Rwanda has announced 23 Namers who will take part in the 21st Kwita Izina Gorilla Naming Ceremony on Friday, September 4, in Kinigi, Musanze District.
The annual ceremony brings together prominent figures from conservation, tourism, business, sport, entertainment, philanthropy and public service, who will each have the honour of naming one of the baby mountain gorillas being celebrated this year.
The 2026 ceremony is being held under the theme “Conservation is Life: Sustaining the Future.”
The full list of Namers is:
1. Shaikha Al Nuwais — Incoming Secretary-General of UN Tourism and the first woman set to lead the organisation in its 50-year history.
2. Miguel Ángel Gil Marín — CEO and majority shareholder of Atlético de Madrid and a member of the UEFA Executive Committee.
3. Paul Danforth — President of CAA Sports and a global sports executive who previously served as Senior Vice President of Sales for the New York Mets.
4. Eng. Ahmed Sadek Elsewedy — Chairman of Elsewedy Electric, who leads a global energy and infrastructure company and is involved in Rwanda’s electrification efforts. He will name alongside Anita Dravec.
5. Israel Mbonyi — Rwandan gospel singer and songwriter whose music has attracted a large following in Rwanda and elsewhere in Africa.
6. Patrice Evra — Former France and Manchester United captain, five-time Premier League champion and UEFA Champions League winner who earned 81 caps for France.
7. Olivier Granet — Managing Partner and Co-CEO of Kasada Capital Management, an African hospitality investment platform and investor in Mövenpick Hotel Kigali. He will name alongside Quitterie Granet.
8. Garreth and Nicola Wood — Global philanthropists and co-founders of Kids Operating Room (KidsOR), a global health charity focused on expanding access to paediatric surgery in low-resource settings. Garreth Wood MBE is also Chairman of The Wood Foundation.
9. James Chester — Former Wales international and Aston Villa captain who helped the club return to the Premier League and represented Wales at UEFA Euro 2016.
10. Susan Hollern — Founder and President of Hope Haven Rwanda, which has worked on education and family development initiatives in Rwanda since 2011.
11. Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo — Rwandan filmmaker whose film Ben’Imana was selected for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.
12. Francesco Calvo — President of Business Operations at Aston Villa, with previous senior leadership experience at Juventus, FC Barcelona and AS Roma.
13. David Lappartient — President of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and an International Olympic Committee member who played a key role in bringing the 2025 UCI Road World Championships to Rwanda, the first edition held in Africa.
14. Dominique Plewes — CEO and philanthropy leader and founder of the SOF Support Foundation, which supports research and humanitarian initiatives in conflict-affected communities.
15. Alastair Fothergill — Award-winning British filmmaker and producer known for nature documentaries including Planet Earth, Blue Planet and A Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough.
16. Mutaz Essa Barshim — Qatari Olympic gold medallist and three-time world champion and one of the leading high jumpers of his generation.
17. Kelly O’Meara — Executive Director of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), which works to advance primate protection and welfare through Africa’s network of primate sanctuaries.
18. Neil McDougall — Founder and Chairman of DelAgua, which works to expand access to clean cooking and improve livelihoods across Africa.
19. Jeanette Uwimbabazi — Nyungwe National Park ranger recognised for her work combating wildlife crime and protecting Rwanda’s biodiversity.
20. Dominic Barton — Chairman of Rio Tinto and LeapFrog Investments and former Global Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company and Canadian Ambassador to China.
21. Mamadou Sakho — Former French international footballer and former Paris Saint-Germain captain who also played for Liverpool and Crystal Palace and earned 29 caps for France.
22. Kenza Johanna Ameloot — Miss Belgium 2024 of Rwandan heritage, who advocates for children affected by cataracts while promoting her Rwandan heritage.
23. Anita Dravec and Quitterie Granet — The two additional participants named to share naming roles alongside Ahmed Sadek Elsewedy and Olivier Granet respectively.
The Namers will join communities, conservationists, researchers, partners and visitors in Kinigi for the ceremony, which has become one of Rwanda’s most prominent annual events focused on mountain gorilla conservation.
More than 1,060 mountain gorillas are estimated to live in the wild across the Virunga Massif and Bwindi ecosystem. Their population has increased following decades of work involving governments, conservation organisations, researchers, veterinarians, rangers and surrounding communities.
Since Kwita Izina became an official annual event in 2005, 438 mountain gorillas have been named through the ceremony. The event draws on the centuries-old Rwandan tradition of naming newborn children in the presence of family and community members.
The ceremony also highlights the relationship between conservation, tourism and communities living around protected areas. Through Rwanda’s Tourism Revenue Sharing Programme, 10% of national park tourism revenues is reinvested in communities surrounding protected areas.
According to the organisers, more than RWF 23 billion has supported nearly 1,300 community projects, including schools, health facilities, water infrastructure and livelihood initiatives.
This year’s wider programme has also included the groundbreaking of the Smart Green Village in Kinigi, part of the Volcanoes Community Resilience Project.
Rwanda’s longer-term conservation plans include expanding Volcanoes National Park by approximately 3,740 hectares and establishing about 6,620 hectares of buffer zones, with the wider programme expected to improve livelihoods for more than 17,000 people.
Kwita Izina, meaning “to give a name” in Kinyarwanda, was formally established as an annual gorilla naming ceremony in 2005. It has since developed into an international conservation event centred on the protection of mountain gorillas and their habitat.
The 21st edition will take place at the foothills of Volcanoes National Park in Kinigi on September 4, bringing together the Namers, local communities and international conservation partners to mark the latest generation of mountain gorillas.
