European Young Leaders (#EYL40)

A gifted violinist and visionary champion for youth and community development, Nabeel has led and inspired people from all walks of life across Israel, Europe and the U.S. He performed with, and was a spokesperson for, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra for a decade as well as performing as a soloist with the Jerusalem Camerata and the Haifa Symphony orchestras. In 2006, Nabeel gave up his music career and returned to his hometown, the Arab-Israeli city of Nazareth, where he founded and led the Barenboim-Said Conservatory—now known as the Polyphony Conservatory—to answer the need he saw in the community for quality music programming. Nabeel has been awarded the Yoko Ono Award for Courage in the Arts for his lifelong-commitment to fostering a sense of community between young pan-Arab and Jewish musicians.

Seif is a social and policy entrepreneur, passionate about education and its relationship to governance. Seif co-founded the Agency for Development and Enhancement, which provides training for young people, and the Nabadat Foundation, a non-profit which aims to use technology to improve education to fight poverty and enhance political awareness. Seif is also the former CEO of Tahrir Academy, a blended learning platform that creates intellectually-stimulating learning experiences for more than 160,000 registered Egyptian and Arab learners. In 2015, he founded the Mavericks International School, which seeks to leverage innovative teaching methods and technology to develop the unique potential of its students.

Abdallah Absi is founder and CEO of Zoomal, the leading crowdfunding platform in the Middle East, which involves the top VCs in MENA, and co-founder of GivingLoop, a sustainable fundraising platform that helps non-profits focus less on fundraising and more on changing the world. Abdallah did not complete his university education, but went on to see huge successes in the entrepreneurial world, being covered by CNN, WSJ, Forbes, and others. He is also an Ashoka fellow, a Global Shaper for the World Economic Forum in the Beirut Hub, and a Startup Weekend organizer by the Kauffman foundation, and describes himself as a social mission

Lina is a leading figure in the sport industry in Saudi Arabia, who co-founded Jeddah United (JU), the first Saudi private sports company to train girls and boys in team sports to promote sports culture. Lina was captain of the Jeddah United Women’s basketball division up to 2012, columnist for Almadina newspaper, and climbed the Everest Base Camp as part of a breast cancer awareness campaign. Her efforts are an example of grassroots challenging of strict gender rules in Saudi Arabia, and Lina has been listed as one of the 200 Most Powerful Women in the Middle East by Forbes Magazine 2014.

Ines is a Berlin-based Senior Researcher at the Einstein Center Digital Future (ECDF) and the Technische Universität (TU) Berlin, working mainly in the field of platform economies and digitization in North Africa, with a focus on Tunisia. An Award-winning social impact entrepreneur and Innovation consultant, Ines has extensive experience in international development, public policies, and managing cooperations. Before joining TU Berlin, she was the Director of Strategic Partnerships at Amparo GmbH, a Berlin-based start-up revolutionizing prosthetics and health care access to amputees. She is now acting as an advisor to the startup mission in bringing Amparo technology to low-middle income and humanitarian contexts. Before moving to Berlin, she worked as a Senior consultant to prominent Tunisian and international organizations in the fields of management, innovation, democracy, elections, innovation and entrepreneurship. She was also the Managing Director of the Maghreb Economic Forum (MEF), a think tank in Tunis.

Born in Damascus, Tammam started his career in Syria as a painter and a graphic designer and has since participated with his works in solo and group exhibitions around the world. Following the start of the uprising in Syria, he turned to digital media and graphic art to create visual composites of the conflict that resonated with international viewers. These widely distributed works are informed by his interest in the interventionist potential of digital photography and street art as powerful and direct forms of protest that are difficult to suppress. In early 2013, Tammam made worldwide headlines when his Freedom Graffiti print went viral on social media.

Imen Ben Mohamed is a Tunisian politician representing the new face of the moderate Islamist party Ennahda (“Renaissance” in Arabic) in both the Maghreb Shura Council and the Parliament Assembly of the People’s Representatives, where she sits on the Rights, Freedom and Foreign Affairs Committee. Educated in Italy, where her family lived in exile, her strong commitment to youth and family policies has made her a rising political star in a country that still struggles to define itself in the increasingly turbulent landscape of the MENA region. Ben Mohamed is a strong supporter of dialogue between cultures and religions.

Ahmed Ben Mussa is an energy expert with ten years of experience in operations and business development of the oil service industry in the United States, Egypt and Libya. He currently manages a creative construction company Majaal. Prior to this, Ben Mussa worked as Chief Commercial Officer at Tatweer Research, a leading Libyan technological organisation with a focus on nurturing the country’s young potential, supporting entrepreneurs and attracting international expertise and investment. Before that, he worked with the UN World Food Programme in Libya where he conducted food security assessments on the field.

Chaima Bouhlel serves as the President of Al-Bawsala, a non-profit Tunisian NGO operating to bring transparency to political processes and engage ordinary citizens in a region wracked by government crackdowns. Chaima joined Al-Bawsala in 2014 to start and lead “Marsad Baladia” project, an observatory that monitors all municipalities across the country, and was elected as president in October 2016. Since 2016, she has also been co-hosting a weekly radio show on the National Radio discussing public policy and public institutions’ performance. Prior to joining the Al-Bawsala, Chaima worked in the micro finance sector, and in building the capacity of journalists in post-revolutionary Tunisia. During her studies at Harvard University, she was president of the Society of Arab Students, and co-organized the Harvard Arab Weekend in 2011, the biggest pan-Arab conference in North America.

Yostina Boules, dubbed “the magic machine” by farm owners, is Founder and Managing Director of Taqa Solutions, an Egyptian based organisation aiming to provide a clean and independent energy source to farmers by producing energy from poultry waste. By doing this, the Taqa solutions simultaneously addresses the problem of waste management from one of Egypt’s main agricultural industries, while maximising clean energy production. Yostina was selected as a Pioneer of Egypt after becoming a finalist on El Mashrou3, an entrepreneurship reality television competition.

Hala Bugaighis is a lawyer and co-founder of Jusoor, a non-governmental organisation committed to independent policy research and human development projects for women with focus on the economic and social empowerment. As a lawyer with 15 years of experience, Hala focuses on commercial, banking, civil and investment laws, and has a sound understanding of law practice in an international context. Through her private companies, Hala has worked as a consultant to many international companies as well as Libyan private and public entities, focusing on development and capacity building. In 2015, Hala was nominated a UN Women Champion for Women Economic Empowerment – an initiative that aims to improve women’s economic standing and potential around the world.

Lina Ejeilat is co-founder and editor-in-chief of 7iber.com, a Jordanian citizen media platform and online magazine, created to inform and engage communities in order to develop a more open society. It is known for publishing taboo political, economic, social, and religious topics that mainstream media avoid. In addition to its online presence, 7iber.com delivers trainings, workshops, debates, and talks. Lina advocates for freedom of press, universal rights and access to information, taking part in numerous meetings and conferences in order to promote these.

Othman El Ferdaous is an experienced public affairs and strategic communication professional. Prior to his current role at the ABA Technology, he served as Moroccan minister of culture, youth and sport and the secretary of state for investment and assistant to the Minister of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy. He is a strong advocate for EU-Maghreb integration and founded clubgibraltar.org, a non-profit organisation which provides a ‘South-North’ perspective on European affairs, especially regarding policy and institutional matters related to the Mediterranean and Africa. Othman currently serves as a board member of Sciences Po Alumni Morocco, focused on fostering reverse brain drain by mentoring Moroccan students, and writes a monthly newsletter covering Moroccan issues, which is read by over 7,000 subscribers. In recognition of his accomplishments, he was listed among the 50 most influential Moroccans under 40 by Telquel Magazine in 2016.

Sami Hourani is medical doctor and serial social entrepreneur. He is the founding director of the well-known educational platform For9a.com. Dr. Hourani is also the founder and the executive director of the regional organization Leaders of Tomorrow and the innovative social initiatives; Diwanieh, Mo7aka and the new and creative qualitative research methodology FADFED. He is a fellow at Ashoka, largest hub for social innovators world wide. He received King Abdullah II Demoqrati award in 2014 and EUROMED youth award in 2013. He was also elected as the Jordanian Role Model of 2011 and received the Jordanian title “Knight of Change” in 2008.