Fellows

Destiny has over seven years of experience as a marketing expert, business developer and a professional trainer. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Literature from the University of Benin and has been trained professionally in Project and Business Management. He is the founder and lead consultant for ProfileSME, an organization focused on providing business and marketing solutions to small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. Through his leadership, ProfileSME has provided sustainable business solutions to more than 17 businesses in the southern region of Nigeria. During his work with business owners and entrepreneurs, he developed competence for business management and strategic marketing skills. In 2013, he co-founded Project Management Development Centre (PMDC), a professional training body focused on developing emerging youth as business and professional leaders in Nigeria. In 2015, the negotiated and secured the Project Management Development Center partnership with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Bayelsa State, through which he trained about 1,400 youth in Business Development, Project Management and Human Resources Management Skills. He is a volunteer to the Open Journals Nigeria, a platform that seeks to help young Intellectuals share their intellectual works and papers. Destiny is passionate about Business development and management, communication/marketing and youth engagement, development and empowerment.

Host Organization: Addgene

Role at Addgene: At Addgene, Destiny will gain an understanding of Addgene’s unique business model and use Addgene’s distribution data in conjunction with market research to develop and execute a plan to grow Addgene’s presence in select international markets.

Edward has ten years of professional experience in web development and marketing for nonprofit organizations. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree of Computer Science from Jose Matias Delgado University in 2009, and a second bachelor’s degree in Marketing in 2014. In 2008, he started working for the National Center of Cleaner Production of El Salvador, where he has developed many projects in computer science areas aimed at increasing the efficacy of enterprises and saving natural resources like energy, water and oil. He has extensive experience in different kinds of web technologies, data bases, and marketing strategies. In the last ten years, Edward has developed web applications for the government, banks and for-profit organizations, and nonprofits alike. In addition to his work in renewable energy, recycling, market studies, and green marketing, he has experience in e-commerce working at a startup that sells t-shirts with a social message. In the future, Edward wants to pursue a Master’s degree in web security and continue working in entrepreneurship.

Host Organization: Solstice

Role at Host Organization: Edward will serve as a “design-geneer” to lead UI/UX, front-end design, and contribute to the overall development effort of the organization’s web-based solar marketplace and customer engagement platform.

Farida is a Data Professional with a diverse background spanning multiple sectors. Throughout her journey, Farida has honed her skills in research, data mining and analysis, and project evaluation. She possesses advanced proficiency in popular Python frameworks for Data Science, including Pandas, Numpy, Matplotlib, and Seaborn. Additionally, she is skilled in tools such as Alteryx, SQL, Excel, and Tableau, enabling her to effectively leverage business intelligence tools. Farida has a BS in Statistics and an MSc in Data Science.

Host Organization: Generation

Role at Host Organization: As a Data and Impacts Fellow, Farida will gain an understanding of Generation’s data operations and impact metrics, and onboard onto multiple projects in a key supporter role. The Fellow will be proficient in accessing and analyzing D&I data and become comfortable executing independent projects such as research support, data analysis,and synthesizing findings. The Fellow may work on advanced projects as well as work to close-out and transition
ongoing work and initiatives.

Born in a middle-class family in Karachi, Pakistan, Hira used to envy the life of bankers. The lavish branches chilled with ACs, shiny cars and home loans just for using computers all day. Wow! After completing the Intermediate, she got all excited to study chartered accountancy. Unfortunately, life had other plans and her family couldn’t arrange the fee. She got the talent farming scholarship, completed her business administration degree and won Gold. That’s where she found her Entrepreneurship gut. She was 18 when she started a business of organizing training on career-counseling. It failed and she entered into the corporate world (unwillingly). Writing has always been her passion, be it a personal diary, or an exam. The words flow as she takes out the pen. As her first internship, she stepped into the world of digital and started making social media strategies for them and her unique selling proposition was still her ‘words’. Tech industry embraced her talent like no other thing and she got recognized by many local and international companies because of her exceptional work. Fast forward to 5 years, she is currently a Tech Journalist writing for multiple top-tier tech publications including VentureBeat, TheNextWeb and Entrepreneur.com. She also heads blog and media for Coinschedule.com, a leading ICO listing the company in the UK. She is also the facilitator of Startup Weekend Karachi. In local sphere, Hira is famous has a tech evangelist and a public speaker involved in digital skills penetration and bringing inclusivity in the tech industry. She founded of a copywriting agency, Digital Doers and a closed community, Tech Geeks Pakistan where tech enthusiasts share their love for technology on one platform. She is also a certified Editor from IBA. Her website is www.hirasaeed.com

Host Organization: Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship

Role at Host Organization: Hira will work as a GSBI Women’s Economic Empowerment Fellow to implement new research, initiatives, and/or projects to help her host organizations advancement of women’s economic empowerment through GSBI programs and resources.

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.

Lara has 7 years of experience in communications with a particular focus on nonprofit work, and earned a Master’s degree in Multimedia Communication from the University of Milan in Italy. She demonstrates strong skills of a Media Relations specialist. After obtaining her masters degree, she traveled to Cote d’Ivoire, where she was the Manager of a marketing company that specialized in events and advertising. Lara previously worked as External Relations Officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Abidjan. She was a Public Information Officer for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan where she started up the office in the Warrap State; prior to this she was the Media Relations Officer for the Spokesperson of the United Nations Mission in Sudan. She was immediately entrusted with important assignments during active hostilities in Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan, and her performance during several UN high signor visits was praised. She was also a Web and Communication Assistant for an Italian American nonprofit with a mission to provide educational programs primarily to the Italian immigrant community in New York. While working as Media Relations Officer for the Italian NGO COOPI, apart from being in charge of designing communications plans and Media Relations strategies, she was responsible for various country-specific and institutional communications and advocacy campaigns; specifically taking the lead for communication for the 2010 Haiti earthquake, by acting as a liaison to other international organizations. In addition to being a native Italian, she is fluent in English and French, and she is proficient in Spanish.

Host Organization: UN Foundation

Role at Host Organization: Lara will join United Nations Foundation in Washington DC. She will serve in the Media and Communication Department, where she will plan and execute digital diplomacy events with the diplomatic community, manage online campaigns, support in writing projects, press releases, outreach, translating and event planning and production.

Communication Specialist with more than ten years of work experience, five in the governmental sector and non-profit. Her job is to support innovative projects and knowledge sharing activities about the effective and appropriate use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in different contexts to strengthen learning and knowledge management processes that ensure organizations to achieve their objectives; It includes, strategies development; teacher training and support; capacity building; educational content; distance learning; digital literacy and skills development; and research and development (R&D) activities.

She has developed strong experience in knowledge management, innovation, and organizational learning. While working as an ICT advisor in the Colombian Education Ministry, she supported the implementation of strategies to strengthen institutional knowledge management while also building the Corporate School, formulating strategies to promote the use of ICT tools to the Knowledge Management System.

Professionally, her skills also include building communication strategies and graphic design for social change. Developing and leading these communication strategies, she has worked with local and international organizations that address social issues such as education, poverty, and violence against women.

Laura has actively participated in leadership programs, as well as in international volunteer opportunities leading several projects. While volunteering in Chile with America Solidaria Foundation, she headed the project “Voices that create opportunities”, working with women in a situation of social vulnerability doing workshops and training them in communications and marketing, with the purpose to help them to get access to better jobs.

Laura has developed a strong sense of ownership, motivation, creativity, talent, and passion to create a positive social impact to be keen to drive ethical social change anywhere in the world.

Social issues: Communication for social change; Social Enterprise / Entrepreneurship; Empowerment of women; Social impact Storytelling; Education through technology.

Host Organization: Atlas Corps

Role at Host Organization: Laura will manage the Atlas Corps social media strategy and enhance the “storytelling” component of external events to better showcase the achievements of Fellows and Host Organizations. She will also help to expand the Atlas Corps external presence as included in our communications and public relations strategy.

Moh has nine years of professional experience in marketing and communications departments, strategies, and business development for for-profit and nonprofit organizations. He earned both his BA in Business Administration and Diploma of Computer Information Systems at Bethlehem University. Previously, he worked as a Chief Marketing Officer at Sinokrot Global Group (SGG), Palestine’s largest diversified family business, which consists of 15 companies and 3,000 employees. He is a communications expert with extensive experience in enterprise development, corporate marketing strategies, standards, and communications – both locally and internationally. Prior to his work at SGG, Moh worked as a Marketing Manager for four years at Union Construction and Investment (UCI), a leading Palestinian real estate company. During his work at UCI, Moh developed business models to sell Palestinian lands to Palestinians in diaspora using cloud applications, in addition to managing marketing for MENA Geothermal, a renewable energy start-up. Moh is well-versed in the Palestinian economy and market, and hopes to contribute to its development and growth in the future. Moh has participated in the Middle East Web Design Award in 2009,and was ranked as the #1 Best Rich Internet Applications Designer in the Middle East and North Africa.

Host: Solstice

Fellow Role at Solstice:
Moh will be responsible for generating inbound marketing content, including social media posts, blog posts, infographics, newsletters, and videos. He will run all online advertising and email marketing campaigns, create marketing collateral, update the company website, and optimize pages for relevant keywords. He will also drive new marketing channels to increase revenue and generate sales leads, and will build innovative marketing strategies to engage Solstice target audiences.