Fellows

Abdulrahman has developed extensive academic and industry experience both over the past decade. He has worked in a diverse range of environments including public, profit and nonprofit organizations. He completed a PhD in Computer Science at Cairo University, achieving the Most Outstanding Thesis Award. Before that, he complemented his academic path with an MBA in International Business from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT).While working at AASTMT as a Startup Support Officer, he helped student to translate their ideas into business plans, worked on fundraising and taught Computer Science. Previously, Abdulrahman supervised startup support activities at THE Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC) where he orchestrated the Industry-Driven Startups Program to consult entrepreneurs on how to approach common challenges. Through these experiences, Galal has developed various skills, from programming, giving public presentations and drafting proposals.

Host Organization : SAP

Role at Host Organization: Abdulrahman will manage logistical tasks of the department’s programs, liaising with partners to coordinate programs’ related events, engaging as an instructor of the programs’ training offerings, and drafting reports regarding different aspects of the programs.

Abigail Bokoyeibo has five years of experience as an advocate for women and girls development, renewable energy access, and business development in the nonprofit sector. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. While working as Business Coach and Facilitator at the International Institute of Tourism and Hospitality, Bayelsa, Nigeria, she trained students on vocational skills, entrepreneurial skills and business development, and also consulted for the business unit of the Institute. As the Founder and Team Lead of a Nonprofit Young African Women Connect initiative, she developed and led programs that build the capacities of young women on hand skills and empower them through trainings on self-growth, entrepreneurship, business, career, leadership, personal finance, and advocacy. Previously, Abigail worked at Solar Sister as a Business Development Associate, where she recruited, trained and mentored rural women to become energy solution providers and solar entrepreneurs. Through her work, 30 women became active renewable energy advocates and solar entrepreneurs; each making an average of $1,000 annually through her mentorship. Abigail has volunteered in different organizations as a facilitator, youth advocate, and agent of change, including CornerStone Leadership Inspiration Transform foundation, Great Reformers Initiative, and Agent of Change Initiative. Through these experiences, Abigail has developed skills in capacity building, leadership development, business development and project planning and implementation. Abigail is interested in entrepreneurship, leadership, rural energy access, social entrepreneurship, business development, and management.

Host Organization: World Vision US

Role at Host Organization: Abigail will focus on the holistic youth workforce development project model called “Youth Ready: For Work, For Life”. She will particularly work on improving the learning activities and materials that make up the project’s extensive curriculum that focuses on life skills development, livelihood preparation(employability and entrepreneurship), financial education, digital literacy, and citizenship.

Adriana has five years of experience in the nonprofit sector and nine years working with social ventures. She earned a Bachelor’s of Social Sciences in Social Communications from USMA University in Panama. In 2013, Adriana joined a social enterprise ThinkImpact as Country Coordinator to establish their in-country operations. These operations were focused on social innovation programs carried out by foreign volunteers in rural communities of Panama. Previously, Adriana served for nine months as Project Officer in Save the Children’s regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean, and created internal communications channels to connect seven country offices. Earlier, Adriana worked for three years with nonprofit Global Brigades, as their Business Program Director and Deputy Director. As the first locally hired, she became President of the local entity of the organization as well. In Global Brigades and ThinkImpact, Adriana connected university volunteers from the United States with indigenous and rural entrepreneurs to create a social business or improve an existent business using design thinking, social innovation and consulting skills. She also built relationships with Peace Corps Panama, the U.S. Embassy, Indigenous Congresses, local nonprofits, academic institutions, community leaders and government agencies. Adriana has strong leadership, project management, strategy creation, and business consulting skills. She is passionate about social entrepreneurship, youth empowerment and corporate social responsibility.

Host Organization: WakaWaka

Role at Host Organization: As Strategic Operations Coordinator, Adriana will provide extensive research and market analysis for Mexico market entry. In addition, she will coordinate the participation of WakaWaka in technology events and support the development of WakaWaka’s marketing materials and campaigns.

Agha Mohsin Ali has been working in the development sector since 2006 with National & International organizations including NRDP, WWOP, Youth in Action, UNDP, BBSA, CPEA Network and SEHER on different management positions. He earned a Master’s in International Relations from the University of Balochistan, Quetta Pakistan. While working with the National Rural Development Programme (NRDP) Pakistan in Islamabad as Manager, Program Planning and Partnership Development, he led overall fundraising, resource mobilization, program research, planning, and program development processes. During 10 years of experience he implemented, coordinated, and developed partnerships with major donor agencies like USAID, DFID, UK-aid, UNICEF, USAID, CIDA, UNICEF, UNDP, USIP and IOM. Agha has had in-depth experience in child rights, education, and youth empowerment in Pakistan. He worked to protect children from abuse, neglect, and exploitation as well as to provide access to education through establishment of child-friendly spaces and temporary learning centers in flood affected areas. He has provided child protection actors opportunity to interact, share their experiences and avoid any duplication of resources through the CPEA Network and 12 larger projects on education, child rights, democracy and nutrition. Over this period, he has developed skills in monitoring and evaluation, program development, program implementation, proposal writing and resource mobilization. He has also written different articles and blogs on child rights and education in different news sites like ARY Blogs, Hamari Web, Duniya News and The Nations News. Agha also participated in different national and international forums like the World Youth Conference, 2010 in Leon City, Mexico, where he was as a delegate.

Host Organization: Creative Associates International

 Role at Host Organization: Agha will be assisting project staff with the development of an indicator database for a new evaluation project with the ExxonMobil Foundation. This project will be assessing the progress of client grantees in women’s economic empowerment on outcome indicators.

Ahmed Fadl is a social entrepreneur from Egypt; he has six years of experience with national and international NGOs in Egypt (Life Makers Foundation, Rotaract, Save the Children, Refuge Egypt, etc.). He has been working on economic development and inclusion programs, serving Refugees, migrants, and Egyptians from vulnerable communities. Ahmed also worked on youth development programs targeting students in different Egyptian universities. He founded iLearn, an educational initiative that aims to raise awareness about online education. In 2016, Ahmed cofounded a FinTech startup, ElGameya, a digital peer-to-peer lending solution through mobile application; he was responsible for the business and financial units at the startup. ElGameya has successfully managed to join four of the biggest startup incubation/acceleration programs in the country. Ahmed interned at Village Capital (a DC-based organization supporting impact driven startups) as part of the Professional Fellows program. Ahmed holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Port Said University; in addition, he has completed extensive online studies in the fields of project management, data analysis and visualization, finance, and development studies. He is interested in music, astronomy, sports, and philosophy.

Host Organization: Village Capital

Role at Host Organization: At Village Capital, Ahmed will serve as the Startup Ecosystem Fellow: supporting Village Capital’s relationship with the IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator with an aim of creating fans and advocates of IBM’s technology and approach with the fintech, health tech, insurtech, and regtech startup communities.

Aida Merabet has over ten years working experience with different nonprofits and corporations in the fields of business empowerment for women and youth educational programs in Algeria. She earned an MBA in Management Marketing from ESG Paris. Aida is the Founder of the social enterprise “Power Harmony Solution.” Previously, Aida worked as the Middle East Partnership (MEPI) Alumni Local Chapter Coordinator, where she strengthened commitment to civic activism, thus creating an environment where alumni can work together to bring positive change to the region. She helped empower young people to work for their economic success as an Education & Training Officer at Injaz El Djazair. As a Hub Manager for the Middle East and North Africa Business Women Network (MENABWN), she was responsible for leading and managing a program to support business women in Algeria. She has also served as an Algerian Country Officer Alwane-Algeria, with Women’s campaign International, an initiative that seeks to empower Algerian women to hold decision-making positions and to enhance their leadership roles so that they can become role models for the region. She also enjoys volunteering, whether it be as the Under Secretary General for Algeria’s national Model United Nations conference or as the Algeria Country Coordinator for the World Peace Initiative Foundation’s Project Peace In and Peace Out (PIPO).

Host Organization: Atlas Corps | American Express

Role at Host Organization: Aida will support the overall strengthening of leadership development in the nonprofit sector through a partnership with American Express. In her role, Aida will help to expand the American Express Leadership Academy franchise. Building on the American Express role in supporting best-in-class leadership practices and capacity building, she will coordinate and grow the alumni network; manage and coordinate the global Alumni Summit, help develop and improve communication and dissemination of best practices and provide overall project support for the Leaderstories.org website.

Alaa Saqer is a technology entrepreneur and one of the founding leaders of Gaza’s startup and technology community. An IT graduate from the The Islamic University Of Gaza, Alaa was a winner of Gaza’s first Startup Weekend in 2011 and went on to launch Datrios, a game and social network for sports fans. Datrios was one of the first two startups in Gaza to receive venture capital investment from Oasis500. In 2010, he co-founded Google Developers Group Gaza, a grassroots student organization that trains youth in tech and connects them to Google resources. Alaa previously worked with Nana Direct, a well-known startup company in Saudi Arabia, as their Product Manager and Business Development Manager. Alaa is well-versed in agile product development and has served as a mentor at startup events in Gaza, including the bootcamps at Gaza Sky Geeks. Prior to becoming a tech entrepreneur, he worked for Mercy Corps (the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza after the United Nations) as a program officer, providing psychosocial support to children via sports activities.

Host Organization: Affinis Labs

Role at Host Organization: At Affinis Labs, Alaa will help with the product development lifecycle for various projects at emerging startups and will help Affinis Labs build, cultivate, and strengthen entrepreneurship ecosystems including Minbar.

Andrew Tangas has three years of experience in the nonprofit sector and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Politics and Sociology from La Trobe University in Australia. While working at the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), a leading Australian youth program delivery and policy advocacy organization, Andrew engaged with federal and state governments to leverage program funds and influence policy change around youth-related education, employment, entrepreneurship, and social change. In this role, Andrew oversaw the development and implementation of the organization’s government relations strategy, worked closely with the CEO in developing relationships with key government decision-makers, and supported the organization’s program teams in generating government funding streams. Through his experience in the nonprofit sector, Andrew has developed strong government relations, strategic thinking, and communication skills. Andrew is particularly passionate about creating strategic partnerships between governments, nonprofit organizations, and social entrepreneurs to maximise the social impact of innovative change projects.

Host Organization: Atlas Corps

 Role at Host Organization: Andrew will be managing special projects within Atlas Corps, including the long-term plan to franchise the Atlas Corps model around the world. In addition, he will assist the CEO with organizational development, fundraising, and streamlining internal processes. He will help manage strategic partnerships and donor relationships.