During Lebanon’s 2019 Gala Dinner, the distribution of the Youth Social Entrepreneurs Award was held in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen Silvia of Sweden and His Royal Highness Prince Turki bin Tala Bin Abdulaziz.
H.E Dr. Ruwaida Al Ma’aita, former minister of education in Jordan, along with Tunisian actor, Mr. DhaferL’Abidine, presented the award to the winner of the female category, Ms. Maha Laziri who founded “Teach for Morocco”, to dive beyond city life and build new schools for children that blend education and entertainment, as well as reaching out to schools in villages to add recreational materials to their curriculum. Today, Maha, along with a team of ten, as well as volunteers, has been able to rebuild dozens of schools in the Atlas Mountains and move forward in improving school or curriculum conditions. She was named one of the 100 most powerful Arab women in the world by Arabian Business.
Mr. Mouhammad Rabah and Mr. Amr Mansi, CEO of IEvents, presented the award to the winner of the male category, Mr. Ahmad Bayram, a social entrepreneur, author, strategist, and creative leader in technology. Since 2012, Ahmad has been supporting hundreds of Syrians to gain access to entrepreneurship opportunities and build a supportive environment. Ahmed is the Middle East and Africa Regional Manager at Techstars. He is also Jusoor’s entrepreneurship program manager, an adviser on the Techfugees Board, and an Entrepreneur in Residence at Aliqtsadi. He also co-chairs several programs with the aim to support startup founders in the Middle East and has an advising role at several startups and non-profit organizations. Ahmad has published “Entrepreneurship In Conflict Zones” book, highlighting the experiences and needs of Syrian entrepreneurs inside the country during the conflict, and the second book “Entrepreneurship in Exile” insights into Syrian refugee startups in host countries. He has been featured in The World Economic Form, Guardian, Forbs, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Huffington Post UK, MBC, Arageek, Shareable, Wamda, Aliqtsadi, and much more.