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Ahmad is a social entrepreneur and activist of the collaborative economy. He works as the Techstars regional manager for the Middle East and Africa, where he provides support to hundreds of community leaders in the region. His main goal: to foster social entrepreneurship and to remind people that refugees can contribute to local societies and to the economy of the host country.

In 2012, he started helping many Syrians refugees to become entrepreneurs. Back then, he helped them to obtain access to entrepreneurial opportunities and to create an enabling environment as the director of the Startup Roadshow entrepreneurship programme and as an advisor at the Techfugees Board.

As a result of his experience, he wrote two books: “Entrepreneurship in Conflict Zones”, which sheds light on the status quo of Syrian entrepreneurs in conflict zones and as refugees in their host countries. And “Entrepreneurship in Exile”, a study which gathers opinions and experiences of hundreds of Syrian refugees who are also entrepreneurs. Both are a reminder that, under the right circumstances, anyone can be an entrepreneur and contribute to the growth of the community they are integrated in.

During the forum, he will tell us about all that in his presentation “Entrepreneurs in exile: learnings on social entrepreneurship from Syrian refugees”. Besides, he will be one of the 25 participants in the Speednetworking.