma in November 2012. He is currently the Deputy Head Boy of Bocage and the Scout Leader of the Scout organization “la 27ème”. He worked as an assistant analyst at Capital Market Brokers, a stock exchange firm, during his school breaks of 2010 and 2011.
