Yassmin is passionate about personal growth, animals rights, global issues and volunteering. She worked at an international company that worked with a US sales department in addition to interning at the post office. She is currently volunteering at Sfax El Meziena as an external relations developer. She has had diverse volunteering experiences with organizations such as AIESEC, the Wonder, the Red Cross, and PNUD. She is a native speaker of Arabic, has an advanced level in French, and is fluent in English. Yasmin is always looking for new opportunities to challenge herself, learn new things, fulfill her potential, enhance her skills and network.
Mohamed is a multipotentialite engineer who is fond of the environment, renewable energy and green business, and dreams of maintaining the sustainability of the planet. Mohamed grew up in Upper Egypt where opportunities are few and people’s voices are not heard. Over the past seven years he has experienced working and volunteering with different organizations on programs that worked on various issues and topics such as entrepreneurship, economic empowerment, and youth development. Mohamed knows by heart the challenges that face the environment, youth, marginalized and vulnerable groups.
Mohamed founded Electrobekia, the first start-up company for E-waste Recycling in Upper Egypt, and secured funding through AUC Venture Lab & Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC), supported by (UNDP). Mohamed won first place at the Entrepreneurs League and won first place at Innovation Day 8 by pitching Electrobekia as an early-stage startup that can generate profits while contributing to environmental sustainability.
Khuzama is a Syrian who graduated as an environmental engineer in 2018. Soon after, she got the opportunity to explore the environmental, renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors in her region. Realizing that environment is not only a standalone science, she encourages the addition of “spices” such as economics, politics, policy making and governance along the way.
Khuzama’s perspective on life is similar to that of many people: to spread justice and to end poverty. She is grateful that her life has been enriched with very important experiences and people from different parts of the world. Her plan is to help people and the planet–to get decent, green, and sustainable services.
Mariam’s story started when her grandfather moved from Nubia to Alexandria more than 6O years ago to search for a better life. Mariam was born and raised in Alexandria. As a Nubian girl, it seemed like she had good luck, better opportunities in education, and roads to explore arts and culture in life. However, she believes that history has a tendency to repeat itself. As memory fades, events from the past can become events of the present. Exploring origins, roots, and history is what has moved her forward in most of her life and educational experiences. After choosing to study fine arts, she specialized in sculpture. Through this, she explored her connection with clay, connecting back to her Nubian roots, as clay used for sculpture in Egypt comes from Aswan.
She decided that her mission and purpose in life was to take advantage of various opportunities and experiences, to go back to Nubia to share what she has learned, and to start a learning community. She believes that if people feel that you trust their knowledge, culture, and work for their needs, rather than for your own plans, they will in turn trust and support you. Mariam is planning to gain more knowledge and skills that will help her achieve her purpose. She wishes to create a space for informal education, peace building, and a learning community where knowledge is shared between women, families and generations, in order to preserve language, culture and history; she hopes to help her community create their own way for sustainable development through their own efforts.
Mariam perceives this fellowship as an opportunity to interact through a network of colleagues, alumni, and mentors from diverse professional backgrounds and cultures coming from all over Egypt. She perceives networking as a very important step to integrate different experiences.
Reem is an environmental advocate with more than three years of expertise in environmental sustainability and social entrepreneurship, with a focus on green social enterprises. In addition, she is a co-founder of Recyclizer, a start-up that recycles plastic waste into a product that protects agricultural crops from harm. Reem obtained a bachelor’s degree in English from the Faculty of Arts. Along the way, Reem made the decision to focus on Environmental Communications, which is the study and application of how individuals, cultures, and organisations relate to and influence the environment. This communication entails a range of encounters, from verbal exchanges with others to media coverage of environmental issues.
Houssem is a 25-year-old Tunisian with a master’s degree who has been active in Tunisian civil society since 2015. Houssem is an enthusiastic activist who has participated in several workshops and trainings in Tunisia and abroad to broaden his knowledge on, and to promote youth-related issues. After finishing his one-year fellowship program with the Lazord Foundation, he was recruited by a company based in Qatar. Today, Houssem lives in Qatar and started his professional life as a translator, the career of which he has always dreamt. He is still committed to promoting youth-related issues, especially after gaining useful skills and tools during the Lazord Fellowship that will help him to continue to achieve his goals.