YouthTalk MENA

Pleased and honoured to announce that our next and most awaited guest special episode is with Mr. Roberto Croci, Managing Director at Microsoft For Startups MEA @msft4startupsmiddleeast (on instagram). With over 20 years’ experience working for the likes of Microsoft and Google, Roberto Croci’s passion lies in innovation, startups and PEOPLE. Relationship driven, he has bridged the gap between corporates and startups across more than 20 countries, helping them develop real solutions that solve real world problems. A leading innovator in developing ecosystems where startups thrive, his expertise and candid approach have kept him in demand with major tech companies throughout his career. In his current role as the Managing Director of Microsoft for Startups, Roberto is building Microsoft’s new division from scratch, including spearheading its expansion and innovation strategy, with the vision to foster a collaborative startup ecosystem to create a better, brighter future for people around the world. Connecting the dots between startups, government agencies and private sector organizations, Roberto helps organizations adopt the innovation mindset and leverage the technology and nimbleness that startups provide. With an ability to cut through the noise, he works directly with startup founders and encourages them to “think differently” and to “be more curious.” His vision is to inspire 1 million students and entrepreneurs to build homegrown tech startups that evolve to become global Unicorns. Hosts: Omaima Mosharaf (@omaima.mosharaf), Founder of YouthWave MENA

Our latest discussion with Zainab Alsetri (@thezazzzy), a 15-year old entrepreneur and popular Bahraini TikToker who talked about the toxic side vs the positive side of social media and how to use social media to spread awareness on important issues. Zainab is a GCSE student pursuing medicine. She went to the Yale World Scholars Cup for debating and TOC. She started as an entrepreneur and built a social presence for herself at the age of thirteen. Now at fifteen, Zainab has over 39K followers on TikTok (@thezazzy). Hosts: Omaima Mosharaf (@omaima.mosharaf), Founder of YouthWave MENA Fatima Hasan (@fatimaaa.hasan), Art Director at YouthWave MENA Follow us on IG 👉 @youthwave.mena

Our latest guest special episode features Mr. Swethal Kumar, CEO & Managing Partner at Startupscale360 FZCO and Co-Founder of THE Crossroads. For all young entrepreneurs and students out there, this is for you! About — Swethal Kumar is an alumnus of the London Business School and an Indian Chartered Accountant. He currently lives and has lived in the United Arab Emirates for nearly 2 decades and spent major parts of his career with the Mubadala Investment, one of the largest sovereign funds in the world. In 2019, he was seconded to support in setting up Hub71, an Abu Dhabi government funded startup ecosystem. After serving the Mubadala Group for over 12 years, he decided to start his new venture called StartUpScale360, an ecosystem builder. Swethal Kumar also co-founded The Crossroads in Georgia with an aim of building a startup ecosystem in the Caucasia region. He is very active in MENA, Georgia, and India startup ecosystem to foster innovation and creativity among young entrepreneurs. He advises startups on scaling up their businesses, providing new market access and raising capital.

Amal is a Egyptian high school junior at Creativity Private School and is very passionate about coming up with innovative solutions, learning more about self-development and growth, through exploring the science behind habits. As her mind is always curious and hungry for learning new things, she believes that as long as we are seeking knowledge and well-utilizing it, then we are already contributing to a better future. To top everything, she was one of the finalists of Tatwawars 2020-2021 program, and was the second place winner, representing Bahrain with her AI Robot. Join us with Amal to speak about her winning product, her journey to becoming and entrepreneur and much more!

Meet Eya Labidi from Tunisia, she is a 15-year old student at the French International School of Bahrain, a journalist at Youth Journalism, a motivational blogger and entrepreneur, leading a clothing business @eya.sarra.fashion (on instagram). In our talk we explore personal development, having the right mindset, self-acceptance and dealing with negative thoughts.

Malak is the founder of @the.biotiful.side (an instagram platform), a health food blogger and a Tatawwar 2019/2020 semi-finalist. She encourages her followers to take small steps into eating healthy, by incorporating easy to make healthy snacks into their lifestyle and slowly but surely adapting to the sustainable and clean lifestyle. In our talk with Malak we discuss the importance of taking care of yourself, more specifically from a youths perspective, and how the pandemic may have affected our mindfulness, the way we interpret things and the way we look after ourselves.

Our guest speaker, Layan S. Al-Nimer is the Founder & CEO of Plait Bakery, a sustainable home-based bakery in Jordan (@plait.bakery on Instagram). The focus of our talk with Layan is on the zero waste and zero carbon bakery concept and the importance of food and agricultural waste management. She also tells us about her journey on becoming an ecopreneur and how she started her eco-friendly bakery. Hint! There may be a few green kitchen tips! 🌱

Meet Salman Ali Salman (@salman_abualii on instagram), a spirited 15-year old environmental sustainability enthusiast and founder of the Instagram page @green.awal dedicated to spread environmental awareness and engage in sustainable, social activities. Our talk with him focuses on the many environmental issues occurring nowadays, the source of the problem, and what individuals can do to reduce their environmental impact.

We are extremely grateful and honoured to have our next speaker, Ms Shada El-Sharif, the Founder and CEO of @sustain.mena and Senior Advisor at the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) to join us for an interactive live discussion on why sustainability matters, her journey towards creating an impact, policy development, social responsibility and more! Ms Shada is a recognized thought leader on climate change, green economy, and sustainable development in Jordan and the region. She is also an advisor to the Government of Jordan on Sustainable Development and Green Recovery, and a Senior Advisor to the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) for the project to establish Jordan’s National Center for Innovation (NCI). She served as Director of the Jordan Environment Fund (JEF) at the Ministry of Environment, and as Director of the Clean Tech sector at the USAID-funded Jordan Competitiveness Program (JCP). She is a member of the Mowgli Mentoring network. She holds MEng and BSc degrees in Environmental Engineering from Cornell University. She is also pursuing a Master’s in Public Administration (MC-MPA) at the Harvard Kennedy School, and is both a Mason Fellow and an Emirates Leadership Initiative (ELI) Fellow. She is the Founder & CEO of SustainMENA, both an advisory and public awareness platform.

Meet Manama Shaper, Jumana Khorrami Jumana Khorrami, a Civil Engineer graduate from the University of Bahrain, a safety officer and a youth activist to talk about her journey. She currently works as a site engineer and a safety officer at Dadabhai Construction. After her graduation research, which was focused on environmental and sustainable solutions in Bahrain, her passion and interest in environmental issues and sustainable living began. In our talk with Jumana, we explore the idea of sustainability and its importance, her journey on sustainability and her guidance on how regular people could be more actively sustainable by implementing small acts into their routine in order to create a habitable environment for future generations, as in her words ‘there is no planet B’. #Collab with The Manama Hub, Global Shapers Community 👉 @manamashapers on Instagram

Meet Jawaher Kawhary, a student and the founder and co-owner of the very popular platform @catcallsofbahrain on instagram - a platform dedicated to spreading awareness on catcalling and sexual harassment through informative posts, and creating an open and comfortable space for victims to seek resources and help in their situations. Jawaher has a keen interest in branching out her platform, through educating and contributing to the community in order to lower the amount of harassment actively going on and simultaneously empower individuals who have been through any forms of sexual, street or cyber harassment. Our talk with Jawaher focuses on her journey on advocating against all forms of harassment, how she encourages victims to report harassment to local authorities, the importance of laws and the educational aspects of it and why people often refrain from complaining. #Collab with The Manama Hub, Global Shapers Community 👉 @manamashapers on Instagram

Meet Jumana Alrabia, a banking and finance student at the Bahrain Polytechnic and the co-founder of Bahrain EcoHub - a society that spreads environmental awareness through interactive media and events. Jumana has a keen interest in enhancing the economy and protecting the environment. She was also the President of Junior Toastmasters club back in 2018, Alumna of YES program 2017, and first place winner of Bahrain Bourse Tradequest competition in 2019. Our talk with Jumana focuses on why it is crucial to protect our environment, how we can all take part and why having platforms that back you up on what you believe in is beneficial and necessary. #Collab with The Manama Hub, Global Shapers Community 👉 @manamashapers on Instagram

Meet Seham Yateem, HR Director at GBL Group and a Manama Shaper Seham is a dynamic community specialist with a flourishing passion towards the arts and its relevance towards societal development. After completing her Fulbright scholarship master degree in Community Development & Leadership Action, Seham has progressed with building on communal art spaces within Bahrain and the region to capitalize on talents and artists to sustain societal progression through creative methods. She also works as the Director of HR for a national tourism entity to address her interested of building cultural relations and competence within the nation. #Collab with The Manama Hub, Global Shapers Community 👉 @manamashapers on Instagram