MIT Arab Competition

12 - 13

MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan Arab Region

The MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan Arab Region

Launched in Beirut in 2006, where a strong and active alumni community is concentrated, the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan Arab Region (Lebanon) is one of the eleven international chapters of the MIT Enterprise Forum, global office. Though it is headquartered in Lebanon, the Pan Arab Region chapter serves the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf.

The MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan Arab Region’s vision is to develop and nurture a culture of entrepreneurship across the Arab region, in view of becoming the most influential entrepreneurial network in the Arab world. This is done through building a platform for networking, knowledge sharing, showcasing, coaching and mentorship for entrepreneurs.

Activities

Since its inception, the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan Arab Region:

Organizes the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition in partnership with Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives, targeting 21 Arab countries and bringing in more than 4,000 applications every year.
Has been providing networking opportunities to entrepreneurs to learn and hone their skills as well as establishing networking connections with other entities who share our passion for entrepreneurship. The networking activities are fostered through three key events:
- a. Launching ceremony
- b. Entrepreneurship Workshop
- c. Final Award Ceremony
In view of ensuring a regional outreach, the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan Arab Region reaches out to three Arab countries each year. So far, these networking events have taken place in: Lebanon, KSA, UAE, Jordan, Egypt and tonisia.
Usually those events are attended by entrepreneurs, high-profile business people, angel investors, venture capitalists, financiers and other key players.
Organized a “Dean’s Roundtable” on “Entrepreneurship Development: Trends and Prospects in the Arab Region”, targeting Deans of Business Schools in the Arab countries. The aim of the Roundtable is to generate a discussion on the state of entrepreneurship in the region, and how to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Members of the Board

The MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan Arab Region involves a Board whose members volunteer their time and services to promote entrepreneurship in the Arab region.

Chair: Hala Fadel
Vice Chair: Maha Yahya
Secretary-General: Salam Yamout
Treasurer: Ziad Younes
Accountant: Ziad Oueslati

Hala FADEL

Hala is chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan-Arab region and has laid the efforts to organize the MIT Arab Business Plan competition, which is now in its fourth year. She is also a European Equity Fund Manager at Comgest. The Comgest group was created in 1986 and is based in Paris, Hong Kong, and Dublin. The Group has $13bn under management, all run for institutions under the form of segregated accounts or public mutual funds. Comgest is characterized by a tried and tested management style, focused exclusively on the investment in a limited number of quality growth listed companies.

Prior to joining Comgest, Hala was an analyst and associate in mergers and acquisitions at Merrill Lynch in London.

Hala has a Bachelor degree from HEC and holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. At MIT, she participated in and was among the winners of the MIT $100K Business Plan Competition, following which she started a telecom software company in the Cambridge area, which she eventually sold.

Maha YAHYA

A socio-urban specialist with two Ph.D’s in the social sciences and humanities and around 17 years of academic and professional experience.

Prior to joining ESCWA, Maha worked as the director and principle author of the 2008 National Human Development Report at UNDP entitled Toward a Citizen’s State. She is also the founder and editor of the MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies (MIT-EJMES). In addition to this, she worked as consultant on a rich variety of issues such as region wide social policy analysis, socio-urban evaluations, cultural heritage, poverty reduction, housing and community development, and post-conflict reconstruction in various countries including Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Maha is a board member of several organizations including LCPS and is the author of Towards Integrated Social Development Policies in ESCWA Countries: A Conceptual Analysis (ESCWA) and the co-editor of Secular Publicities: Visual practices and the transformation of national publics in the Middle East and South Asia (University of Michigan, 2009).

Salam YAMOUT

Holder of a M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Arizona in 1987 and an MBA from the Ecole Supérieure des Affaires (ESA) in 2005, Salam started her career in the USA. Between 2000 and 2005, she consulted in Lebanon with both the private sector, public sector, and International Organizations on key national projects such as the National e-Commerce Project, National e-Strategy project, National ICT Standards project, national committee for follow up on WSIS.

In 2004, she joined Cisco Systems where she held the role of Program Manager for CSR. In 2010, she joined the Presidency of the Council of Ministers to become the National ICT Strategy Coordinator.

Salam is the current Secretary-General of the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan Arab Region. A social entrepreneur at heart, Salam co-founded several NGOs such as Women in IT, Lebanese Broadband Stakeholders Group, and the Lebanon Chapter of the Internet Society.

Ziad YOUNES

Ziad is Deputy General Manager at Butec, a leading Lebanese and regional contracting company where he had actively participated in its internal restructuring and international development.

Prior to joining Butec, Ziad had successfully launched two Lebanese SMEs,: BPM in the field of property management and Fermes St. Jacques in the agro-industry. Ziad has lectured for 3 years at the USJ University on Game Theory and its applications in Economics.

Ziad holds an Engineering degree from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, a DEA in Industrial Organization from the University of Paris IX - Dauphine, and a Master of Science in Technology and Policy from MIT.

Ziad is the current Treasurer of the MIT Enterprise Forum for the Pan Arab Region (Lebanon).

Ziad OUESLATI

Ziad is a founding Partner of Tuninvest the first private equity fund management company in the Maghreb and one of the leading players in Sub-Saharan Africa through its affiliate AfricInvest.

Ziad participated to the structuring and raising of several investment funds targeting the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa totaling about US$ 500 million. He is a board member of several North African and sub-Saharan companies. He has structured a number of investments in Africa in several industrial and service sectors. He has also conducted on behalf of European financial institutions financial and strategic advisory work in the African continent.

Between 1990 and 1994, Ziad was head of the Financial Institutions and Capital Markets Department at Citibank, Tunis. He is a graduate of the engineering college, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris in Paris, France and holds a Master of Sciences in Technology and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, U.S. Mr. Oueslati is a founding member of the Tunisian and African Venture Capital Associations. He is also an Educational Counselor for undergraduates’ recruitment at MIT.

The MIT Enterprise Forum- Pan Arab team can be reached at:
info@mitarabcomeptition.com
+961.1.612.500 ext. 5154; 5156