Thematic: Social Entrepreneurship
Arij Bouzaiene
Arij, a young biomedical researcher with a thirst for intellectual growth, she earned her diploma in medical biology with honours. This achievement served as a stepping stone towards her pursuit of a career in biology. In 2022, Arij’s dream of becoming a medical researcher became a reality. Her commitment to the field was evident in her tireless pursuit of scientific knowledge and by working in laboratories and studying her passion, combining business with pleasure.
However, Arij’s dedication to making a positive impact extended far beyond her scientific achievements. She recognized the importance of giving back to society and channelling her compassion toward the greater good. Arij joined the Red Crescent, an organization dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance. Through her involvement, she embodied courage and compassion, touching the lives of those in need and making a lasting impact. In 2019, Arij took her civic engagement a step further by joining the Junior Chamber International (JCI). With her determination, she became an invaluable asset to the organization. In 2023, she was elected as the Vice President, a testament to her leadership and ability to drive positive change. She showcased exceptional debating and public speaking skills, leading the JCI debate team to success in regional competitions.
Through her academic pursuits, her dedication to civic engagement, and her exceptional leadership skills, she has become a Lazord fellow within the Tunisian chapter of 2023-2024. Beyond her laboratories and civil achievements, Arij finds inspiration in the pages of books and the landscapes of her travels. Her love for healthy living permeates her daily life, where she strives to maintain an active and balanced lifestyle.
Mona Ramadan
Mona holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Damietta University.
With a profound belief in the transformative power of continuous effort, she embarked on a versatile professional journey spanning social entrepreneurship, community development, youth empowerment, refugees, and gender equality.
Currently serving as a Youth Engagement Research Assistant at Ashoka Arab World in the youth regional Program. Mona is passionate about harnessing the potential of young changemakers to impact the world positively. Her role involves supporting youth initiatives through various programs and tools, fostering a community of changemakers throughout the region. Having extensive experience as a youth worker and community facilitator for more than 5 years, she facilitated more than 20 workshops in ten Egyptian governorates, engaging with diverse communities, including women, children, and youth.
Through her journey she worked with Caritas Egypt, Goethe Institute, Ambassadors for Dialogue, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, and NASA Space Apps. Statement that reflects Mona’s beliefs: “Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it makes a process, brings an understanding of what works and what doesn’t work, ups your skill level, creates new habits, and builds confidence”.
Montassar Bellah Jaaouene
Montassar Bellah has a bachelor’s degree in public law and political science from the University of Tunis Manar. Nonetheless, he dodged working in the legal industry as he opted to further his studies in a master’s program in the field of science and technology policies. He is expecting to receive his master’s in December 2023.
Montassar was happy to have been accepted to the Lazord Fellowship because he thought it was the best opportunity to improve his professional skills. Through the fellowship, he was placed at the Tunisian Center for Social Entrepreneurship (TCSE) as a data analyst and communications department assistant.
When Montassar is not at work or university, he loves to spend his time jogging or reading books and mangas.
Khedr Wanas
Khedr received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Cairo University. He has strong belief in the power of knowledge and how it can contribute to change the reality. His professional areas of interest focus on social entrepreneurship, social development, behavioral economics, public policy, economic empowerment and gender.
He currently works as research assistant at the regional search and selection team at Ashoka Arab World. Khedr contributes to the search and identification of leading changemakers across the the MENA region. Moreover, he supports them to showcase their work and scale their impact.
Khedr published his first peer-reviewed publication for his work in behavioral economics in August 2021. As an undergraduate, Khedr co-founded the first student-led debate initiative in Cairo. In addition, he was selected to be the president of one of the elite student activities at Cairo University, Model of the Egyptian Stock Exchange (MESE).
Along this journey, Khedr has acquired a multidisciplinary set of skills, including but not limited to: research, facilitation, data collection/analysis, economic analysis, and visionary leadership. In the long term, Khedr aspires to design evidence-based policies and interventions to address the complex community challenges.
“Knowledge is not power, it is only potential. Applying that knowledge is power.” – Takeda Shingen
Bilel Mansouri
Bilel has become a different person since he has understood that life is in a constant state of change. Embrace it because it’s inevitable. You change either to stay ahead or to catch up. Change will not come if we wait for some other time or other people. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for, to inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more.
His journey with the Lazord Fellowship has taught him how to manage more than projects. Now he is responsible for managing his life as well. He lacked an environment in which to gain experience, but now he is creating one and betting on his future every day.
Mennatallah Eissa
Mennatallah is an impact-oriented professional working in Edtech and social entrepreneurship sectors with a passion to curate learnings journeys to empower and upskill young people. For the past five years, Mennatallah has worked with global organizations such as Ashoka, British Council, and Erasmus+ to design and fundraise for sustainable, applicable, and innovative programs for youth-led social enterprises across the Arab region. Besides this, Mennatallah has been consulting startups and SMEs to scale their educational technology solutions to advance the learning journeys of thousands of students in Middle East and Africa. Currently, Mennatallah is working as a Program Coordinator at McKinsey & Company.
Aya Sabry
Aya Sabry is the regional fellowship program manager at Ashoka Arab World. Her work involves supporting and working with Civil Society Organizations across the MENA region and Ashoka Fellows, who are the leading social entrepreneurs in the region, to expand their work and scale their impact. In 2017, Aya was recognized as a Professional Fellow by the US Department of State and worked in the Mayor’s Office on Volunteerism in Washington D.C. focusing on researching potential donors as well as evaluating proposals by CSOs in DC. Her main expertise includes research, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, dialogue facilitation and graphic design. Aya has an undergraduate degree in Applied Arts and upon graduation; she was awarded the Lazord Fellowship from the American University in Cairo due to her deep passion towards perusing a career in the development field. She also has a Diploma in NGO Management and a Diploma in Liberal Arts and Sciences and a master’s degree in development studies from the Institute of Development Studies at University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Omar Mostafa
Omar is a Lazord Fellow who was placed at Yomken.com as a program coordinator. He is a veterinarian and hopes to initiate his own social enterprise in the veterinary field to further develop this sector. The aim of this enterprise would be to deal with societal and technical challenges in the daily lives of veterinarians that hinder the development of veterinary medicine, which in result has a negative effect on animal health in Egypt.
Omar has always been interested in civic engagement represented in NGOs and organizations that have a real impact on the society. In 2018 he founded the first community for Egyptian veterinary students through the International Veterinary Student Association in Upper Egypt. His interest in entrepreneurship led him to be a part of the Hult Prize as an organization community coordinator in 2017.
Noha Negm
After earning her master’s degree in political science from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Noha came back home aspiring to enrich the fields of civic education and social integration. She started her career as an assistant lecturer at Cairo University’s department of political science while volunteering for refugee educational projects funded by UNICEF and UNHCR. As her ambitions grew stronger and her passions became more diverse, she saw that the Lazord Fellowship was an exceptional-just-in-time opportunity to explore civic engagement on a deeper level, while engaging with a remarkable community with whom she can share her ambitions and from whom she will definitely learn a great deal.
Through Lazord, Noha was able to land herself a position as Venture Research Assistant at Ashoka Arab World (AAW). At AAW, she is learning about and engaging with real changemakers in the Arab world on a daily basis. She considers this to be her first concrete step towards being a true changemaker herself.
Abdallah Esam
Abdallah has had a long-standing passion for development in the field of disability. In March 2018, Abdallah founded the first cerebral palsy football team in Egypt; its aim is to support people with cerebral palsy to reach their life potential through sports and active recreation. He hopes to be a social entrepreneur and initiate changes that achieve huge and sustainable impact in the community. He saw the Lazord Fellowship as a great opportunity to gain more experience in the civic field. Through the Lazord Fellowship, he is currently a program assistant at Rise Egypt, a new kind of organization – one that believes in the capacity, creativity, and ingenuity of Egyptians, and those who love Egypt, to unleash innovative solutions to the country’s biggest development challenges.