Issam has three years of experience in the nonprofit sector and earned a Master’s of Science in Big Data & Knowledge Management from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. While working as the Community Engagement & Innovation Officer with UCAS Technology Incubator (UCASTI) in Gaza, he improved external engagement between UCASTI and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. He planned and executed three initiatives that targeted enrolled and graduated entrepreneurs, ICT graduates and companies, and girls & women respectively. Previously, Issam designed and implemented an incubation model which recruited over ninety startups, led them through an incubation pipeline of pre-design challenges, that resulted in nine successful startups. Before that, he was an IT Project Manager and led a broad range of web, mobile, machine learning, and data warehouse solutions. Issam utilizes highly attuned analytical skills to develop IT and business strategies and employs cutting-edge technologies to increase productivity. He has volunteered as speaker, mentor, and organizer for several technology initiatives like Google Developer Group and Facebook Developer Circle. He was also an organizer for the first Gazan education startup and AI/Big Data community driver. Issam enjoys focusing on the topics of business and social entrepreneurship, new technologies such AI, Blockchain and Big Data, and has a strong passion for youth empowerment.
Host Organization: Hatch
Role at Host Organization: Issam will support on all parts of the Hatch stack and will suggest ways to scale and improve the product. Issam’s role will be on designing APIs, data modeling, and developing infrastructure to collect and report data.