Scholars

Abdalrahim Abuwarda earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in English Literature and focused his studies on literary works and translation. Abdalrahim found links between the literary works, development, management, and leadership. Then, to empower the Palestine’s youth, he led a project with Pal-Think, a non-profit organization, that aimed to raise awareness among youth on democracy and entrepreneurship. The project included conducting lectures, launching art exhibitions, and carrying out workshops. Abdalrahim facilitated 25 events and each event targeted 25 Palestinians from different backgrounds. Abdalrahim used his experience at Pal-Think to engage in one of his proudest endeavors, co-founding Al-Frarabi for Multilingual Services. As the co-founder and co-director of Al-Farabi, he translated, edited, and proofread many English-to-Arabic texts. He contributed to the translation of two books in human development: Read Artists Do Not Starve and Steal Like an Artist. Mr. Abuwarda managed interns, new employees, and college students. Moreover, he moved to occupying a position as a social worker at Almajd Association for Development. He was responsible for 350 cases including orphans, people with special needs, and needy families. He wrote up assessments, which met specified standards and timescales. He made decisions about the best course of action for the beneficiaries. Most recently, Abdalrahim managed to work as a Social Media (Freelancing) Mentor at Gaza Sky Geeks (Mercy Corps). He managed to train four cohorts on how to use social media platforms to get job opportunities. The results of the 240 participants were promising as over 54% of them managed to obtain paid opportunities, both short and long term.

Current Organization: Social Worker at Almajd Association for Development

Aboud J. Al Ifranji has five years of experience in the nonprofit sector and three years of experience in the UNRWA education sector. A.J. earned a Bachelor’s of Teaching English Language from Al Azhar University in Gaza, Palestine. While working as an English teacher in different UNRWA schools, he helped improve his students’ academic achievement in English in prep schools. While working as a Project Coordinator in Japanese Campaign for the Children of Palestine, he helped improve the quality of education in local government schools across different areas in Gaza, Palestine. Through these experiences, he developed strong project coordination, planning, monitoring, implementation, reporting, and evaluation skills. A.J. also honed his abilities to work with computerized and office programs, use cameras for video recording and editing, and facilitate different types of trainings, workshops, and meetings, especially for teachers and school staff members. A.J. is also deeply skilled in translating oral and written English to Arabic, researching, working under pressure, multitasking, and leading teams. Throughout his career, A.J. has developed a wide variety of communication skills, along with best practices in data collection, validation, summary, and analysis. A.J. enjoys focusing on topics of education development, cultural variety, sports, animation, movies, and music, and has a strong passion for self development and youth empowerment.

Current Organization: Project Coordinator at Campaign for the Children of Palestine (CCP Japan)

Abraham Atteh has over five years’ experience in Management Consulting, Digital Process Transformation, Public Sector Reforms and Project Management. Abraham earned a Bachelors of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Ilorin in Nigeria. He is passionate about raising ethical leaders to drive innovation, entrepreneurship, and development in rural and urban communities. Currently, Abraham plays a key role in helping the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence tools to drive inclusive policy and revenue generation. In October, 2016. Abraham launched a social enterprise initiative ‘Rural-Urban Business Support Scheme (RUBSS) in a bid to champion a model to address the high percentage of small businesses failures in Nigeria, enlightening young entrepreneurs about the conceptual skills needed to make informed decisions necessary to sustain and grow in a world where consumers needs are changing at a stunning pace. Abraham chose this work because it aligns with his interest, skills, experiences, and vision to nurture, empower, and supply Nigeria with 100,000 SMEs who are prepared to compete favourably in the 4th industrial revolution and operate profitably by 2030. Abraham Atteh has over five years’ experience in Management Consulting, Digital Process Transformation, Public Sector Reforms and Project Management. Abraham earned a Bachelors of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Ilorin in Nigeria. He is passionate about raising ethical leaders to drive innovation, entrepreneurship, and development in rural and urban communities. Currently, Abraham plays a key role in helping the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence tools to drive inclusive policy and revenue generation. In October 2016. Abraham launched a social enterprise initiative ‘Rural-Urban Business Support Scheme (RUBSS) in a bid to champion a model to address the high percentage of small businesses failures in Nigeria, enlightening young entrepreneurs about the conceptual skills needed to make informed decisions necessary to sustain and grow in a world where consumers needs are changing at a stunning pace. Abraham chose this work because it aligns with his interest, skills, experiences, and vision to nurture, empower, and supply Nigeria with 100,000 SMEs who are prepared to compete favourably in the 4th industrial revolution and operate profitably by 2030.

Current Organization: Senior Consultant at Carter Consulting

Agnija Kazuša has seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned a Master’s of Science in Communication from the University of Latvia. While working as a referee at Riga Social Service, Agnija helped more than 150 foreign residents in Latvia prepare documents for receiving crisis benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, Agnija worked as a content creator and editor for the World Peace Initiative Foundation and Peace Revolution project for three years to help raise awareness of mental health, mindfulness, and meditation. In this role, Agnija managed the Peace Blog and edited more than 500 articles; helped to create video stories; conducted Facebook Live interviews with peacebuilders from all over the world; organized more than 200 mindfulness activities in Europe, Asia and the Pacific; and provided coaching to 183 individuals on Peace Revolution’s online self-development platform. Agnija has volunteered as a facilitator and project coordinator with several youth organizations, including Lielvarde Youth Organization, European Students’ Forum AEGEE, AIESEC, Make Room, and FEJS (Forum for European Journalism Students) Latvia, which she co-founded. Through these experiences, she developed content creation, project coordination, and implementation skills. Agnija enjoys focusing on the topics of mental health and education and has a strong passion for social inclusion.Agnija Kazuša has seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned a Master’s of Science in Communication from the University of Latvia. While working as a referee at Riga Social Service, Agnija helped more than 150 foreign residents in Latvia prepare documents for receiving crisis benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, Agnija worked as a content creator and editor for the World Peace Initiative Foundation and Peace Revolution project for three years to help raise awareness of mental health, mindfulness, and meditation. In this role, Agnija managed the Peace Blog and edited more than 500 articles; helped to create video stories; conducted Facebook Live interviews with peacebuilders from all over the world; organized more than 200 mindfulness activities in Europe, Asia and the Pacific; and provided coaching to 183 individuals on Peace Revolution’s online self-development platform. Agnija has volunteered as a facilitator and project coordinator with several youth organizations, including Lielvarde Youth Organization, European Students’ Forum AEGEE, AIESEC, Make Room, and FEJS (Forum for European Journalism Students) Latvia, which she co-founded. Through these experiences, she developed content creation, project coordination, and implementation skills. Agnija enjoys focusing on the topics of mental health and education and has a strong passion for social inclusion.

Current Organization: Mentor at Make Room

Alexander Gunkel is a serial entrepreneur using space technology for social and environmental good. Alexander’s company Space4Good leverages satellite earth observation, geographic information systems, and artificial intelligence to provide geospatial analytics to global impact initiatives for data-driven decision making and increased transparency. The company is active in nature conservation, agriculture, smart cities, disaster relief, and peace and justice. Space4Good provides its insights to clients such as The Red Cross, The World Bank Group, The Carter Center, and The European Commission. Additionally, Alexander co-founded Skytree, which invented a CO2 recycling process to reduce global CO2 emissions, as well as RoadEO which is developing a global road quality monitoring and prediction platform to improve road safety and comfort. He is actively mentoring “Tech4Good” entrepreneurs in university-related incubators as well as accelerators, including in Startupbootcamp and Google LaunchPad. Before starting his entrepreneurial career, Alexander studied mechanical engineering and business administration and worked as a Project Manager at the European Space Agency. He is a Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative Fellow of the German Marshall Fund and believes in the power of social entrepreneurship to drive positive societal and economic change.

Current Organization: Managing Director at Space4Good

Alexey Korf graduated from Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service (VSUES) with honors and earned the scholarship of the Governor of Primorskii Krai. Alexey also obtained his Master’s degree in Trade in Vladivostok City. Alexey founded Trust Logistic LLC in 2019 and has been working in the logistic sphere for international and domestic shipping containers since 2011. He has also served as a member of the State Examination Board and a lecturer in the field of study logistics and commercial activities at Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) and VSUES. Alexey hosted a competition at VSUES to support a student in opening their own business, joined the Business Russia union for entrepreneurs, and published two scientific articles in the Journal of Economy and Entrepreneurship in Moscow. Through his work as a specialist in logistics and the field of business organization, Alexey hopes to share his expertise and structure his knowledge to share with other business representatives and support business development.

Current Organization: CEO & Owner at Trust Logistic LLC

Almamoon Almashaqba has seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from Al Albyt University in Jordan. Almamoon worked as a Technical Youth Assistant with a youth capacity building project for community engagement in Jordan under the Norwegian Refugee Council program. In this role, he helped increase the accessibility of the labor market for youth by building their capacity and mitigating local market employment challenges. He provided a set of systematic training for Jordanian and Syrian youth aged between 16 and 26 years old, including: positive thinking, employment skills, and communication skills. Previously, Almamoon worked as a Protection Case Manager with the International Catholic Migration Commission to assist the most vulnerable people in the community. Through these experiences, he developed solid knowledge and experience in project life cycle management, program development planning, setting indicators, implementing, and monitoring and evaluation. Almamoon worked with the International Rescue Committee in the Child Protection Program based in refugee camps in Jordan as a Child Protection Case Worker in unaccompanied and separated children to provide protection and make reunification with their families. Almamoon enjoys focusing on the topics of protection and livelihoods. Almamoon has a strong passion for youth empowerment.

Current Organization: FE at AVSI

Ambreen Kokab Shah is a technology and transformation consultant, futurist, and professional advisor. Ambreen brings 11 years of diversified corporate experience from across the telecom industry. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications from NED University of Engineering and Technology, she joined satellite company SUPARCO as an Assistant Manager in the Systems Engineering Department. In 2011, Ambreen entered the corporate world by joining Ericsson Pakistan, where she consulted local and international telecommunications giants in the design and optimization of wireless networks, deployment and performance management, presales, and service delivery. Her combined exposure to technical and management issues enabled her to build customer and inter-departmental relationships and develop conflict resolution skills. While earning her Executive MBA from the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi in 2017, she became passionate about social entrepreneurship, especially in the field of education and training. She volunteered as a Baghban Ambassador to transform underprivileged communities with the Citizen Foundation, judged tech projects at universities, mentored Smart City ideation at a hackathon competition, and served as an Innovation Mentor at the 2018 Ericsson Innovation Awards. Ambreen is also a Global Ambassador at WomenTech Network and Circle Chair of Lean In Pakistan Tech. She started her own consulting firm AKS Consulting Space in 2020, which aspires to transform youth, women and organizations through an emphasis on the Sustainable Development Goals. A gold medalist and NLP certified, Ambreen loves to travel and has explored 8 countries.

Current Organization: Network Consultant at Ericsson