Raneem is the co-founder of TEENAH, a social manufacturing enterprise that produces high-quality custom printed bags for events, hotels, conferences, organic markets, among other clients along different industries in Europe and the MENA region, working with Syrian refugees and their host communities in Jordan. Their goal is to provide real opportunities to women and their families, while building productive capacity in rural areas of Jordan and providing sustainable jobs alongside with relevant training. Raneem is also specialist in economic empowerment projects with the Jordan River Foundation, Jordan. Raneem is a Global Shaper and a Swedish Institute Fellow.  

Sıla Senlen Güvenç is Associate Professor at Ankara University-Department of English Language and Literature, as well as Vice-Director of Ankara University TÖMER (Turkish and Foreign Language Application and Research Centre). Ankara University TÖMER has collaborated with the Ministry of Education in the ‘Integration of Syrian Children to the Turkish Education System Program’ in training and certification of over 700 Turkish educators in teaching Turkish as a foreign language, and has joined forces with SEQUA in teaching Turkish to thousands of Syrians in Ankara, İstanbul, Kilis, Mersin, Urfa and Hatay.

Mustafa Othman is the co-founder and manager at Shaqodoon Organization, a local organisation based in Somalia/land. He has extensive technical and management experience in the youth employment, entrepreneurship, education and mobile technology for development.

Ahmad Bayram is Middle East and Africa Regional Manager at Techstars, a global ecosystem that empowers entrepreneurs to bring new technologies to market. Ahmad is also Jusoor’s Entrepreneurship Program Advisor, Training Bootcamp Manager and Techfugees Adviser, and Entrepreneur in Residence at Aliqtisadi.com. His website is also one of the most prominent blogs in the Arab world that tackles the power of the sharing and collaborative economy.

Tariq Cheema is a renowned social innovator and philanthropist. He is the founder of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, a global network of affluent individuals, corporations, foundations, governments and academia, dedicated to advancing effective and accountable giving. His trendsetting efforts towards institutionalising Muslim Philanthropy in recent times have earned worldwide acclaim.

Dr. Yaseen Alkhalifah is the Rector of Aleppo University in the Freed Regions/SIG. With a long history of cooperation with UN agencies, since 1976, Dr. Alkhalifah has conducted several scientific demographic and economic studies and researches. Holding several Deanship positions, he contributed to academic surveys for social, demographic and economic purposes. Dr. Alkhalifah is keen to contribute to the reconstruction of HE institutions in Syria, especially Eastern region (Deir Ezzor, Raqa and Hasakeh).

We believe that it is crucial to see and feel the opportunities that lie ahead of us.  But we see that lots of people are fearful and hesitate about their futures.  Therefore, it is our mission at Ink Strategy to playfully guide people to a bright future.  Through visualisations, design thinking and change management tools we open your mind and inspire you to create your individual way to a bright future. 

Jovani Ntabgoba is the Country Director of N-Frnds Rwanda. N-Frnds is a cloud-based SaaS platform enabling enterprises to reach and digitize financial and business processes across their customer and supplier networks, throughout the global emerging markets. Based on groundbreaking technology, protected by 21 patents, our platform is easily adaptable, swiftly deployable and can be accessed from any device. Even without mobile data.

N-Frnds has digitized end-to-end, Rwanda’s Milk and Irish Potato Value Chains and is linking their various farmers with Financial institutions.

Morris Dougba is the General Manager of Green Gold Liberia, an alternative energy company in Liberia. He earned his Bachelor Degree in Accounting from the University of Liberia. Mr Dougba has spent over 30 years managing his late father’s cocoa farm and is a dedicated Liberia businessman, Conservationist and Social Entrepreneur. Mr Dougba proudly states “I have acquired great knowledge and expertise of the Liberian business environment. My experience with the grassroots people has shown me the adverse conditions they endure daily and the effects that they have on the rainforest, especially in the field of charcoal production.”

Peter Knoope headed the International Centre for Counter Terrorism (ICCT) – The Hague, which he also initiated. The centre focuses on the nexus between human rights and counter terrorism. Until 2009, he was Deputy Director of the Policy and Strategy Department of the Dutch National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism (NCTb) established in 2005, following the terrorist attacks in Madrid of 11 March 2004 and the killing of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands. Peter is a career diplomat who has inter alia been posted as Head of Mission to Afghanistan. Prior to this posting, he headed the Humanitarian Aid section at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was responsible for the Dutch response to foreign crisis situations. He has also worked in development cooperation and research programmes in Tanzania, Cameroon and Senegal.

Joachim Rücker is an economist, independent consultant and former Ambassador of Germany. Until 2017, he was also the Special Representative of the Federal Government for the Middle East Stability Partnership. Previous positions include Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, President of the UN Human Rights Council, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Kosovo and Inspector-General of the German Foreign Office. For almost a decade, Joachim Rücker served as Mayor of the industrial city of Sindelfingen.

Agatha is the National Education Officer with UNHCR Lebanon. She joined the UN agency in 2006 in response to the Internal Displaced crises, facilitating the capacity building programme towards the Ministry of Social Affairs. Since 2008 she coordinates UNHCR education programmes with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and ensures access to education and retention through community based activities. More specifically, Agatha is currently co-chairing the Higher Education in Emergencies coordination efforts, overseeing UNHCR tertiary education programmes, facilitating alternative pathways to third country scholarships and promoting innovative ways to expand opportunities such as Connected Learning programmes. Agatha has a degree in Sociology- Anthropology from the Saint Joseph University.

As Manager of Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations of Africa, Michel helps IFC growing its business in these challenging markets. Throughout his career at IFC, he has focused on developing tailored (and often innovative) advisory proposals to help IFC’s clients deepen their relationships with the local economy, improve their governance, and increase their compliance with IFC’s Business Standards. 

Brandon Oelofse, senior trainer and course coordinator at RNTC. Brandon has worked in advertising and television for 15 years with a focus on getting audiences to adopt new behavior. He runs a Non-profit company in South Africa that uses media as a persuasive tool in adapting behavior in poverty node areas. 

Mercedes Gutierrez is Head of Communities Engagement at IKEA (Ingka Group), Born in Burgos (Spain) and now based in Malmoe (Sweden), she is leading the fair and inclusive growth agenda of the world’s largest home furnishing retailer operating 367 IKEA stores in 30 markets, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres. Former head of sustainability at IKEA Spain. Fifteen years’ experiences working on CSR, sustainability, social entrepreneurs and social innovation as innovation drivers to transform business, mainly for the energy and retail sectors. Campaigner and change maker on the next revolution for businesses as partners in solutions to tackle inequality and poverty as we are doing to address the issue of climate change. She holds a degree in chemistry and a mater in CSR, social audit and ESG accountability from Barcelona University.

Founder and CEO of Wajenzi, a crowdfunding platform promoting Dutch and Diaspora investment in SMEs in Africa. He believes that African Repats have the potential to reduce poverty and enhance economic development in Africa due to their high entrepreneurship spirit, the remittances they send back home that can fund SMEs and the skills/knowledge they can transfer. Alain has more than 15 years experience in investment in financial institutions and SME development in Africa and Europe. He is currently a consultant at IOM (United Nations International Organization for Migration) and GIZ (German Development Agency). He is also a member of EMEN (European Migrant Entrepreneurship Network) where he focuses on enabling migrant entrepreneurs to get access to finance. He is an Advisor of DIYLaw (a legal tech company based in Nigeria) and Youth works Africa (a Fintech company based in Vienna).

Syrian Entrepreneur in Jordan, a co-founder of MaFaZ for Medical Equipment & Devices. which is a partner Of OttoBock KoGa & SE, the worldwide leader company in manufacturing Prosthetics & Orthotics. Together they established many projects for governmental & private organizations in Jordan. In addition, one of their missions is to transfer technology, therefore each year they held training workshops to increase the level of the people who are working in prosthetics fitting. Entesar is now looking to develop a physiotherapy gym to help people and especially women to solve their physical problems and get more healthy life. As for social work, she is  interested in raising up the awareness of women about their body and how to protect themselves from physical injuries. Furthermore, recently she has already started helping youth to implement their ideas in projects. 

Amanda is a psychologist who developed experience in working with marginalized societies in Lebanon. She obtained a Master of Science in Clinical Applications of Psychology from Kingston University, London, England in 2016. Amanda was a social worker with the Lebanese Red Cross for five years, before she was employed as a Project Field Officer for a fifteen-month project. In 2017, Amanda became the Psychosocial Support (PSS) Programme Coordinator for ARCPA in the “Community Empowerment and Protection” project that is funded by UNICEF. She developed her skills and widened her experience in training on PSS topics while monitoring and working with partner NGOs operating in Palestinian camps in Lebanon, targeting PRL, PRS and Syrian populations in Lebanon. Additionally, she has extensive experience in consulting and delivering PSS trainings to other organizations, such as Islamic Relief and SPARK Lebanon.

Lead, Shared Value Partnerships, UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Switzerland. Tapio leads UNHCR’s work on shared value and operational partnerships with the private sector. Working for UNHCR since 2007, Tapio has contributed to the rapid growth of the organization’s engagement with the private sector, in particular with companies and foundations. Besides private sector partnerships work, he has also held operational positions at UNHCR, both at the headquarters and in the field. Prior to joining UNHCR, Tapio worked for the European Commission’s External and Foreign Service in Africa and in the United States and in PA firm in Brussels, focusing on EU legislation in the areas of Employment and Social Affairs.Tapio holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Turku, Finland (Political History) as well as an MA in European Political and Administrative Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.       

Marcel is the Director of the Europe Office, Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) in The Hague. Prior to this he was the Policy Specialist on Private Sector and Conflict at Oxfam in The Netherlands.  Over the last twenty years he has worked for international nongovernmental organizations operating in fragile states and conflict affected areas in South Asia, Africa, Balkans and the Caucasus. Marcel served as the Director of the Forum on Early Warning and Early Response, the Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting-NL as well as the Country Director for the Nonviolent Violent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka during the civil war.

Sam is a Senior Operations Officer with the IFC of the World Bank Group.  Sam currently leads IFC’s Advisory work for SME Ventures Funds/Private Equity (PE) globally, building capacity for fund managers and their teams, SME Portfolios and the Regulatory Environment. Sam has over 25 years of extensive experience in advisory and investment projects across the Agribusiness Supply Chains, Corporate Finance, Pension Funds Investment management, Treasury management, Private Education & Health, Health Insurance Policy, Technical Assistance & Grants management, SME risk capital financing and Portfolio operations. Before joining the IFC, Sam worked with Ernst & Young/Ghana, Deloitte, TechnoServe Inc. and Chemonics/TIPCEE in Corporate Financial Advisory, Accounting/auditing, Treasury and Investment Finance and SME Value Chain Director Roles. Sam has an MBA (Finance) and a bachelor’s in chemical engineering.  He is a professional member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accounting (CIMA) UK. 

Co-Managing Partner at CrossBoundary, an innovative investment advisory firm that seeks to unlock private capital to drive sustainable growth in underserved markets. They have over 50 investment professionals and offices in Nairobi, Johannesburg, Lagos, Bamako, Dubai, DC, and NYC. In 2015 the firm launched CrossBoundary Energy, an affiliated investment vehicle for distributed solar energy generation. Prior to CrossBoundary, Jake served as a Marine Corps officer in Iraq, and worked for Abraaj Capital, an emerging market private equity firm. He has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, The New Republic, and Inc. Magazine. Jake has an MBA from Harvard Business School, a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.

Executive Representative, Finn Church Aid. He has lived in fragile and conflict affected states in Africa, notably Eritrea and the Sudan, worked extensively on peace mediation and fragility for the UN and EU and consulted the International Dialogue for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding during the Ebola response in West-Africa. His current task with FCA Investments relate to enabling investments to sustainable SME’s in fragile and conflict affected states.

Leen ALMASRI, entrepreneur in architecture and tourism, founder of ATI, innovative tourist agency.

Leen has more than ten years of experience in architecture and urban planning between Syria and France, she completed her studies with master in management at Grenoble Ecole de Management.

Early 2017 Leen started her own start up, with aim to create links between cultures, through innovative architecture guided tours in Paris

Jan Vos is a Dutch entrepreneur and politician. As a member of the Dutch Parliament (2012-2017), his duties included the Economic Affairs, Trade, Climate, and Energy portfolios. Over 90% of the 227 motions and amendments he floated during his tenure have been passed by parliament.

Included in his achievements was the creation of a €750mln Equity and Loans Emerging Market Investment Fund financing  entrepreneurs with little access to finance in countries such as Congo, Mali, Sudan, Ghana, Nigeria, Vietnam, Burma, and Cambodia.

Vos was also responsible for oversight on the negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Agreement (TTIP) with the United States, and he approved the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada.

Executive Director of the Refugee Action (ReACT) Hub at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  In January 2018 ReACT launched its initial certificate in Computer and Data Science Program (CDSP) which delivers blended MIT educational opportunities to talented refugees where they live. Since then ReACT has announced partnerships with two MITx MicroMasters programs, and is preparing to admit a second group of CDSP students. Before returning to MIT, as Vice-President of One Laptop per Child, Robert led OLPC’s ground-breaking project in the Occupied Palestinian Territories seeking to ensure continuity of education, broaden online access, and augment learning and teaching. In his role at OLPC, Robert also worked with the private sector and scores of countries in South America and Africa to bring connected laptops filled with innovative learning content to children. After OLPC, Robert served as Assistant Director of MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), where he led the management of a tripling of its research volume, cultivated philanthropic donations, and assisted in conceptualizing and launching MIT’s first hybrid biological/mechanical MakerLab.

Prof. Dr. Sarıışık has been serving as Vice Rector at Harran University in charge of projects, constructions and university hospitals since 2015. He has 6 books, 60 scientific projects and 10 patents. He leaded the opening of nearly 80 new departments and programs on vocational education. Prof.Dr. Sarıışık pioneered several projects which are carried out in collaboration with Harran University and GAP (Southeastern Anatolian Project) within the co-financing method. Dr.Sariisik leaded the Turkey’s first Virtual Reality Project at Harran University. He also established UNIGAP (Collaboration of Universities in the Southeast).

Fadi founded Blackbox in 2010 with a commitment to serving entrepreneurs and expanding entrepreneurial opportunity in every corner of the globe. Prior to founding Blackbox, he was the Founder & CEO of techVenture, Inc., a talent search and recruitment firm building core teams for venture-backed high growth startups in Silicon Valley. During his last five years in this role, techVenture was retained by 41 startups in the San Francisco Bay Area. 33 of these startups — such as Splunk, Bebo, Zynga, LalaMedia, and Tapulous — have successfully exited, while the majority of the remaining companies are profitable and continue to grow.

Fadi is originally from Hama, Syria, and immigrated to the United States in 1986.

Abdulladif Roble is an entrepreneur, software engineer and an advocate for change in Africa through technology. He has worked with a number of tech based start-ups that are revolutionizing the way Africa do business. His start-up SAMS recently launched an IVR system for local farmers in Somaliland/ Somalia to be connected to the marketplace by providing them with accurate market prices and helping them get in contact with agricultural experts.

Deputy Team Leader, Expertise France, Geneva

As Deputy Team Leader, Mohamed Al Aswad supports LIBYA Economic Integration, Diversification and Sustainable Development Program. He previously served as a Libyan Ambassador at UNESCO and an Advisor on Science, Technology & Innovation Policy at the Libyan Authority for Research, Science & Innovation. Areas of his work include: specialization in science, technology and innovation policy, entrepreneurship and SMEs, private sector development.

Sr. Investment Associate, Triple Jump

Natascha is a Sr. Investment Associate at the Fund Investments department in Triple Jump, a Dutch based impact focused investment manager. For several years, Natascha is involved in Fund Investments for the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), a EUR 327m Dutch government mandate that Triple Jump manages, that aims to improve access to finance for SMEs in selected countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. DGGF further has a specific focus on investing in fragile states, as well as supporting female and youth entrepreneurship. 

Prior to joining Triple Jump, Natascha worked at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Netherlands and Costa Rica where she was involved in human rights programs for migrants. Natascha has a Master of Social Science degree from Utrecht University.

Dr. François Lenfant is a lecturer at the Center for International Conflict Analysis and Management (CICAM) within the Radboud University and post-doctor at the University of Amsterdam. He also consults for various organizations such as UNICEF, PACT, Civicus, International Alert and SPARK. His area of expertise is multistakeholder partnerships including NGO’s, communities and companies in fragile settings, looking specifically at the role of business in conflict transformation processes in Africa. He has published a number of articles on the topic in scientific journals and he has conducted many evaluation assignments related to the economic dimension of conflicts and the role of women in peace processes in Africa. François holds an M.A. in International Development from the American University in Washington, DC, and a PhD from the University of Amsterdam. He is fluent in French, Dutch and English. 

Savitri is the CSR Lead for Accenture in BeNeLux and France. For the last seven years she has been driving Accenture’s ambition to positively impact the lives and labour integration of refugees. As a result, Accenture has hired quite some refugee talents with an IT background to the company. She is also the (co-) founder of the Refugee Talent Hub, an initiative driven by corporates to mentor, support and hire refugee talent.

Ayham is a Syrian entrepreneur and Turkish citizen. He established his business, Al Maksoud for Steel Constructions, initially in Syria. However, when the revolution happened in Syria he decided to move his business to Libya. Once re-establishing his business there, employing over 100 people and creating new networks, the revolution in Libya took place. Ayham was forced to move his business again to Turkey four years ago now. His company has been faced with the challenges of 2 wars and has restarted 3 times. Each time Ayham needed to re-register, find a workforce, establish new networks and connections and begin to make a profit once more. If anyone knows about the struggles of being an entrepreneur in fragile states, its him.

Lauren Servin is the Founder and Chief Tree Officer at Desert Date Co., a natural ingredient supplier and skincare brand based in Northern Uganda, with a focus on conservation of threatened medicinal trees that combat climate change and on creating wealth for women in the region, through the harvesting of rare medicinal ingredients. Lauren also consults organizations on agribusiness development and entrepreneurship and continues to support SPARK in South Sudan. Lauren was previously SPARK’s South Sudan Country Manager for four years where she implemented the agribusiness creation programme focused on Value Chain development. She has an MPA in International Policy from NYU and has spent over 12 years working on multiple projects with a focus on South Sudan.