Speakers

Olfa Terras

Between 1997 and 2003, Olfa had a stellar career in the City of London as an analyst on the European derivatives desk at Deutsche Bank. She left banking in 2003 to care for her first of five children.

In 2011 Olfa founded the Rambourg Foundation that aims to empower young Tunisians through a common thread: Give back to them their inalienable right to access education, art and culture. She is deeply convinced that enlightened and educated people, inspired by the spirit of creation and innovation, will lead Tunisia to greater prosperity and development.

Olfa sits on the London and Paris Committees of Human Rights Watch. As part of her engrained commitment to the organization, she is a Council Ambassador for Tunisia and has been financing the country office, through her Foundation, since 2011.

Olfa as a Member of the Tunisian Parliament maintains an ardent commitment to her fellow Tunisians in completing the transition from a perfidious dictatorship to a free democratic country.

Kenza Fourati

Kenza traversed the world, working for Vogue, Elle, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Harper’s Bazaar and walked the runway for the likes of Armani, Fendi, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dior and Chanel among many others. She appeared in advertisings for Dior, H&M, Etam, Chanel, Benetton to name a few.

During the 2011 revolution in Tunisia that sparked the Arab Spring, she became an outspoken figure against the fallen regime and joined Human Rights Watch as an ambassador.

Kenza penned interviews for Vogue Italia’s “Women of Integrity” portrait series that also resulted in a photo exhibit at NYFW in 2014. Her writings have also been published in Vogue Arabia and Impression Magazine.

In August 2018, she co-founded O S A Y the Label, a brand specializing in “La Babouche” loafers and other essentials handmade by Tunisian artisans. O S A Y- Our Stories Are yours is on a mission to promote sustainability and the cultural heritage, preserve the craftsmanship and foster the creative expression of artisans.

Many Ameri

Many Ameri is the co-founder of Yadastar - an independent consultancy with more than 20 years of experience in building creative communities around the globe.

His partner Torsten Schmidt and Many are best known for developing the Red Bull Music Academy - a cultural institution committed to fostering creativity in music. Founded in 1998 they have grown the Academy into a worldwide culture program with workshops, festivals, studio sessions and events in more than 60 countries. Leaving behind creative hubs, cultural centres, studio spaces, galleries and sustainable local programs often developed with city councils and leading institutions.

These real-life projects were complemented by signature channels for in-depth music journalism including a 24/7 radio station, a long-form editorial hub, podcasts, print publications, books and films.

Aida Murad

Aida Murad is a social entrepreneur, artist and community builder. Today she is creating a venture studio that will provide an opportunity for entrepreneurs to build their businesses holistically doing both the internal and external work of being human. Additionally, Aida advises numerous start-ups and foundations, writes for Thrive Global and serves as Co-Director for NEXUS MENA & Arab Diasporas.

She has worked for over a decade building social enterprises in the education, fashion, food, health and technology industries as well as managed $300 million in governmental and development funds for the public and private sectors. Aida is the recipient of the 2017 FHI 360 Impact Award for Woman Leadership, 2017 Most Voted RAW Artist, 2017 Inaugural artist for GoARTful and 2016 FHI Emerging Leaders. Most importantly, Aida is a life long learner and believes love is the single most powerful and beautiful force in the world.

Nizam Uddin

Nizam Uddin is Senior Head of Mosaic and Community Integration at The Prince’s Trust, where he leads on the organization’s social integration and cohesion activities and heads up the Mosaic Initiative.

Nizam is a 2019 Yale Greenberg World Fellow and a 2019 participant of the US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP). Nizam has a strong interest in social mobility for young people and addressing the challenges and obstacles that prevent minority communities from having an equal stake in society and the economy.

He has worked for the University of London and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education; was previously the elected President of the University of London Students’ Union; and helped found The Patchwork Foundation.

Nizam is currently a Trustee at SOAS University of London, a member of the Mayor of London’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Advisory Group and a School Governor of Mulberry Academy Shoreditch.

Rosario Londono

Rosario is Co-Founder of both the Global Movement League of Intrapreneurs and The Finance, Mindfulness and Technology Lab, as well as Founder of the One4One Accelerator and the Fourth Dimensional Quotient programs.

She’s an Adjunct Professor at American University and acts as an advisor to organizations like Imperative Fund, ProjectX Global, Foundation for Commercializing Innovation, The World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and CNS Global Advisors.

Rosario has worked with corporations like Accenture, Citibank, IDB Group, and ITI to help them prepare their workforce for the digital economy. She’s also BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders, a World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fellow and an Entovation Fellow.

Jorge Francisco Escobar Torres

Francisco worked as an asset management consultant at PWC in Vienna. In 2015, Francisco joined the investment team at Earl Capital an independent asset manager to HNWI, families and related Trusts. He and his team were responsible for managing more than USD 500 Mn in client assets.

Francisco founded Asymmetrica Investments Ltd (Advisory Company in Switzerland) and AVO Oro Verde AG (Investment Vehicle in Liechtenstein) with the objective to provide capital to regions where capital is scarce (e.g. Mexico, South America, and Africa) and create wealth by making private markets more efficient.

Francisco and his team have created the first investment Vehicle that is specialized in sustainable avocado orchards worldwide, their target is to bring USD 150 MN of investment into Avocado growing regions over the next 5 years.

Júlia M. Profeta Johansson

Julia Profeta Johansson is the co-founder of Conscious Growth, a fintech providing fast, impact-driven and non-dilutive capital to tech entrepreneurs, and the founder of Ella Impact, a global community of women focused on developing connections and knowledge around the theme of impact investments and impact businesses.

She was previously a partner at Vox Capital, the first impact investing fund manager in Brazil, and thus has been featured among the top women investing in tech in Latin America since 2017. Julia writes about these topics for the BMW Foundation blog and is also co-founder of StartupLife Berlin.

Julia has also worked with Yunus Social Business, Rocket Internet, Itaú BBA, and Mundo InNova, her former business innovation magazine. Passionate about photography and filmmaking, she is also involved with the entertainment industry, in order to use it as a positive social transformation tool on a large scale.

James Kim

James Kim is the Founder and Executive Director of BEAT (Bridging Education & Art Together), an NYC based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing unique Hip-Hop based educational programs to underserved youth and students with special needs.

BEAT’s mission is to transform lives through the power of creative expression and music.

Soraya Hosni

Soraya Hosni is an anthropologist and serial entrepreneur. Her polyglotism combined with a journey from Parisian suburbs, to remote pacific islands or conflict zones allows a unique societal understanding that she brings into the most innovative problem-solving. After an active executive and academic career, she decided to repatriate to Tunisia and work from within to preserve culture and advance impact in Business.

Her latest ventures include The New Medina, an initiative to build heritage centred models for urban development, starting with her ancestral home and the UNESCO World Heritage Medina of Sousse in Tunisia. She proudly serves as the Nexus Tunisia Ambassador.

Ahmed Ezzat

Ahmed Ezzat is the founder and CEO of both CORE Training and Consulting and Vanilla Social Media, Ahmed is one of the entrepreneurs with strong hands-on experience in consultation services for projects valued at more than $20 million including multinational organizations experience.

Ahmed has an MBA from The Arab Academy of Science, attended Leadership Coaching Training in Singularity University Ventures and became a mentor at Singularity University

He is a chapter leader and active member and coach at Hive Global Leaders Program – the USA, a speaker at Startup Grind Egypt, Startup Path in Romania and a speaker Hive India. Ahmed was among the judges of DEMO Africa Innovation Tour for Entrepreneurship.

Joséphine Lesaffre

Joséphine specializes in visual storytelling, helping teams and individuals get clarity on a topic. Her position at onepoint has led her to work with companies such as Google, Chanel, L'Oréal, the French Ministry of Justice, the National Opéra of Paris and Renault, to design meaningful stories and spread their vision through impactful visuals.

Her interest in global cultures, spirituality and craftsmanship led her to conduct an art residency in Beirut, where she invited locals to share their stories through art sessions. The residency resulted in an art exhibition of the community's artwork, as well as her own work, around the theme of "open doors". A metaphor for opening oneself to truth, love and purpose.

Her latest work bridges personal growth and design with "guided conversations", an innovative tool to help people identify their passions.

Ali Amhaz

A believer in the potential of social entrepreneurship to shift mindsets and capabilities of both entrepreneurs and communities, Ali has dedicated his early career to strategy, research, and supporting youth-led ventures.

Ali founded the Beirut Art Salon, a social enterprise that offers a creative space for emerging artists to display, teach, and speak through art, inviting them to cross-pollinate and forge partnerships together.

During his time as a student, Ali led over 650 students by serving on seven club cabinets and was elected into the highest house of student government. Upon graduation, Ali was awarded the Penrose Award, the most prestigious of awards on campus.

Elisha London

Elisha London is the CEO and Founder of United for Global Mental Health.

Elisha was a leader in development campaigning, having founded Global Poverty Project (“Global Citizen”) in the UK. Later she was appointed as Campaign Director for the Head Together Campaign. Using her background and experience and to pursue her passion for Mental Health, she has brought together the world’s leading experts on global mental health, resource mobilisation and campaigning to address it. She founded and launched United for Global Mental Health.

On September 26 2018, United for Global Mental Health co-organized an event at the UN General Assembly, "Time to Act on Global Mental Health,” with the Governments of Canada, Ecuador, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Bahrain, the World Health Organization, Nexus and the Born This Way Foundation.

Khaled Abu Ajwa

Khaled is a full-time advocate of sustainability & efficiency. Over the past 11 years, he has been profoundly involved in the fields of energy, investment promotion & social development in Jordan & MENA.

Currently pursuing further his social development work & passion at Naua (naua.org) - a social giving platform and its volunteering platform Nahno (nahno.org) - the national platform for volunteering and youth engagement in partnership with UNICEF in Jordan.

Khaled holds a B.Eng in Electrical Engineering from McGill University, Canada (2007) & a Master’s Degree in e-Business Management from the University of Salento, Italy (2009).

Dina Emam

Named one of Variety's 10 Producers to Watch in 2018, Dina Emam is an American-Egyptian independent film producer, educator and script consultant based in Cairo.

Prior to becoming a producer, Emam worked in television market research and production management at MTV Networks in New York City. Her first feature, Yomeddine, had its world premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival in the Main Competition and was Egypt’s submission for the 91st Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

In addition to producing, she educates aspiring young filmmakers in the Middle East and North Africa on the art and craft of creative producing at cultural institutions including the Royal Film Commission of Jordan, Cairo’s Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival, and was commissioned by the US Embassy in Cairo to give talks on Creative Producing in Egypt to up and coming filmmakers.

Menna Amr

Menna has a background in journalism, translation, and digital art management for local and international companies and NGOs.

Menna turned to social entrepreneurship and the use of arts and multicultural exchange as tools for education, dialogue and civic engagement in Egypt - as real drivers of social change.

Today, Menna is the Director of Programs for the Elisa Sednaoui Foundation, it's project FUNTASIA and is the Board Secretary for Funtasia Education and Development.