Education & Empowerment

Shaymaa is a social entrepreneur specializing in entrepreneurship with a special focus on social entrepreneurship, social innovation and women’s empowerment. Shaymaa holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Effat University with honors. In 2014, she was selected by the US Department of State to participate and represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Georgetown University Leadership Development Program (MEPI), which focuses on social work, leadership and women’s empowerment. Shaymaa founded Najaba for Social Innovation, a project empowering youth and women through social innovation and entrepreneurship.

Shaymaa has been trained more than 900 people in various fields of Entrepreneurship and digital marketing, partnering with several local and international organizations and institutions such as the Misk Foundation, Georgetown University, and Stanford. She is now the AMENDS Global Fellows Global Hub coordinator for Saudi Arabia and 2017 Class Representative.

Hamza Arsbi is the Director of the Science League, a nonprofit organization he founded in 2012 that aims at improving education in Jordan and showing students how to leverage scientific knowledge to improve their lives and build the future. He has a BA in Psychology and has a long experience in the nonprofit sector, working for causes that focus on gender equality and mental health. He is both an International Youth Foundation BADIR fellow and a Laureate Global Fellow. A Said and Chevening Scholar, Hamza holds a master’s in business management from the University of Manchester.

Melissa Diamond is the Founder and Executive Director of A Global Voice for Autism and is passionate about issues related to disability, migration, trauma and community. Melissa holds a Masters in Conflict, Security and Development and is a Rotary Peace Fellow from the University of Bradford, a Certificate of Social Entrepreneurship from Watson University in Boulder, Colorado and a Bachelors in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Richmond. Melissa’s work has been recognised by the United Nations, the SDSN Youth Solutions Report, The Clinton Global Initiative University, The Resolution Project, the Global Entrepreneurship Community Summit in Malaysia, and more. In 2014 and 2017, she was featured on expert panels at the United Nations in New York to share best practices for supporting children with autism and their families in conflict-affected communities.

Micah, an alumni of the first-ever AMENDS Class, seeks to be a musical peacemaker by using music as a tool to bring people from different backgrounds, communities, and walks of life together to understand one another and work together for a better future. Micah is the founder of the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, a choir and dialogue program for Israeli and Palestinian high school students.

Asif Majid is a scholar-artist-educator who researches, teaches, performs, and makes work at the intersection of performance and politics. Particularly, he does this in terms of devising, improvisation, and participatory theatre with marginalized communities. Asif is pursuing a practice-based PhD in Anthropology, Media, and Performance at The University of Manchester, earned an MA with Distinction in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University, and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a self-designed BA in Interdisciplinary Studies (Global Peace Building and Conflict Management) from UMBC. As an artist, Asif’s performance credits include work with The Stoop (US), the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (US), Convergence Theatre (US), Royal Exchange Theatre (UK), Unity Theatre (UK), and Action Transport Theatre (UK). Currently, he is an inaugural Lab Fellow with The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics. Asif is online at www.asifmajid.com.

Becca Farnum is an environmental peacebuilding researcher and educator. She works at the intersections of environmental activism, conflict resolution, and capacity-building with a particular passion for justice and equity, leveraging academia for public service and policy impact. Her work has included contributing to United Nations and International Law Commission policy on environmental peacebuilding; engaging underrepresented students in university learning through Widening Participation initiatives; and a stint with Michelle Obama’s Correspondence Team at The White House. Becca was part of the 2013 AMENDS class and currently serves as the AMENDS Global Fellows Director of Administration.

Wasim Abu Salem is a serial entrepreneur, visionary leader, computer engineer, and lawyer specializing in cyber-security. Wasim is the Founder & CEO of Loop, a mission-driven combination of youth movement and tech incubator. Loop provides 10,000+ children ages 7-18 with an extra-curricular environment of fun, education and a strong sense of belonging and teamwork.

Wasim is a graduate of the U.S. State Department’s Student Leaders Program and is ranked amongst the world’s 100 most influential young leaders by SE100. He has lectured in numerous universities and conferences worldwide and won grants from a collection of companies and organizations. He has participated in several academic and business programs at Stanford University, Brandeis University, Montana State University, and others. Wasim is transferring all of his knowledge and expertise to the up and coming generations in many ways: through motivational lectures and conventions for school-aged students, lectures on entrepreneurship at a young age to a wide range of audiences, and workshops in tech-related subjects to a variety of age groups.

Learn more about Wasim and his take on education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyqAeueREo8.

Sam Sussman is the Co-Founder and Director of Extend, an NGO that introduces American Jewish leaders to Palestinian human rights activists. Extend has been featured at the United Nations, Oxford Union, and in Haaretz, The Forward, Huffington Post, and Slate. Sam holds an M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford and a B.A. Phi Betta Kapa with highest honors in political science, philosophy, and literature from Swarthmore. His academic research has been published in International Spectator, Journal of International Studies, Tufts Journal of International Affairs, and elsewhere. Sam is also a fiction writer whose work has been recognized by BAFTA, Cannes, and the Oxford Review of Books.

Basel is a young entrepreneur from Gaza, he is a masters student at SOAS. He got recognized as a top 10 youth peacemakers in the world by Peace news, in addition to being awarded the Emerging Young Leaders Award by the department of states about his passionate work in Debates in Gaza. Debate has been his passion ever since he got back from an exchange student year in the states. He believes that debate can help combine research, critical thinking skills and ultimate joy of competition in one form. In addition of co-founding a debate club and running the first English Debate Program in Gaza, he has helped to organize first TED Talk in Gaza, under the name of TedxShujaiya, he has participated as an organizer which held the roles of MC, Coach Speaker, and Social Media coordinator. Basel recently became a Global Village Alumni, after completing a summer internship at Lehigh University under the tutoring of Business and Industry experts.

Saif’s entrepreneurial spirit emerged when he was just 16 years old and launched his first enterprise, Teens Club. Teens Club is the first entity that focuses on teenagers in Egypt to provide them with early guidance and opportunities for personal and career development. The club is run by teenagers, for teenagers – who contribute to the development of Egypt, Africa, and the world. Teens Club is now an alternative safe haven for thousands of teenagers to find mentors for their education and career, meet experts, and actively engage in solving their communities’ challenges. Learn more about the Club online at www.teensclubeg.com.

Saif has been trained by international organizations like UN Women, and The British Council, and shares what he has learned over the course of these training with the wider Egyptian civil society and youth audiences. In 2016, the debate team he trained won first prize in the Young Arab Voice regional debate competition in Jordan.

Mohammad Omar Metwally is a current Fulbright Scholar at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, pursuing a Master’s degree in Global Affairs with a concentration in International Peace Studies. Mohammad has nearly a decade of experience designing, implementing, and managing youth programs. He is passionate about issues related to youth empowerment, violent extremism, and migration. Mohammad’s areas of expertise are in conflict prevention, conflict transformation, and community dialogue design. Most recently, he worked at the Global Center on Cooperative Security as a research assistant and at Search for Common Ground as a project manager for Bahrain and prior to that as a regional coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Common Ground Institute program. He is a co-founder of multiple youth-led initiatives and holds a Bachelor in Biotechnology from Cairo University.

Javeria is an undergraduate student at Institute of Business Administration, Karachi with a keen interest in policy making. She has endeavored herself to step outside of her comfort zone which has led to her winning an ‘Outstanding Delegate Award’ in Model United Nations Turkey 2015 and spending an exchange semester in USA funded by US Undergraduate Exchange Program where she worked to eliminate stereotypes that Americans have about Pakistanis. With an avid interest in writing and women empowerment, Javeria has interned at War Against Rape and The Express Tribune where she has written stories highlighting the rights and abuse of girls in the Pakistani society. She is an avid believer that arts and dialogue can increase tolerance which led her to establishing the literary content and panel discussions of Youth Arts and Literary Exhibition, an exhibition providing a safe, creative space where despite their religion, caste or skin color, youngsters can paint, write and discuss their heartwarming stories which would help create empathy.

Ahmed hosni Elhareri is the founder of SYE English Community, the first English community in Egypt to help learners improve their English especially outside the classroom through immersing with native speakers, starting in 2010 he managed to help more than 60,000 learners improve their English and therefore get scholarships to very high-ranked universities or get jobs in very prestigious positions. Since 2010 SYE have had around 300 native speakers who participated in English related programs and activities. Ahmed is also a The DO School and Mowgli Foundation fellow,He participated in developing a working business model for an educational project with Siemens in Germany in 2015.

Abdelkrim Boublouh, is a finance graduate from the National School of Business and Management. He spends his time volunteering, working on entrepreneurial projects, and training in karate. He has founded a campus organization called Students Ambassadors for Peace – Agadir Chapter (SAP – Agadir), an international organization based in 13 countries. This chapter is a model which provides students with a network to exchange ideas about contributing to community development; it is a platform for young motivated students allowing them to share their skills. He is the project manager of Empowering Women in the Region of Souss project, which provided women with stable incomes.

A dreamer, a doctor, a trainer, a motivatiobal speaker and a social entrepreneur. Zina was socially engaged since the age of 18, seeving as project manager and excutive board in AIESEC, co-founder of the Algerian center for social entrepreneurship, then the butterly effect, an educational initiative that works on making personal development, global citizenship and sustainable development trainings accessible to all. Its flaship projects are Wadjihni, a career guidance camp for high schoolers and the innovative teachers academy, a training program for teachers. Zina is alumna of study of the US institute on social entrepreneurship at the university of Connecticut.

Being n English language lover, Computer Science student and Activist, Seddik has always been interested in developing his skills, and sharing his knowledge with his community, and peers. In 2015 he co-founded CS50xAlgeria, and organized its first 3 month program with the American Cultural Center in Algiers. CS50xAlgeria was chosen for a Google micro Grant to represent Algeria in the Africa Week of Code (by SAP) by organising workshops to help empower youth to be able to do programming in an early age.

Frank Fredericks is the founder of World Faith, a global movement to end religious violence, and Mean Communications, a digital agency for social good. After working in the music industry, managing artists such as Lady Gaga, Frank founded World Faith in 2008. He has been recognized as a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum, and is a Fellow Alumnus of Leading for Impact at Oxford Skoll Centre, AMENDS at Stanford, IFYC, Soliya, Ariane de Rothschild, and YouthActionNet. He did his BM at NYU and his MBA at Oxford Said as a Global Shaper Scholar from the World Economic Forum.

Gulay is pursuing her Master’s degree in Political Science and International Relations with a focus on human and minority rights and the plight of Syrian refugees. Gulay’s most recent project, and one she is actively directing, is “Two Hands One Brush” which she has shouldered with an independent group of university students. The project’s aim is to create resilience amongst both Turkish and Syrian children against hate speech towards Syrians in Turkey, and to lessen the prejudices that exist between the two cultures. It does so by creating a strong bond between Syrian and Turkish schoolchildren; having them feel welcomed in their new home by using art.

Touria is the founder and CEO of SIDE, a volunteer platform that empowers youth to gain employability skills and get access to the labor market. She’s also the founder of EMPEOPLE, an accelerator for social businesses that are in the scaling stage. She has a BA in Finance and Accounting, and has over 12 years of experience with NGOs and 6 years with Social entrepreneurs.

Empowering Women in The Atlas” (EWA) in a village of the Middle Atlas Mountains in Morocco. This multidimensional project addresses political, gender, and development related issues in the MENA. It also connects marginalized people from rural Morocco to partners in the US; thereby embodying a beautiful and genuine partnership, one that transcends political agendas. This social venture is particularly relevant to the spirit of the AMENDS as it deeply challenges the victimization narratives that are often imposed on the women of her region.

Omar EL Maadarani is the Project Coordinator at the Tech for Food (Digital Skills Training) program between AUB and WFP( World Food Program). He has a BA in Economics and a minor in Political Studies from the American University of Beirut. During his studies at AUB he founded the psycho-social program that helps Syrian kids overcome the effects of war. His program is operating in 6 schools built by his university and have affected thousands of kids since its implementation 3 years ago. The program is still operating as a sustainable entity after his graduation.

Ilyes El Ouarzadi is the Co-Founder & CEO of DAABA™, a digital platform that allows users to connect with Legal Services Providers (LSPs) to obtain legal services, answer questions, or get advice anywhere, anytime. Ilyes occupies also the role of Imperial Service Advisor at CIBC, a leading financial institution. He is a graduate of HEC Montréal’s Trilingual BBA specialized in Finance & International Business. As a Community Leader for Techstars and co-organizer of the Montréal Startup Weekend, Ilyes developed a passion for technology while helping hundreds of entrepreneurs to launch promising startups. His current initiative DAABA™ aims to make access to justice instant, better and easy!

Dana is a senior medical student who has a huge interest in the Neurosciences. Research has been a big part of her life, since her participation in the first cohort of the Saudi Research Science Institute. She then went on to help co-found the Saudi Aramco Research Science Institute, that recruiting talented girls from across the country, that participated in a week of intensive STEM classes. Followed by five weeks long research internships under the supervision of experienced mentors. In addition to working in the field of psycho-genetics to help discover new diagnostic tools for psychiatric patients, she also leads the scientific research club in her university.

Aviv Nesher is the co-founder of Al Bustan, a female-run school that aims to empower women from the Jahalin tribal Bedouin community through ongoing academic and recreational enrichment. Aviv is a graduate of the United World Colleges, a global education movement that makes education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future. Currently, Aviv is pursuing her bachelors in Communications, Journalism, and Asian Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and as of this year is a Huayu scholarship recipient: a grant given to excelling students who wish to perfect their Mandarin language skills.

Nadia Arouri was born in Jerusalem in 1987 and lived in Ramallah, Amman and Paris, until she moved to Vienna in 2005. Nadia Arouri is a dancer, choreographer and cultural manager. She is the founding and artistic director of YANTE – Youth, Art and Levante through which she has established herself as a mentor, motivational-speaker and consultant on human and community development especially through arts. She is currently working as a tutor and lecturer at various dance and cultural management programmes in Palestine, Austria, Germany and other European cities.

Salma is a Ph.D candidate in the fields of Gender, Cultures, identities and Media studies at Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University. She is a board member of GLOBAL Girl Media&NETWORK, a platform dedicated to empowering young girls through journalism and digital media. Salma has a
various amount of experiences, leading and coordinating different projects. She also has a perfect record in social work. She worked for a number of NGOS as well as participating in many local and international social activities and projects, particularly on media, discourse analysis, education, women, peace and conflict resolution, social entrepreneurship and youth.

Elizabeth Zumwalt Harmon (Liz) is the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Nina Brekelmans Memorial Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit. The Foundation supports a running camp taught by top Jordanian coaches and 3K race both held exclusively for young girls in Amman, Jordan. The aim is to expand women’s participation in running and promote their empowerment. The Foundation honors the legacy of Liz’s friend Nina Brekelmans, a competitive runner and Middle East scholar researching the experience of Jordanian female runners. Liz previously lived in Syria, Jordan, and Qatar and currently resides in Washington, DC.

Mariem Chaabani is an electronics engineer, and works currently in the aeronautical equipment design field. She earned an Electrical engineering degree from the National School of Engineers in Tunis (ENIT), and a Master’s Degree in Automatic and Signal Processing. During her university years, Mariem was involved in different student associations such as IAESTE or JCI. She has been selected as a Techwomen 2015, and had the opportunity to follow a mentorship at Autodesk, San Francisco, USA.
Mariem is the co-founder and general secretary of WoLTech (Women Leaders in Technology), a nonprofit association that aims to empower women in STEM, and help them achieve their professional goals.

A Forbes Under 30 honoree and an impact-driven entrepreneur, designer and technologist who lives to transform meaningful ideas into impactful projects. He is the founder of “Hasoub” – a grassroots nonprofit promoting tech-entrepreneurship to impact the local Palestinian economy, and “ibtekar” – a socio-educational venture enriching kids and youth from underprivileged backgrounds with the sense of capability through technological-creativity. Hasan is a member of the “miLAB” researching interaction and creative learning processes, he volunteers in different humanitarian campaigns and is a fellow of several international programs in the fields of entrepreneurship, business and photography.

Mohammed Ali is a Sudanese medical doctor, human rights activist and trainer on soft skills and non-formal education. Currently a Young Leader with Women Deliver, he focuses on advocacy, managing activities and providing opportunities related to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Mohammed is a 2016 graduate of President Obama’s Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, where he studied Civic Leadership at Duquesne University. During his time as a medical student, Mohammed co-led the Medical Students’ International Network Sudan (MedSIN-Sudan), the largest student organisation in Sudan. Concurrently, he was the Regional Assistant for Africa on Human Rights and Peace at the International Federation of Medical Students’ Association (IFMSA). As a trainer, he focuses on building the capacity of medical students and has trained in Sudan, Kenya, India, Tanzania, Chile and Ethiopia in soft skills such as leadership, advocacy, and lobbying.

Mashail Bakolka is an Engineer, Solo-Flashpacker and Social-tech Entrepreneur. She participated in the “Google Student Ambassador” program during the academic year 2014-2015, and launched the 1st official Google Club on-campus for females. She is also an SAP Certified Application Associate since 2016, and also received the Project Management Professional (PMP) training to enhance her project management skills and, more recently, she participated in pre-MBA programs at Harvard Business School, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and IE Business School. Mashail Volunteered with 20+ local and international NGOs to help orphans, refuges, underprivileged people and educational initiatives.

Recovering architect and designer, turned Social Entrepreneur, founded her first successful startup during university years, at the moment advising several young entrepreneurs and early stage startups while serving as CEO of Moubarmij and on the executive board of ISOC Lebanon. Layal is a natural leader with the ability to motivate both individuals and teams and has extensive experience of handling people with considerable empathy. She is passionate about innovations and sustainable project that can make a difference to the world and enable other people to a better quality of life with better solutions. Loyal strongly supports entrepreneurship and women in business.

Lior is a social entrepreneur focusing on education, technology, human rights, and leadership development. He is the executive director of Ore Education Association, a non-profit organization that promotes excellence and volunteerism among children, youth, and students in Israel. Lior is part of the 2014 AMENDS class.