“It’s not over until the final whistle blows, so run if you can, crawl if you must, but don’t stop moving forward.”
Jean Bruce
Koua
TOP 30 UNDER 30 HONOUREE | 2026
About
PROFILE SNAPSHOT
AGE: 25
PRONOUNS: He/Him
HOMETOWN: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
ORGANIZATIONS:
- Elev Homes
- United Way of the Alberta Capital Region Government of Alberta
- Government of Alberta
- Association Jeunesse Ivoirienne d’Edmonton (AJIE)
- Edmonton Unlimited
GLOBAL IMPACT FOCUS (SDGs)
I am most passionate about:
What specific issue(s) are you working to address, and what motivates you to do so?
My work focuses on addressing housing insecurity, inequitable access to opportunity, and the vulnerability students and youth face during key life transitions. I am motivated by lived experience; navigating instability as a first-generation student taught me early that housing, community, and belonging are not secondary needs, but foundational ones.
This belief led me to co-found Elev, a mission-driven platform designed to improve the student housing and living experience. Through Elev, I work to expand access to safe, affordable, and community-oriented housing for students, including international and newcomer youth. Our work addresses directly SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, while also supporting SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG 4: Quality Education, and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, recognizing that housing stability directly affects academic success, mental health, and long-term opportunity.
A key project within Elev was The Hive, Canada’s first ultra-affordable student housing initiative in downtown Edmonton. I contributed to early visioning, advocacy, and partnership-building with real estate partners, student groups, and the City of Edmonton to demonstrate how deeply affordable housing can be built around student needs. This work also involved policy advocacy to support student-focused housing solutions, including engagement on Edmonton’s downtown housing initiatives.
Beyond housing, I am committed to strengthening youth leadership and community belonging. Through Association Jeunesse Ivoirienne d’Edmonton (AJIE), I am supporting Ivorian and Francophone youth by building culturally grounded spaces that celebrate identity, support newcomer transitions, and foster leadership. Initiatives such as AJIE’s Independence Day Field Day brought together diverse African communities while welcoming broader Albertan audiences to learn, connect, and build cross-cultural understanding, advancing SDG 10 and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals.
Alongside this work, I am deeply involved with United Way, where I serve as Chair of my ministry’s campaign and help lead efforts to raise funds in support of community organizations addressing poverty, housing instability, education, and mental health. This role allows me to mobilize public servants around collective responsibility and translate policy conversations into tangible, community-level support, advancing SDG 1 and SDG 11 through direct investment in frontline services. My work in the Government of Alberta as a Senior Policy and Data Analyst complements these efforts by strengthening data reporting and evidence-informed approaches to homelessness and housing programs, helping ensure community realities and lived experience inform broader policy direction.
Across entrepreneurship, community leadership, and public service, I am motivated by a simple principle: when people are housed, heard, and supported, they are better positioned to thrive. My work aims to turn that principle into systems that last.
What are the ways in which you curate connection?
Connection is both the method and the outcome of what I do. I curate connection by intentionally bringing together people, institutions, and lived experience to co-create solutions rather than impose them.
Through Elev, I build bridges between students, post-secondary institutions, housing providers, city leaders, and community organizations. I stay closely connected to students by working with student clubs and associations, speaking at campus events, and maintaining direct feedback loops that inform how the platform evolves. This ensures that solutions remain grounded in student realities rather than assumptions. In developing The Hive, connection took the form of inclusion: students were involved from the earliest stages, even when the building was unfinished. Their feedback influenced design, pricing, and community features, reinforcing that meaningful housing solutions must be built with students, not just for them.
I also curate connection through representation and advocacy. I have brought student voices into municipal, provincial, and federal spaces by participating in roundtables, conferences, and policy discussions, ensuring lived experience informs decision-making.
Through AJIE, I curate connection by creating culturally safe spaces for Ivorian and Francophone youth. I decentralized leadership structures to encourage shared decision-making and ensure youth voices shape priorities, programming, and community initiatives.
Listening has repeatedly reshaped my approach. Hearing students describe how housing insecurity impacted their academic confidence transformed how I think about affordability: not as a financial metric, but as a dignity issue. These moments reinforced the importance of slowing down, listening deeply, and designing solutions that reflect collective needs rather than individual ambition.
What role will connection play in your future work?
My philosophy has always been to leave the world better than I found it, one day at a time. Connection is central to that belief, because sustainable change is built through relationships, trust, and shared responsibility rather than isolated efforts.
In development work, connection creates alignment between lived experience, policy, and practice. It ensures solutions are not only innovative, but relevant and grounded in the realities of the people they are meant to serve. When communities are connected to decision-makers, and institutions are connected to those most affected, solutions become more durable and equitable.
Looking ahead, connections will continue to guide how I grow Elev and my broader community work. I plan to deepen partnerships with post-secondary institutions, housing providers, municipalities, and community organizations to strengthen student housing ecosystems and prevent housing insecurity before it becomes a crisis. I also aim to further bridge community-based insights with policy and funding structures so that local knowledge informs systemic change.
Connection is equally essential to inclusive development. My work with international and newcomer youth has shown me that mobility without community leads to isolation, while mobility rooted in connection creates opportunity, belonging, and long-term impact. The future of sustainable development depends on our ability to collaborate across sectors, cultures, and borders.
By intentionally and consistently harnessing the power of connection, we can create meaningful change that lasts. Leaving the world better than we found it does not happen all at once, but through daily actions that build trust, strengthen systems, and uplift communities over time.
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